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One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Action is more valuable than words, implying that doing the right thing holds greater significance than merely talking about it.

This quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer emphasizes the importance of taking meaningful action over simply discussing ideals. It suggests that a single act of true obedience or following through on one's principles carries more weight and makes a greater impact than numerous sermons or speeches that lack real commitment. Bonhoeffer, a theologian and martyr, understood the profound necessity of living out one's faith and values in tangible ways, highlighting that genuine actions resonate more deeply than words alone.

Themes

ObedienceActionSermonsFaithCommitment

In practice

Example use cases

During a motivational speech about community service, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of volunteering.

More from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A home is a kingdom of it's own in the midst of the world, a stronghold amid life's storms and stresses, a refuge, even a sanctuary.
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In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.
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Sometimes we just need a firm kick in the pants. An unsmiling expectation that if we mean all these wonderful things we talk about and sing about, then let’s see something to prove it.
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It is God's earth out of which man is taken. From it he has his body. His body belongs to his essential being. Man's body is not his prison, his shell his exterior, but man himself. Man does not "have" a body; he does not "have" a soul; rather he "is" body and soul. Man in the beginning is really his body. He is one. He is his body, as Christ is completely his body, as the Church is the body of Christ
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...And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all.
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Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies.
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