Quotes from Paul Tillich

Man's ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically, because symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate.

Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned.

Anxiety may consist of the loss of psychological or spiritual meaning which is identified with one's existence as a self, i.e., the threat of meaninglessness.

Wisdom loves the children of men, but she prefers those who come through foolishness to wisdom.

Man is not what he believes himself to be in his conscious decisions.

Man is asked to make of himself what he is supposed to become to fulfill his destiny.

The joy about our work is spoiled when we perform it not because of what we produce but because of the pleasure with which it can provide us or the pain against which it can protect us.

Cruelty towards others is always also cruelty towards ourselves.

In the depth of the anxiety of having to die is the anxiety of being eternally forgotten.

Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone, and the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.

Language... has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.

The affirmation of one's essential being in spite of desires and anxieties creates joy.

Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith.

Sometimes I think it is my mission to bring faith to the faithless, and doubt to the faithful.

Where there is faith there is an awareness of holiness.

In the courageous standing of uncertainty, faith shows most visibly its dynamic character.

Faith is an act of a finite being who is grasped by and turned to the infinite.

There is no condition for forgiveness.

When you love someone, and you love them with your heart, it never disappears when you are apart. And when you love someone and you've done all you can do, you set them free, and if that love was true... when you love someone it will all come back to

The first duty of love is to listen.

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.

Loneliness can be conquered only by those who can bear solitude.

Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free.

Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt.