It is my strong conviction that a realist conception of human nature should be made a servant of an ethic of progressive justice and should not be made into a bastion of conservatism, particularly a conservatism which defends unjust privileges.

Change what cannot be accepted and accept what cannot be changed.

There must be equality of all men before God and in a democratic society. Now that's one of the great achievements.

Civilization depends upon the vigorous pursuit of the highest values by people who are intelligent enough to know that their values are qualified by their interests and corrupted by their prejudices.

The separation of church and state is necessary partly because if religion is good then the state shouldn't interfere with the religious vision or with the religious prophet.

All social cooperation on a larger scale than the most intimate social group requires a measure of coercion.

I think that the achievements of Catholicism on race are very, very impressive.