Quote

man is free, in so far as he has the power of contradicting himself and his essential nature. Man is free even from his freedom that is, he can surrender his humanity

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
Freedom
Free
Contradicting
Nature
Existentialism
Power
Existential
Even
Surrender
Men
Essential
Essentials
Humanity

More quotes by Paul Tillich

Image
In the courageous standing of uncertainty, faith shows most visibly its dynamic character.
Paul Tillich
Image
Grace strikes us when we are in great pain ....Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying, 'You are accepted.'
Paul Tillich
Image
Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of a meaning of our life.
Paul Tillich
Image
We are known in a depth of darkness through which we ourselves do not even dare to look. And at the same time, we are seen in a height of a fullness which surpasses our highest vision.
Paul Tillich
Image
The fatal pedagogical error is to throw answers like stones at the heads of those who have not yet asked the questions.
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
Loneliness can be conquered only by those who can bear solitude.
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
Doubt is the necessary tool of knowledge.
Paul Tillich
Image
The existential attitude is one of involvement in contrast to a merely theoretical or detached attitude. Existential in this sense can be defined as participating in a situation, especially a cognitive situation, with the whole of one's existence.
Paul Tillich
Image
Courage is a greater virtue than love. At best, it takes courage to love.
Paul Tillich
Image
The separation of faith and love is always a consequence of a deterioration of religion.
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
We have to build a better man before we can build a better society.
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
In the depth of the anxiety of having to die is the anxiety of being eternally forgotten.
Paul Tillich
Image
If my tongue were trained to measures, I would sing a stirring song.
Paul Tillich
Image
Nothing truly real is forgotten eternally, because everything real comes from eternity and goes to eternity.
Paul Tillich
Image
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
Image
Plato ... teaches the separation of the human soul from its home in the realm of pure essences. Man is estranged from what he essentially is. His existence in a transitory world contradicts his essential participation in the eternal world of ideas .
Paul Tillich