Quotes from Paul Tillich

De moed van het vertrouwen neemt de angst voor het lot even goed als de angst voor de schuld in zich op. Deze moed zegt tot beide: "En toch."Dit is de ware betekenis van de leer der voorzienigheid. Voorzienigheid is geen theorie over zekere handelingen van God, maar het godsdienstig symbool van de moed van het vertrouwen ten aanzien van lot en dood. Want de moed van het vertrouwen zegt zelfs tot de dood: "En toch.

Cynical relativism is not wrecked by its self contradictions. Its nemesis is the empty space it produces, the complete vacuum into which new absolutisms poor.

Faith cannot guarantee factual truth. But faith can and must interpret the meaning of facts from the point of view of man's ultimate concern. In doing so it transfers historical truth into the dimension of the truth of faith.

Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.

Our language has wisely sensed these two sides of man's being alone. It 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.

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

The first duty of love is to listen.

The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable.

Wine is like the incarnation--it is both divine and human

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

history has shown that the most terrible crimes against love have been committed in the name of fanatically defended doctrines.

Neurosis is the way of avoiding nonbeing by avoiding being

Nothing truly real is forgotten eternally, because everything real comes from eternity and goes to eternity.

The vitality that can stand the abyss of meaninglessness is aware of a hidden meaning within the destruction of meaning.

Our language has wisely sensed these two sides of man's being alone. It 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. Although, in daily life, we do not always distinguish these words, we should do so consistently and thus deepen our understanding of our human predicament.

Astonishment is the root of philosophy.

There is no place to which we could flee from God, which is outside of God.

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.

Joy is the emotional expression of the courageous YES to one's own true being.

The awareness of the ambiguity of one's highest achievements - as well as one's deepest failures - is a definite symptom of maturity.

We can speak without voice to the trees and the clouds and the waves of the sea. Without words they respond through the rustling of leaves and the moving of clouds and the murmuring of the sea.

man is free, in so far as he has the power of contradicting himself and his essential nature. Man is free even from his freedom; that is, he can surrender his humanity

Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of a meaning of our life." Paul Tillich

In this respect fundamentalism has demonic traits. It destroys the humble honesty of the search for truth, it splits the conscience of its thoughtful adherents, and it makes them fanatical because they are forced to suppress elements of truth of which they are dimly aware