Quotes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The future and the hope for the middle class church lies in the renewal of its lifeblood, which is only possible if the church succeeds in winning the working class.

The church is her true self only when she exists for humanity.

Ultimate seriousness in not without a dose of humor.

Absolute seriousness is never without a dash of humor.

Not in the flight of ideas, but only in action is freedom. Make up your mind and come out into the tempest of the living.

It is the nature, and the advantage, of strong people that they can bring out the crucial questions and form a clear opinion about them. The weak always have to decide between alternatives that are not their own.

The entire day receives order and discipline when it acquires unity. This unity must be sought and found in morning prayer. The morning prayer determines the day.

The richness of God's Word ought to determine our prayer, not the poverty of our heart.

Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the community must enter every day.

The more deeply we grow into the psalms and the more often we pray them as our own, the more simple and rich will our prayer become.

It is much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying. Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity.

The right way to pray is to stretch out our hands and ask of One who we know has the heart of a Father.

When our will wholeheartedly enters into the prayer of Christ, then we pray correctly.

A day without morning and evening prayers and personal intercessions is actually a day without meaning or importance.

Prayer is the supreme instance of the hidden character of the Christian life.

Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one's heart. It means rather to find the way to God and to speak with him whether the heart is full or empty.

Being free means "being free for the other," because the other has bound me to him. Only in relationship with the other am I free

Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.

Jesus calls men, not to a new religion, but to life.

The gift of Christ is not the Christian religion, but the grace and love of God which culminate in the cross.

There is no kindness more cruel than the kindness which consigns another person to their sin.

If religion is onlya garment of Christianityand even this garment has looked very different at different timesthen what is religionless Christianity?

Your life as a Christian should make non believers question their disbelief in God.

Who can really be faithful in great things if he has not learned to be faithful in the things of daily life?