Quote

The fearful danger of the present time is that above the cry for authority, we forget that man stands alone before the ultimate authority, and that anyone who lays violent hands on man here, is infringing eternal laws, and taking upon himself superhuman authority, which will eventually crush him.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Age: 39 †
Born: 1906
Born: February 4
Died: 1945
Died: April 8
Pastor
Philosopher
Poet
Resistance Fighter
Theologian
Breslau
Bonhoeffer
Hands
Danger
Eventually
Men
Taking
Lays
Time
Present
Violent
Alone
Cry
Infringing
Law
Laws
Superhuman
Anyone
Ultimate
Fearful
Forget
Authority
Crush
Upon
Eternal
Stands

More quotes by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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The early morning belongs to the Church of the risen Christ. At the break of light it remembers the morning on which death and sin lay prostrate in defeat and new life and salvation were given to mankind
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The restoration of the church must surely depend on a new kind of monasticism, which has nothing in common with the old but a life of uncompromising discipleship, following Christ according to the sermon on the mount. I believe the time has come to gather people together to do this.
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The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise God-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.
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The best-informed man is not necessarily the wisest. Indeed there is a danger that precisely in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential.
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To endure the cross is not tragedy it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.
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There remains an experience of incomparable value . . . to see the great events of world history from below from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled ---- in short, from the perspective of those who suffer . . . to look with new eyes on matters great and small.
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Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.
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Who can really be faithful in great things if he has not learned to be faithful in the things of daily life?
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So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self- satisfied in fact, he can easily become dangerous, as it does not take much to make him aggressive. A fool must therefore be treated more cautiously than a scoundrel.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Man has learned to cope with all questions of importance without recourse to God as a working hypothesis.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Cheap grace is grace without discipleship.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Telling the truth ... is not solely a matter of moral character it is also a matter of correct appreciation of real situations and of serious reflection upon them.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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The heart clings to collected treasure. Stored-up possessions get between me and God. Where my treasure is, there is my trust, my security, my comfort, my God. Treasure means idolatry.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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The church is not a religious community of worshippers of Christ but is Christ himself who has taken form among people.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Sometimes we just need a firm kick in the pants. An unsmiling expectation that if we mean all these wonderful things we talk about and sing about, then let’s see something to prove it.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill His promises.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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We should find God in what we do know, not in what we don't not in outstanding problems, but in those we have already solved.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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...And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer