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

Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt.

Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of a meaning of our life.

The first duty of love is to listen.

Language... has created the word 'loneliness' to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word 'solitude' to express the glory of being alone.

Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith.

Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned.