There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however imperfect, against tyranny and aggression may result in consequences even worse than war.
Reinhold Niebuhr
Related There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Lamentably, it is a historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntari... MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. This war in Vietnam is, I believe, a war for civilization. Certainly it is not a war of our seeking.... FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Not... PHILIP YANCEY Cheap jewelry, however, is worse than no jewelry at all, and there are very few things in life than ... JILL CONNER BROWNE There is no such thing as compromising between civilization and savagery. Civilization must always d... TERRY GOODKIND The first atrocity, the first war crime committed in any war of aggression by the aggressors is agai... MICHAEL PARENTI There are only two cases in which war is just: first, in order to resist the aggression of an enemy,... CHARLES DE SECONDAT There is nothing worse than war in the summetime. KATE DICAMILLO A bad peace is even worse than war. TACITUS A bad peace is even worse than war. PUBLIUS CORNELIUS TACITUS This is the reality of nuclear weapons: they may trigger a world war; a war which, unlike previous o... JOSEPH ROTBLAT As you fight any war, sometimes the result may be defeat. Learn to be heroic even in your defeats. BANGAMBIKI HABYARIMANA The lands and interests of the countries which took part in the aggression against Palestine, Iraq a... AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI I would lay down my life to defend any one of the States from aggression, which endangered peace or ... SAM HOUSTON Often the narcissist believes that other people are "faking it", leveraging emotional displays to ac... SAM VAKNIN Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequences than to have a really affectionate m... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequences than to have a really affectionate m... WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM You can't say that civilization don't advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way. WILL ROGERS If you don't practice situations beforehand in which you have to defend your lead, you won't necessa... JAKE WHITE The United States in the 1980s may be the first society in history in which children are distinctly ... DANIEL P. MOYNIHAN The Edmund Pettus Bridge - which in 2013 was declared a National Historic Landmark - isn't symbo... DOUGLAS BRINKLEY War is a series of catastrophes which result in victory. ALBERT PIKE In a time in which Communist regimes have been rightfully discredited and yet alternatives to neolib... CORNEL WEST In the last two days you had Renault talking about a price war, Fiat referring to a price war, Honda... ADAM JONAS When we struggle to change ourselves we, in fact, only continue the patterns of self-judgement and a... JACK KORNFIELD War is a series of disasters which result in a winner GEORGE CLEMENCEAU There is systematic torture and the general conditions in pre-trial detention facilities are worse t... MANFRED NOWAK There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name o... CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of law and in the name o... CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU There are over 20 armed conflicts in progress which have little to do with the war against terrorism... JAKOB KELLENBERGER The great question, is there anything at all which is worth fighting such a war about, with the deva... ANNE PERRY There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the na... MONTESQUIEU There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the na... CHARLES DE SECONDAT The crux of the matter is whether total war in its present form is justifiable, even when it serves ... JOHN HERSEY War of aggression, war which does not imply defense of one's country, is a collective crime. CARLOS SAAVEDRA LAMAS There is but one Paris and however hard living may be here, and if it became worse and harder even�... VINCENT VAN GOGH All human sin seems so much worse in its consequences than in its intentions. REINHOLD NIEBUHR All human sin seems so much worse in its consequences than in its intentions REINHOLD NIEBUHR what you are perfect at,I may be Imperfect there & where I am perfect,you may be imperfect there,so ... DAVID ATTA (A.K.A DAVIED ATTLARS & MR DAIN) The Fatherland Liberation War, which the Korean people fought against the haughty U.S. imperialists ... KIM JONG-UN Life may have no meaning. Or even worse, it may have a meaning of which I disapprove. ASHLEIGH BRILLIANT As the publisher of the 'Tory,' I strive to defend the pillars of Western civilization again... PETE HEGSETH Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and disorder in your own s... THOMAS MERTON My own feeling is that one should refuse to participate in any activity that implements American agg... NOAM CHOMSKY There are worse things than having behaved foolishly in public. There are worse things than the... FLEUR ADCOCK .... You ask, What is our policy? I will say; "It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our... SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL The law does not expect a man to be prepared to defend every act of his life which may be suddenly a... JOHN MARSHALL The Iraq War was the first conflict in western history in which an imperialist war was massively pro... NOAM CHOMSKY We even incorporated songs which were sung in Israel during World War 2 against Hitler. DAN ALMAGOR The story goes as the line follow... alone... loony.... ... That's what's happening.... DEYTH BANGER Be thankful for your allotment in an imperfect world. Though better circumstances can be imagined,... RICHELLE E. GOODRICH The Siege of Western Civilization has become an international bestseller. One reason is that its hos... DAVID GOODMAN We are constantly trying to cope with what our fathers or our grandfathers did. I wrote the book ... ROBERT FISK War is thus divine in itself, since it is a law of the world. War is divine through its consequences... JOSEPH DE MAISTRE There may be an indication that Mr. Creswell was acting in self-defense outside the bar. He may have... CHARLES BRANSON In justice to human society it may perhaps be said of almost all the polities and civil institutions... EZRA STILES If the aggression will not be stopped, the precedent of such unpunished aggression would sooner or l... VLADISLAV JOVANOVIC The next war... may well bury Western civilization forever. ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN All tyranny, bigotry, aggression, and cruelty are wrong, and whenever we see it, we must never be si... INGRID NEWKIRK Russia is deeply upset by NATO's military action against sovereign Yugoslavia, which is nothing more... BORIS YELTSIN People were consuming on average less calories after the war than during the war. Things were still ... SARA SHERIDAN However often you may have done them a favour, if you once refuse they forget everything except your... PLINY THE YOUNGER The ecclesial communities which have not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral... POPE BENEDICT XVI Although there exist in the world today some microbes of the soul, such as discrimination and aggres... AHMED ZEWAIL [The U.S. victory in Gulf war was] a stirring victory for the forces of aggression. DAN QUAYLE Many of the boys I saw in hospitals are now leading happy and useful lives, but they carry with them... ELEANOR ROOSEVELT There is such a thing as legitimate warfare: war has its laws; there are things which may fairly be ... JOHN HENRY NEWMAN If it were but known that the combined might of the world was against aggression, the war-minded cou... EDEN PHILLPOTTS To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all. PETER MCWILLIAMS A rebel can be a miserable and contemptible man; but there is nothing contemptible in a revolt as su... FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE Even the lion has to defend himself against flies. PROVERB Even the lion has to defend himself against flies. ANONYMOUS Even the lion has to defend himself against flies. GERMAN PROVERB In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes. JULIUS CAESAR In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes. --JULIUS CAESAR In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes JULIUS CAESAR He that rebels against reason is a real rebel, but he that in defence of reason rebels against tyran... THOMAS PAINE For starters, that’s a rather simple principle of Time Travel right there – and according to the... CHRISTINA ENGELA Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things tha... ERNEST HEMINGWAY War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and pat... JOHN STUART MILL There are few minds to which tyranny is not delightful. SAMUEL JOHNSON There are few minds to which tyranny is not delightful SAMUEL JOHNSON There is something even more valuable to civilization than wisdom, and that is character HENRY LOUIS MENCKEN This is a result of historic proportions. MASSIMO D'ALEMA Use your heart. Understand. Learn to see things in the now, not as they were or will be, or as ... E.J. PATTEN The auction result was worse than I expected and that is why people are selling bonds. AKITO FUKUNAGA If you really want to be the best, you have to realize that just situations are against you, just be... DR ANIL KUMAR SINHA In winwin
performance agreements, consequences become the natural or logical
result of performance r... STEPHEN R. COVEY People with positive attitude can see great things even in worse situations. Only cowards give up be... ISRAELMORE AYIVOR In life there are no problems, that is, objective and external choices; there is only the life which... ALBERTO MORAVIA Wahrscheinlich kann man vom Nichtwollen seelisch nicht leben; eine Sache nicht tun wollen, das ist a... THOMAS MANN She was terrorized. Seeking to defend herself, she bit, but it was in reaction to the aggression tha... EMMANUEL DAOUD The importance to the nation of a generously adequate food supply for the coming year cannot be over... DAVID F. HOUSTON To defend a country you need an army, but to defend a civilization you need education. JONATHAN SACKS We love peace, but not peace at any price. There is a peace more destructive of the manhood of livin... DOUGLAS JERROLD You're full of contradictions, Ms. Wallace." I looked up at him and arched a brow. "I'm a girl... TAMMARA WEBBER The condition of women in Islamic societies as a whole is also far from desirable. However, we shoul... SHIRIN EBADI There are calumnies against which even innocence loses courage. HORACE (QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS) There are calumnies against which even innocence loses courage. MOTTO
More Reinhold Niebuhr
God give me the serenity to accept things which cannot be changed;Give me courage to change things w... REINHOLD NIEBUHR A wise architect observed that you could break the laws of architectural art provided you had master... REINHOLD NIEBUHR The dimension of depth in the consciousness of religion creates the tension between what is and what... REINHOLD NIEBUHR There is no cure for the pride of a virtuous nation but pure religion. REINHOLD NIEBUHR Man is both strong and weak, both free and bound, both blind and far-seeing. He stands at the junctu... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democr... REINHOLD NIEBUHR If we survive danger it steels our courage more than anything else. REINHOLD NIEBUHR Life is a battle between faith and reason in which each feeds upon the other, drawing sustenance fro... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Our age knows nothing but reaction, and leaps from one extreme to another. REINHOLD NIEBUHR Family life is too intimate to be preserved by the spirit of justice. It can be sustained by a spiri... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; Therefore, we must be saved by hope.... REINHOLD NIEBUHR The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world. REINHOLD NIEBUHR God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR The finiteness, the dependency, and the insufficiency of man REINHOLD NIEBUHR The essence of man is his freedom. Sin is committed in that freedom. Sin can therefore not be attrib... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's
inclination to injustice makes democ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR A republic properly understood is a sovereignty of justice, in
contradistinction to a sovereignty o... REINHOLD NIEBUHR God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR The mastery of nature is vainly believed to be an adequate substitute for self mastery. REINHOLD NIEBUHR God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I c... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Democracies are indeed slow to make war, but once embarked upon a martial venture are equally slow t... REINHOLD NIEBUHR I think there ought to be a club in which preachers and journalists could come together and have the... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Original sin is that thing about man which makes him capable of conceiving of his own perfection and... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Goodness, armed with power, is corrupted; and pure love without power is destroyed. REINHOLD NIEBUHR Evil is not to be traced back to the individual but to the collective behavior of humanity. REINHOLD NIEBUHR Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love. REINHOLD NIEBUHR All human sin seems so much worse in its consequences than in its intentions. REINHOLD NIEBUHR Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. REINHOLD NIEBUHR If we can find God only as he is revealed in nature we have no moral God. REINHOLD NIEBUHR Democracy is finding proximate solutions to insoluble problems. REINHOLD NIEBUHR The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice make... REINHOLD NIEBUHR The final wisdom of life requires not the annulment of incongruity but the achievement of serenity w... REINHOLD NIEBUHR God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR The whole art of politics consists in directing rationally the irrationalities of men. REINHOLD NIEBUHR The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan values and ends is... the source of all religi... REINHOLD NIEBUHR God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed; Give us courage to change what should ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR And the wisdom to distinguish one from the other. REINHOLD NIEBUHR Forgiveness is the final form of love. REINHOLD NIEBUHR Democracy means not 'I am as good as you are,' but 'You are as
good as I am.' REINHOLD NIEBUHR Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922 Ultimate confidence i... REINHOLD NIEBUHR There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Change is the essence of life.Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become. REINHOLD NIEBUHR How things look on the outside of us depends on how things are on the inside of us. REINHOLD NIEBUHR One reason God created time was so that there would be a place to bury the failures of the past. REINHOLD NIEBUHR Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm REINHOLD NIEBUHR I wonder if anyone who needs a snappy song service can really appreciate the meaning of the cross. REINHOLD NIEBUHR If we survive danger it steels our courage more than anything else REINHOLD NIEBUHR The whole art of politics consists in directing rationally the irrationalities of men REINHOLD NIEBUHR Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democr... REINHOLD NIEBUHR The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR The final test of religious faith is whether it will enable men to endure insecurity without complac... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Original sin is that thing about man which makes him capable of conceiving of his own perfection and... REINHOLD NIEBUHR The Christian doctrine of sin in its classical form offends both rationalists and moralists by maint... REINHOLD NIEBUHR All human sin seems so much worse in its consequences than in its intentions REINHOLD NIEBUHR Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing true o... REINHOLD NIEBUHR If we can find God only as he is revealed in nature we have no moral God REINHOLD NIEBUHR Goodness, armed with power, is corrupted; and pure love without power is destroyed REINHOLD NIEBUHR God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR You've changed so much. I guess that's what happens. I wish you knew how much you changed me. I wond... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life, and so frequently dangerous to de... REINHOLD NIEBUHR It is my strong conviction that a realist conception of human nature should be made a servant of an ... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the thi... REINHOLD NIEBUHR Change is not a process for the impatient. BARBARA REINHOLD I do this for myself because I am my own fatherland, and my handkerchief is my flag. REINHOLD MESSNER put his brother’s boot on the table REINHOLD MESSNER Over time, our only chance at safety will depend on not turning the mountains into Disneyland. REINHOLD MESSNER We attract tourists to these regions where we can't guarantee their security, REINHOLD MESSNER Today nobody (is) using leather shoes. Only in this expedition we used this shoe. REINHOLD MESSNER I couldn't believe it. One minute I am reading this in the Tribune and the next minute I get a phone... BOB NIEBUHR Somebody is going to see (a bluebird) some place and somebody will see one a few days later somewher... BOB NIEBUHR I just got an e-mail from a woman in Red Deer, Alberta reporting that she saw one up there. We have ... BOB NIEBUHR The interesting thing is we have fledged 173,000-plus bluebirds in the last 10 years. It took a long... BOB NIEBUHR It is better to create than to be learned, creating is the true essence of life BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR It is better to create than to be learned, creating is the true essence of life. BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR We must face the recognition that what the early Christians saw in Jesus Christ, and what we must ac... H. RICHARD NIEBUHR Commemoration of Lanfranc, Prior of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1089 The denominations, chu... H. RICHARD NIEBUHR The power and attraction Jesus Christ exercises over men never comes from him alone, but from him as... H. RICHARD NIEBUHR Institutions can never conserve without betraying the movements from which they proceed. The institu... H. RICHARD NIEBUHR Feast of Barnabas the Apostle The disorder of secularism is perhaps nowhere more apparent in our ... H. RICHARD NIEBUHR Everyone has some kind of philosophy, some general worldview, which to men of other views will seem ... H. RICHARD NIEBUHR