17 Quotes by Dietrich von Hildebrand

The soldier of Christ is obligated to fight against sin and error. His battle against the Antichrist is prompted by his loved for Christ, and for the salvation of souls. He fights this battle for the salvation of those who have gone astray. His attitude is one of true love. But those who flee from the inevitable battle, and treat irenically those who have gone astray, obfuscating their error and playing down their revolt against God, are, fundamentally, victims of egoism and complacency.

Beauty kindles love, and only the one who remains captivated by it, only the one who is intoxicated by it, only the one who remains a lover while he is investigating its essence, can hope to penetrate its essence.

The way to attain the virtue of mercy lies in our constant awareness of being encompassed by mercy.

The great mystery of our metaphysical situation, that God is nearer to us than we are ourselves, is manifest in the fact that we cannot even be wholly ourselves – in the sense of individuality as a unique divine thought – until we are reborn in Christ.

There are really no serious arguments for communion in the hand. But there are the most gravely serious kinds of arguments against it.

Better to be a beggar in freedom than to be forced into compromises against my conscience.

The more our life is permeated by God, the simpler it becomes. This simplicity is defined by the inward unity which our life assumes because we no longer seek for any but one end: God. No.

Humility involves the full knowledge of our status as creatures, a clear consciousness of having received everything we have from God.

Love alone brings a human being to full awareness of personal existence. For it is in love alone that man finds room enough to be what he is.