It is infinitely easier to suffer in obedience to a human command than to accept suffering as free, responsible men.

Telling the truth ... is not solely a matter of moral character; it is also a matter of correct appreciation of real situations and of serious reflection upon them.

It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe others.

Fulfilled life is possible in spite of unfulfilled wishes.

Discipleship is not an offer that man makes to Christ.

Neighbourliness is not a quality in other people, it is simply their claim on ourselves.

Pain is a holy angel who shows us treasures that would otherwise remain forever hidden; through him men and women have become greater than through all the joys of the world. It must be so and I tell myself this in my present situation over and over again. The pain of suffering and of longing, which can often be felt even physically, must be there, and we cannot and need not talk it away. But it needs to be overcome every time, and thus there is an even holier angel than the one of pain; that is, the one of joy in God.