13 Quotes by Reinhold Niebuhr about men

  • Author Reinhold Niebuhr
  • Quote

    It is the evil in man that makes democracy necessary, and man's belief in justice that makes democracy possible.

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  • Author Reinhold Niebuhr
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    Original sin is that thing about man which makes him capable of conceiving of his own perfection and incapable of achieving it.

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  • Author Reinhold Niebuhr
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    Nationalism: One of the effective ways in which the modern man escapes life's ethical problems.

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  • Author Reinhold Niebuhr
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    Reason is not the sole basis of moral virtue in man. His social impulses are more deeply rooted than his rational life.

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  • Author Reinhold Niebuhr
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    [There is] an increasing tendency among modern men to imagine themselves ethical because they have delegated their vices to larger and larger groups.

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  • Author Reinhold Niebuhr
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    Man is both strong and weak, both free and bound, both blind and far-seeing. He stands at the juncture of nature and spirit; and is involved in both freedom and necessity.

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  • Author Reinhold Niebuhr
  • Quote

    The essence of man is his freedom. Sin is committed in that freedom. Sin can therefore not be attributed to a defect in his essence. It can only be understood as a self-contradiction, made possible by the fact of his freedom but not following necessarily from it.

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