Quote

Only reverence can restrain violence - reverence for human life and the environment.

William Sloane Coffin

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

William Sloane Coffin
Age: 81 †
Born: 1924
Born: June 1
Died: 2006
Died: April 12
Activist
Pastor
New York City
New York
William Sloane Coffin
Jr.
Reverence
Conflict
Environment
Violence
Human
Humans
Life
Restrain
Resolution

More quotes by William Sloane Coffin

Image
The temptation to moralize is strong it is emotionally satisfying to have enemies rather than problems, to seek out culprits rather than the flaws in the system.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
Fear destroys intimacy. It distances us from each other or makes us cling to each other, which is the death of freedom.... Only love can create intimacy, and freedom too, for when all hearts are one, nothing else has to be one--neither clothes nor age neither sex nor sexual preference race nor mind-set.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
Charity is only a waystation on the road to justice.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
If your heart is full of fear, you won't seek truth you'll seek security. If a heart is full of love, it will have a limbering effect on the mind.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
It is terribly important to realize that the leap of faith is not so much a leap of thought as of action. For while in many matters it is first we must see then we will act in matters of faith it is first we must do then we will know, first we will be and then we will see. One must, in short, dare to act wholeheartedly without absolute certainty.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
All of life is the exercise of risk.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
Isn't that what growing up is all about - learning to outlast despair?
William Sloane Coffin
Image
In reality, there are no biblical literalists, only selective literalists. By abolishing slavery and ordaining women, millions of Protestants have gone far beyond biblical literalism. It's time we did the same for homophobia.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
It is often said that the Church is a crutch. Of course it's a crutch. What makes you think you don't limp?
William Sloane Coffin
Image
We are not loved because we are valued we are valued because we are loved.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
Nuclear Weapons merit unequivocal and unhesitating condemnation
William Sloane Coffin
Image
In life you can either follow your fears or be led by your values, by your passions.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
For finally, we are as we love. It is love that measures our stature.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
Love measures our stature: the more we love, the bigger we are. There is no smaller package in all the world than that of a man all wrapped up in himself.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
Jesus is both a mirror to our humanity and a window to divinity, a window revealing as much of God as is given mortal eyes to see. When Christians see Christ empowering the weak, scorning the powerful, healing the wounded, and judging their tormentors, we are seeing transparently the power of God at work.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
God knows it is emotionally satisfying to be righteous with that righteousness that nourishes itself on the blood of sinners. But God also knows that what is emotionally satisfying can be spiritually devastating.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
It is a mistake to look to the Bible to close a discussion the Bible seeks to open one.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
In our time all it takes for evil to flourish is for a few good men to be a little wrong and have a great deal of power, and for the vast majority of their fellow citizens to remain indifferent.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
To show compassion for an individual without showing concern for the structures of society that make him an object of compassion is to be sentimental rather than loving.
William Sloane Coffin
Image
What is faith? Faith is being grasped by the power of love.
William Sloane Coffin