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"What is worse than doing evil, is being evil (Ethics, p.67). To lie is wrong, but what is worse than the lie is the liar, for the liar contaminates everything he says, because everything he says is meant to further a cause that is false. The liar as liar has endorsed a world of falsehood and deception, and to focus only on the truth or falsity of his particular statements is to miss the danger of being caught up in his twisted world. This is why, as Bonhoeffer says, that "(i)t is worse for a liar to tell the truth than for a lover of truth to lie (Ethics, p.67)."
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"Ethics are the things that say, 'Don't stick your finger in the socket.' The world says, 'It's okay because we've shut off the electricity.' And at the point that we've chosen to listen to the world and ignore our ethics, we say, 'I'm having a really hard time getting back up."
"Do not treat others as you would not like to be treated' frees one from hypocrisy. 'Treat others as you would like to be treated' enslaves one with insincerity."
"A man becomes trustworthy when you trust him."
Explore more quotes by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes - and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent."
"If we would answer the question of the existence of the Evil then we would not be sinners, we could make something else responsible."
"Perhaps you still think you ought to think out beforehand and know what you ought to do. To that there is only one answer. You can only know and think about it by actually doing it. You can only learn what obedience is by obeying. It is no use asking questions, for it is only through obedience that you come to learn the truth."
"If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction."
"We should never argue with the devil about our sins, but we should speak about our sins only with Jesus."
"The worse the evil, the readier must the Christian be to suffer it; he must let the evil person fall into Jesus' hands."
"Not in the flight of ideas, but only in action is freedom. Make up your mind and come out into the tempest of the living."
"While it is good that we seek to know the Holy One, it is probably not so good to presume that we ever complete the task."
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