William Sloane Coffin Quotes - Page 3

I'm delighted that the future is unsure. That's the way it should be.

Nuclear Weapons merit unequivocal and unhesitating condemnation

Fear destroys intimacy. It distances us from each other; or makes us cling to each other, which is the death of freedom.... Only love can create intimacy, and freedom too, for when all hearts are one, nothing else has to be one--neither clothes nor age; neither sex nor sexual preference; race nor mind-set.

Christians have no business thinking that the good life consists mainly in not doing bad things. We have no business thinking that to do evil in this world you have to be a Bengal tiger, when, in fact, it is enough to be a tame tabby—a nice person but not a good one. In short, Pentecost makes it clear that nothing is so fatal to Christianity as indifference.

I asked an 85 year old professor, 'What makes you cry?' He said, 'Whenever I see or hear the truth.'

Isn't that what growing up is all about - learning to outlast despair?

What is faith? Faith is being grasped by the power of love.

Love is in the giver, not the gift.

Without love, violence will change the world; it will change it into a more violent one.

The woman most in need of liberation is the woman in every man and the man in every woman.

God knows it is emotionally satisfying to be righteous with that righteousness that nourishes itself on the blood of sinners. But God also knows that what is emotionally satisfying can be spiritually devastating.

It's so much easier to beat your breast than to stick your neck out.

Truth is always in danger of being sacrificed on the altars of good taste and social stability.

We call on all members of America's religious communities, as a testament of our common faith, to join Faithful Security, and to take action immediately to break faith with nuclear weapons.

It's too bad that one has to conceive of sports as being the only arena where risks are, [for] all of life is risk exercise. That's the only way to live more freely, and more interestingly.