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Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes: 6

  • The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.

  • When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.

    The Cost of Discipleship
  • Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.

  • We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.

    Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community
  • Many people seek fellowship because they are afraid to be alone...let him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will do harm to himself and to the community. Alone you stood before God when he called you; alone you had to answer that call; alone you had to struggle and pray; and alone you will die and give an account to God. You cannot escape yourself, for God has singled you out.

  • As you gave the ring to one another and have now received it a 2nd time from the hand of the pastor, so love comes from you, but marriage from above, from God. As high as God is above man, so high are the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of love. It is not your love tht sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.

    Letters and Papers from Prison