Quote

Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt.

Paul Tillich

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Paul Tillich
Age: 79 †
Born: 1886
Born: August 20
Died: 1965
Died: October 22
Philosopher
Theologian
University Teacher
Paul Johannes Oskar Tillich
Paul Johannes Tillich
Religious
Receive
Religion
Asking
Means
Meaning
Mean
Question
Even
Willing
Answers
Hurt
Existence
Passionately

More quotes by Paul Tillich

Image
Man is asked to make of himself what he is supposed to become to fulfill his destiny.
Paul Tillich
Image
The character of human life, like the character of the human condition, like the character of all life, is ambiguity: the inseparable mixture of good and evil, the true and false, the creative and destructive forces-both individual and social.
Paul Tillich
Image
In this respect fundamentalism has demonic traits. It destroys the humble honesty of the search for truth, it splits the conscience of its thoughtful adherents, and it makes them fanatical because they are forced to suppress elements of truth of which they are dimly aware
Paul Tillich
Image
The abundance of a grateful heart gives honor to God even if it does not turn to Him in words. An unbeliever who is filled with thanks for his very being has ceased to be an unbeliever.
Paul Tillich
Image
Existential anxiety of doubt drives the person toward the creation of certitude of systems of meaning, which are supported by tradition and authority. Neurotic anxiety builds a narrow castle of certitude which can be defended with the utmost certainty.
Paul Tillich
Image
Faith is an act of a finite being who is grasped by, and turned to, the infinite.
Paul Tillich
Image
Our search for such [moral] principles can start with . . . the unconditional imperative to acknowledge every person as a person. If we ask for the contents given by this absolute, we find, first, something negative-the command not to treat a person as a thing. This seems little, but it is much. It is the core of the principle of justice.
Paul Tillich
Image
Being human means asking the questions of one's own being and living under the impact of the answers given to this question. And, conversely, being human means receiving answers to the questions of one's own being and asking questions under the impact of the answers.
Paul Tillich
Image
The anxiety of fate is conquered by the self-affirmation of the individual as an infinitely significant microcosmic representation of the universe .
Paul Tillich
Image
I loved thee beautiful and kind, And plighted an eternal vow So altered are thy face and mind, t'were perjury to love thee now!
Paul Tillich
Image
In the depth of the anxiety of having to die is the anxiety of being eternally forgotten.
Paul Tillich
Image
One cannot be strong without love. For love is not an irrelevant emotion it is the blood of life.
Paul Tillich
Image
There is faith in every serious doubt, namely, the faith in the truth as such, even if the only truth we can express is our lack of truth.
Paul Tillich
Image
Since the last decades of the nineteenth century, revolt against the objectified world has determined the character of art and literature.
Paul Tillich
Image
For love ... is the blood of life, the power of reunion in the separated.
Paul Tillich
Image
Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free.
Paul Tillich
Image
Wisdom loves the children of men, but she prefers those who come through foolishness to wisdom.
Paul Tillich
Image
Fear, as opposed to anxiety, has a definite object, which can be faced, analyzed, attacked, endured... anxiety has no object, or rather, in a paradoxical phrase, its object is the negation of every object.
Paul Tillich
Image
Fear is the absence of faith.
Paul Tillich
Image
In the courageous standing of uncertainty, faith shows most visibly its dynamic character.
Paul Tillich