Paul Tillich was a German theologian, philosopher, and Lutheran Protestant pastor. He was influential in Protestant theology in the 20th century and is widely regarded as one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the 20th century. He is best known for his works The Courage to Be, Dynamics of Faith, and Theology of Culture. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Paul Tillich on faith, god, suffering.
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.
We have to build a better man before we can build a better society.
Faith is an act of a finite being who is grasped by, and turned to, the infinite.
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.
Every institution is inherently demonic.
He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.
Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith.
I hope for the day when everyone can speak again of God without embarrassment.
Paul Tillich inspirational quote
Paul Tillich Image Quotes
Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith. — Paul Tillich
I hope for the day when everyone can speak again of God without embarrassment. — Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich Short Quotes
Doubt is the necessary tool of knowledge.
Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free.
The passion for truth is silenced by answers which have the weight of undisputed authority.
Loneliness can be conquered only by those who can bear solitude.
Astonishment is the root of philosophy.
Cruelty towards others is always also cruelty towards ourselves.
Morality [or ethics] is not a subject; it is a life put to the test in dozens of moments.
Neurosis is the way of avoiding non-being by avoiding being.
Boredom is rage spread thin.
Cynically speaking, one could say that it is true to life to be cynical about it.
Paul Tillich Quotes About Faith
Sometimes I think it is my mission to bring faith to the faithless, and doubt to the faithful. — Paul Tillich
Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith. — Paul Tillich
The separation of faith and love is always a consequence of a deterioration of religion. — Paul Tillich
Faith as the state of being ultimately concerned implies love, namely, the desire and urge toward the reunion of the seperated. — Paul Tillich
In the courageous standing of uncertainty, faith shows most visibly its dynamic character. — Paul Tillich
Fear is the absence of faith. — Paul Tillich
Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned. — Paul Tillich
Faith embraces itself and the doubt about itself. — Paul Tillich
Where there is faith there is an awareness of holiness. — Paul Tillich
There is faith in every serious doubt, namely, the faith in the truth as such, even if the only truth we can express is our lack of truth. — Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich Quotes About God
The abundance of a grateful heart gives honor to God even if it does not turn to Him in words. An unbeliever who is filled with thanks for his very being has ceased to be an unbeliever. — Paul Tillich
The name of this infinite and inexhaustible depth and ground of all being is God. — Paul Tillich
The courage to be is rooted in the God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt. — Paul Tillich
He who knows about depth knows about God. — Paul Tillich
God does not exist. He is being-itself beyond essence and existence. Therefore to argue that God exists is to deny him. — Paul Tillich
There is no place to which we could flee from God, which is outside of God. — Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich Quotes About Love
Genuine forgiveness is participation, reunion overcoming the powers of estrangement. . . We cannot love unless we have accepted forgiveness, and the deeper our experience of forgiveness is, the greater is our love. — Paul Tillich
All things and all people, so to speak, call on us with small or loud voices. They want us to listen. They want us to understand their intrinsic claims, their justice of being. But we can give it to them only through the love that listens. — Paul Tillich
I loved thee beautiful and kind, And plighted an eternal vow; So altered are thy face and mind, t'were perjury to love thee now! — Paul Tillich
I have given no definition of love. This is impossible, because there is no higher principle by which it could be defined. It is life itself in its actual unity. The forms and structures in which love embodies itself are the forms and structures in which love overcomes its self-destructive forces. — Paul Tillich
For love ... is the blood of life, the power of reunion in the separated. — Paul Tillich
...history has shown that the most terrible crimes against love have been committed in the name of fanatically defended doctrines. — Paul Tillich
Courage is a greater virtue than love. At best, it takes courage to love. — Paul Tillich
Wisdom loves the children of men, but she prefers those who come through foolishness to wisdom. — Paul Tillich
Parents need to listen as much to their kids as they do to them: "The first duty of love is to listen." — Paul Tillich
There is no love which does not become help. — Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich Quotes About Existentialism
Existential anxiety of doubt drives the person toward the creation of certitude of systems of meaning, which are supported by tradition and authority. Neurotic anxiety builds a narrow castle of certitude which can be defended with the utmost certainty. — Paul Tillich
The existential attitude is one of involvement in contrast to a merely theoretical or detached attitude. "Existential" in this sense can be defined as participating in a situation, especially a cognitive situation, with the whole of one's existence. — Paul Tillich
Only the philosophical question is perennial, not the answers. — Paul Tillich
Man is not what he believes himself to be in his conscious decisions. — Paul Tillich
But freedom is the possibility of a total and centered act of the personality, an act in which all the drives and influences which constitute the destiny of man are brought into the centered unity of a decision. — Paul Tillich
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 — Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich Quotes About Express
Man's ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically, because symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate. — Paul Tillich
Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of 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. — Paul Tillich
Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone, and the word solitude to express the glory of being alone. — Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich Quotes About Created
Enthusiasm for the universe, in knowing as well as in creating, also answers the question of doubt and meaninglessness. Doubt is the necessary tool of knowledge. And meaninglessness is no threat so long as enthusiasm for the universe and for man as its center is alive. — Paul Tillich
Man and nature belong together in their created glory – in their tragedy and in their salvation. — Paul Tillich
The affirmation of one's essential being in spite of desires and anxieties creates joy. — Paul Tillich
Man is able to decide for or against reason, he is able to create beyond reason or to destroy below reason — Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich Quotes About Pain
Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. — Paul Tillich
The joy about our work is spoiled when we perform it not because of what we produce but because of the pleasure with which it can provide us, or the pain against which it can protect us. — Paul Tillich
Grace strikes us when we are in great pain ....Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying, 'You are accepted.' — Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich Famous Quotes And Sayings
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 — Paul Tillich
The character of human life, like the character of the human condition, like the character of all life, is "ambiguity": the inseparable mixture of good and evil, the true and false, the creative and destructive forces-both individual and social. — Paul Tillich
Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith. — Paul Tillich
The most intimate motions within the depths of our souls are not completely our own. For they belong also to our friends, to humankind, to the universe, and the Ground of all being, the aim of our life. — Paul Tillich
I hope for the day when everyone can speak again of God without embarrassment. — Paul Tillich
The basic anxiety, the anxiety of a finite being about the threat of non-being, cannot be eliminated. It belongs to existence itself. — Paul Tillich
Being human means asking the questions of one's own being and living under the impact of the answers given to this question. And, conversely, being human means receiving answers to the questions of one's own being and asking questions under the impact of the answers. — Paul Tillich
The awareness of the ambiguity of one's highest achievements, as well as one's deepest failures is a definite symptom of maturity. — Paul Tillich
The anxiety of fate is conquered by the self-affirmation of the individual as an infinitely significant microcosmic representation of the universe . — Paul Tillich
Individualism is the self-affirmation of the individual self as individual self without regard to its participation in its world. As such it is the opposite of collectivism, the self affirmation of the self as part of a larger whole without regard to its character as an individual self. — Paul Tillich
Anxiety may consist of the loss of psychological or spiritual meaning which is identified with one's existence as a self, i.e., the threat of meaninglessness. — Paul Tillich
Nothing truly real is forgotten eternally, because everything real comes from eternity and goes to eternity. — Paul Tillich
Theology moves back and forth between two poles, the eternal truth of its foundations and the temporal situation in which the eternal truth must be received. — Paul Tillich
Mystical identification transcends the aristocratic virtue of courageous self-sacrifice. It is self- surrender in a higher, more complete, and more complete and more radical form. It is the perfect form of self-affirmation. — Paul Tillich
Since the last decades of the nineteenth century, revolt against the objectified world has determined the character of art and literature. — Paul Tillich
The vitality that can stand the abyss of meaninglessness is aware of a hidden meaning within the destruction of meaning. — Paul Tillich
