Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith.
Paul TillichRead
Morality [or ethics] is not a subject; it is a life put to the test in dozens of moments.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Morality is tested through our actions and decisions in everyday life.
This quote by Paul Tillich emphasizes that morality is not merely an abstract concept or a subject to study; rather, it is a practical guide that is put to the test through our daily experiences and choices. Each moment in life presents opportunities to reflect our ethical values, demonstrating that morality is woven into the fabric of our existence and is shaped by our reactions to the challenges we encounter.
Themes
MoralityEthicsLifeTestChoices
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about ethics in business, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of real-life applications of moral principles.
More from Paul Tillich
All quotes βCruelty towards others is always also cruelty towards ourselves.
Paul TillichRead
He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.
Paul TillichRead
The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable.
Paul TillichRead
The citizens of a city are not guilty of the crimes committed in their city; but they are guilty as participants in the destiny of [humanity] as a whole and in the destiny of their city in particular; for their acts in which freedom was united with destiny have contributed to the destiny in which they participate. They are guilty, not of committing the crimes of which their group is accused, but of contributing to the destiny in which these crimes happened.
Paul TillichRead
Wine is like the incarnation--it is both divine and human
Paul TillichRead
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History can predict nothing except that great changes in human relationships will never come about in the form in which they have been anticipated.
Johan HuizingaRead
In 1492, the natives discovered they were indians, discovered they lived in America, discovered they were naked, discovered that the Sin existed, discovered they owed allegiance to a King and Kingdom from another world and a God from another sky, and that this God had invented the guilty and the dress, and had sent to be burnt alive who worships the Sun the Moon the Earth and the Rain that wets it.
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The suicide bomber's imagination leads him to believe in a brilliant act of heroism, when in fact he is simply blowing himself up pointlessly and taking other people's lives.
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It is impossible to encircle the hips of a girl with my right arm and hold her smile in my left hand, then proceed to study the two items separately. Similarly, we can not separate life from living matter, in order to study only living matter and its reactions. Inevitably, studying living matter and its reactions, we study life itself
Albert Szent-GyorgyiRead