51 Quotes & Sayings By Paul Tillich

Astonishment is the root of philosophy. Paul Tillich

Faith includes both an immediate awareness of something unconditional and the courage to take the risk of uncertainty upon itself. Faith says "Yes" in spite of the anxiety of "No."Biblical Religion and the Search for Ultimate Reality 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 Paul Tillich

Only if God IS ultimate reality, can he be our unconditional concern; only then can he be the object of surrender, obedience, and assent. Faith in anything which has only preliminary reality is idolatrous. Paul Tillich

Faith…is a concern of the whole person; it is the most personal concern, and that which determines all others. …it is not something which we can produce by the will to believe, but that by which we are grasped. Paul Tillich

Our language has wisely sensed these two sides of man’s 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

Our language has wisely sensed these two sides of man’s 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. Although, in daily life, we do not always distinguish these words, we should do so consistently and thus deepen our understanding of our human predicament. Paul Tillich

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. Paul Tillich

Man lives 'in' meanings, in that which is valid logically, esthetically, religiously. The most fundamental expression of this fact is the language which gives man the power to abstract from the concretely given and, after having abstracted from it, to return to it, to interpret and transform it. The most vital being is the being which has the word and is by the word liberated from bondage to the given. Paul Tillich

Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life. It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. 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

Man is the question he asks about himself, before any question has been formulated. It is, therefore, not surprising that the basic questions were formulated very early in the history of mankind. Paul Tillich

This is biblical ethics. It has little to do with the middle-class ethics of avoiding a few things which are supposed to be wrong and doing a few things which are supposed to be right. Biblical ethics means standing in ultimate decisions for or against God. Paul Tillich

...sin is separation. 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

[a] characteristic of a symbol is that it opens up levels of reality which otherwise are closed for us.[a symbol] also unlocks dimensions and elements of our soul which correspond to the dimensions and elements of reality. A great play gives us not only a new vision of the human scene, but it opens up hidden depths of our own being. Paul Tillich

Reason is the presupposition of faith, and faith is the fulfillment of reason. Paul Tillich

Christianity sees in the picture of Jesus as the Christ a human life in which all forms of anxiety are present but in which all forms of despair are absent. Paul Tillich

It is most important for the practice of the Christian ministry, especially in its missionary activities toward those both within and without the Christian culture, to consider pagans, humanists, and Jews as members of the latent Spiritual Community and not as complete strangers who are invited into the Spiritual Community from outside. This insight serves as a powerful weapon against ecclesiastical and hierarchical arrogance. Paul Tillich

...only the philosophical question is perennial, not the answers. Paul Tillich

Neurosis is the way of avoiding non-being by avoiding being. Paul Tillich

Boredom is rage spread thin. Paul Tillich

The first duty of love is to listen. Paul Tillich

Faith is an act of a finite being who is grasped by and turned to the infinite. Paul Tillich

"You are accepted! " ... accepted by that which is greater than you and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask the name now perhaps you will know it later. Do not try to do anything 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

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

For love ... is the blood of life the power of reunion in the separated. 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

The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself in spite of being unacceptable. Paul Tillich

Fear is the absence of faith. Paul Tillich

The passion for truth is silenced by answers which have the weight of undisputed authority. 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

I hope for the day when everyone can speak again of God without embarrassment. Paul Tillich

He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being. 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

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 courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable. Paul Tillich

Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free. Paul Tillich

The courage to be is rooted in the God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt. Paul Tillich

Doubt is not the opposite of faith it is one element of faith. 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

Faith is an act of a finite being who is grasped by, and turned to, the infinite. Paul Tillich

Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned. Paul Tillich

Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone. Paul Tillich

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. 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

Man's ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically, because symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate. Paul Tillich