Christ was crucified because he would have nothing to do with the crowd (even though he addressed himself to all). He did not want to form a party, an interest group, a mass movement, but wanted to be what he was, the truth, which is related to the single individual. Therefore everyone who will genuinely serve the truth is by that very fact a martyr. To win a crowd is no art; for that only untruth is needed, nonsense, and a little knowledge of human passions. But no witness to the truth dares to get involved with the crowd.

Happiness is the greatest hiding place for despair.

Prayer is a silent surrendering of everything to God.

What if everything in the world were a misunderstanding, what if laughter were really tears?

No time of life is so beautiful as the early days of love, when with every meeting, every glance, one fetches something new home to rejoice over.

...it is not the obscure passages in Scripture that bind you but the ones you understand. With these you are to comply at once. If you understood only one passage in all of Scripture, well, then you must do that first of all. It will be this passage God asks you about. Do not first sit down and ponder the obscure passages. God's Word is given in order that you shall act according to it, not that you gain expertise in interpreting it.

The more men believe an idea to be true the greater the likelihood that the idea is mistaken. Those who are right usually stand alone.