In Calvinism and sectarianism man became more and more transformed into an abstract moral subject, as in Descartes he was considered an epistemological subject. — Paul Tillich
The courage to be as oneself within the atmosphere of Enlightenment is the courage to affirm oneself as a bridge from a lower to a higher state of rationality. It is obvious that this kind of courage to be must become conformist the moment its revolutionary attack on that which contradicts reason has ceased, namely in the victorious bourgeoisie. — Paul Tillich
Fear, as opposed to anxiety, has a definite object, which can be faced, analyzed, attacked, endured... anxiety has no object, or rather, in a paradoxical phrase, its object is the negation of every object. — Paul Tillich
Out of the element of participation follows the certainty of faith; out of the element of separation follows the doubt in faith. And each is essential for the nature of faith. Sometimes certainty conquers doubt, but it cannot eliminate doubt. The conquered of today may become the conqueror of tomorrow. Sometimes doubt conquers faith, but it still contains faith. Otherwise it would be indifference. — Paul Tillich
One cannot be strong without love. For love is not an irrelevant emotion; it is the blood of life. — Paul Tillich
Spirit is the presence of what concerns us ultimately, the ground of our being and meaning. — Paul Tillich
Every person, every place and every action is qualified by this association with the unconditional; it penetrates every moment of daily life and sanctifies it: "The Universe is God's sanctuary. Every work day is a day of the Lord, every supper is a Lord's supper, every work a fulfillment of the divine task, every joy a joy in God. In all preliminary concerns, ultimate concern is present, consecrating them." — Paul Tillich
[American] conformism might approximate collectivism, not so much in economic respects, and not too much in political respects, but very much in the pattern of daily life and thought. Whether this will happen or not, and if it does to what degree, is partly dependent on the power of resistance in those who represent the opposite pole of the courage to be, the courage to be as oneself. — Paul Tillich
Wine is like the incarnation--it is both divine and human — Paul Tillich
Culture (science) is the form of religion; Religion is the substance of culture (science). — Paul Tillich
Plato ... teaches the separation of the human soul from its " home " in the realm of pure essences. Man is estranged from what he essentially is. His existence in a transitory world contradicts his essential participation in the eternal world of ideas . — Paul Tillich
Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt. — Paul Tillich
The fatal pedagogical error is to throw answers like stones at the heads of those who have not yet asked the questions. — Paul Tillich
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
Accept the fact that you are accepted, despite the fact that you are unacceptable. — Paul Tillich
Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful. — Paul Tillich
Destiny is not a strange power which determines what shall happen to me. It is myself as given, formed by nature, history, and myself. My destiny is the basis of my freedom; my freedom participates in shaping my destiny. — Paul Tillich
Love that cares, listens. — Paul Tillich
Faith as ultimate concern is an act of the total personality. It happens in the center of the personal life and includes all its elements. Faith is the most centered act of the human mind. It is not a movement of a special section or a special function of man's total being. They all are united in the act of faith. — Paul Tillich
There is no condition for forgiveness. — Paul Tillich
Forgiving presupposes remembering. — Paul Tillich
Love is the infinite which is given to the finite. — Paul Tillich
If my tongue were trained to measures, I would sing a stirring song. — Paul Tillich
You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted! — Paul Tillich
We are known in a depth of darkness through which we ourselves do not even dare to look. And at the same time, we are seen in a height of a fullness which surpasses our highest vision. — Paul Tillich
Our search for such [moral] principles can start with . . . the unconditional imperative to acknowledge every person as a person. If we ask for the contents given by this absolute, we find, first, something negative-the command not to treat a person as a thing. This seems little, but it is much. It is the core of the principle of justice. — Paul Tillich
Man is asked to make of himself what he is supposed to become to fulfill his destiny. — Paul Tillich
In the depth of the anxiety of having to die is the anxiety of being eternally forgotten. — Paul Tillich
Life Lessons by Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich taught that the courage to be is essential for living a meaningful life, encouraging us to accept our anxieties and fears and to strive for authenticity.
He also believed that faith is not a matter of believing certain doctrines, but rather a state of being open to the mystery of life and its possibilities.
Finally, he argued that true faith is not a matter of believing certain doctrines, but rather a matter of living in accordance with one's deepest convictions.
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