The Christian must treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. His behavior must be determined not by the way others treat him, but by the treatment he himself receives from Jesus; it has only one source, and that is the will of Jesus.

The preaching of grace can only be protected by the preaching of repentance.

Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy.

Being free means "being free for the other," because the other has bound me to him. Only in relationship with the other am I free

The gift of Christ is not the Christian religion, but the grace and love of God which culminate in the cross.

I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer, before taking off his prison garb, kneeling on the floor praying fervently to his God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued in a few seconds. In the almost 50 years that I have worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.

Monastic life thus became a living protest against the secularization of Christianity, against the cheapening of grace.