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“Reformation theology” … pretends to prefer to Pharasaic ostentation a modest invisibility, which in practice means conformity to the world. When that happens, the hallmark of the Church becomes justitia civilis instead of extraordinary visibility. The very failure of the light to shine becomes the touchstone of our Christianity.

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer Discipleship (1937)

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Humility

More quotes by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting to-day for costly grace.

Costly Grace (1937)

Civil courage, in fact, can grow only out of the free responsibility of free men.

Letters and Papers from Prison (1967)

The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts.

Letters and Papers from Prison (1967)

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Costly Grace (1937)

Before Jesus leads His disciples into suffering, humiliation, disgrace, and disdain, He summons them and shows Himself to them as the Lord in God's glory.

Meditations on the Cross (1996)

All Dietrich Bonhoeffer quotes →

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Be wise;
Soar not too high, to fall; but stoop to rise.

Philip Massinger Duke of Milan (1623)

Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Jesus

At very best, a person wrapped up in himself makes a small package.

Harry Emerson Fosdick On Being a Real Person (1943)

Modesty is an unnatural attitude, and one which is only with difficulty taught to children.

Isaac Asimov The Early Asimov Book Two (1972)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.