Liberal democracy is worth defending, not because it fulfills a moral ideal or because modern civilized types deserve nothing less, but because it is… - Reinhold Niebuhr

The ice is not very thick; the ocean beneath it is deep and tempestuous; and the sun above is warm and melting.

Great achievement! I learn how to be tolerant when I become the victim of somebody else's spiritual pride [1928].

"My personal attitude toward atheists is the same attitude that I have toward Christians, and would be governed by a very orthodox text: "By their fruits shall ye know them." I wouldn't judge a man by the presuppositions of his life, but only by the fruits of his life. And the fruits — the relevant fruits — are, I'd say, a sense of charity, a sense of proportion, a sense of justice. And whether the man is an atheist or a Christian, I would judge him by his fruits"