We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.

God does not love some ideal person, but rather human beings just as we are, not some ideal world, but rather the real world.

Must the Christian go around looking for a cross to bear, seeking to suffer? No, insisted Bonhoeffer. Opportunities for bearing crosses will occur along life's way and all that is required is the willingness to act when the time comes. The needs of the neighbor, especially those of the weak and downtrodden, the victimized and the persecuted, the ill and the lonely, will become abundantly evident.

Political action means taking on responsibility. This cannot happen without power. Power is to serve responsibility.

Right speech comes out of silence and right silence comes out of speech.

A person who loves community tends to destroy it. But a person who loves people creates community wherever he goes.

Christian community is like the Christian's sanctification. It is a gift of God which we cannot claim. Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification. What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God. Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature.