Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

Paul Tillich Philosopher

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: Aug 20, 1886
  • Died: Oct 22, 1965

Paul Johannes Tillich was a German American Christian existentialist philosopher and theologian who is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. Among the general public, he is best known for his works The Courage to Be and Dynamics of Faith, which introduced issues of theology and modern culture to a general readership. Theologically, he is best known for his major three-volume work Systematic Theology in which he developed his "method of correlation", an approach of exploring the symbols of Christian revelation as answers to the problems of human existence raised by contemporary existential philosophical analysis.

Doubt is not the opposite of faith it is one element of faith.

He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.

The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable.

The first duty of love is to listen.

Faith is an act of a finite being who is grasped by, and turned to, the infinite.

Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned.

Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.

The courage to be is rooted in the God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt.

Man's ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically, because symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate.

I hope for the day when everyone can speak again of God without embarrassment.

Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free.