Quote

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.

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
Knowledge
Necessarily
Reality
Essential
Best
Essentials
Men
Indeed
Sight
Multiplicity
Danger
Wisest
Lose
Informed
Loses
Precisely

More quotes by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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If Jesus Christ is not true God, how could he help us? If he is not true man, how could he help us?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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While we exert ourselves to grow beyond our humanity, to leave the human behind us, God becomes human and we must recognize that God wills that we be human, real human beings. While we distinguish between pious and godless, good and evil, noble and base, God loves real people without distinction.
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The Lord confers great honor on his servants when he brings them suffering.
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We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.
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A king who dies on the cross must be the king of a rather strange kingdom.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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We are so afraid of silence that we chase ourselves from one event to the next in order not to have to spend a moment alone with ourselves, in order not to have to look at ourselves in the mirror.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Faith without works is not faith at all, but a simple lack of obedience to God.
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
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Discipleship is not limited to what you can comprehend – it must transcend all comprehension. Plunge into the deep waters beyond your own comprehension, and I will help you to comprehend even as I do. Bewilderment is the true comprehension. Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge. My comprehension transcends yours.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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The church has an unconditional obligation to the victims of any ordering society, even if they do not belong to the Christian community.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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The Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work.
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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It is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Love asks nothing in return, but seeks those who need it. And who needs our love more than those who are consumed with hatred and are utterly devoid of love.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Jesus himself did not try to convert the two thieves on the cross he waited until one of them turned to him.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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By his willingly renouncing self-defence, the Christian affirms his absolute adherence to Jesus, and his freedom from the tyranny of his own ego. The exclusiveness of this adherence is the only power which can overcome evil.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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If we are to pray aright, perhaps it is quite necessary that we pray contrary to our own heart. Not what we want to pray is important, but what God wants us to pray. The richness of the Word of God ought to determine our prayer, not the poverty of our heart.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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The limitation of the ethical phenomenon to its place and time does not imply its rejection but, on the contrary, its validation. One does not use canons to shoot sparrows.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer