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date: 17 May 2025

Reinhold Niebuhr 1892–1971
American theologian 

  1. Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
    Children of Light and Children of Darkness (1944) foreword
  2. God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed;
    Give us the courage to change what should be changed;
    Give us the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.
     
    prayer said to have been first published in 1951; Richard Wightman Fox Reinhold Niebuhr (1985)