William Sloane Coffin

"Violence is a form of despair. It is what people resort to when they feel they have no other choice."

"The Scriptures tell us that the wheat and the tares grow together, the good fish and the bad in the same net."

"To be a disciple of Jesus is to step out of whatever security blankets we have."

"The real impediment to action is fear."

"I say that we have not even to risk the winning of the world for the winning of it is assured."

"It is a sad day in America when the pulpit becomes a place only to comfort the afflicted and not to afflict the comfortable."

"I believe in the fundamental decency of human nature."

"We all want to be justified. That is our deepest need."

"The task of a radical is to make visible the invisible."

"You cannot be alive, truly alive, and not care deeply about what is happening in the world."

"God is love, and therefore nothing can go on in the world that is not under the scrutiny of divine love."

"To alienate youth we must offer them what they cannot stomach with their conscience."

"The very least we can do is to acknowledge a connection between what we put in our mouths and where it came from."

"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."

"I believe in the resurrection not just as a doctrine but as a dimension of life."

"Suffering is imposed on us. But meaning is something we must choose."

"The spirit of patriotism demands that we support our country, not that we support the government."

"We want a peace based on justice and not on oppression."

"It comes down to this: the great religious traditions insist that we are not ourselves alone."

"I believe the revolution in nonviolent action is absolutely essential."

"The purpose of religion is transformation, not merely information."

"I don't want all my answers to come from the past because I also want to understand the future."

"We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools."

"Love is the only superpower and it's free."

"God is not a concept you can grasp with your mind; God is an experience you can have in your heart."

"The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children."

"I think it's a misunderstanding to equate faith with certainty."

"Our task is to provide what we have to where we think there is a need."