Religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life, and so frequently dangerous to democracy, precisely because it introduces absolutes into the realm of relative values.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
Life has no meaning except in terms of responsibility.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life gains significance through our sense of responsibility towards ourselves and others.
This quote emphasizes that the essence of life is not inherent but is given meaning through the responsibilities we choose to assume. It suggests that when we take responsibility for our actions and duties, we create purpose and significance in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
Themes
ResponsibilityMeaningLifePurposeChoices
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech highlighting the importance of community service, one might say, 'As Reinhold Niebuhr said, life has no meaning except in terms of responsibility.'
More from Reinhold Niebuhr
All quotes βThe tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
The mastery of nature is vainly believed to be an adequate substitute for self mastery.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
All you earnest young men out to save the world. . . please, have a laugh.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
Forgiveness is the final form of love.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
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Inside the peach, there is a stone.
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For black people, everything we do has to be ratified and endorsed by a power structure that is white. And that reinforces a kind of racial hierarchy where whiteness is the privileged position to be in, and ethnicity is problematic.
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The ulterior motives with which you absorb and assimilate Evil are not your own but those of Evil. _x000D_ The animal wrests the whip from its master and whips itself in order to become master, not knowing that this is only a fantasy produced by a new knot in the master's whiplash.
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Today's aikido is so dimensionless. It's hollow, empty on the inside. People try to reach the highest levels without even paying their dues. That's why it seems so much like a dance these days. You have to master the very basics solidly, with your body, and then proceed to develop to the higher levels.... Now we see nothing but copying or imitation without any grasp of the real thing.
Gozo ShiodaRead
If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.
C. S. LewisRead