Harry Emerson FosdickThinkers

Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people.

God is not a cosmic bellboy for whom we can press a button to get things.

Hatred is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat.

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.

Nationalism is deep within a man's heart. Only the poor patriot is incapable of understanding how all men everywhere feel about their altars and their hearthstones, their flag and their fatherland.

Patriotism is understanding how all men everywhere feel about their altars and their hearthstones, their flag and their fatherland.

Prayer is not asking for things. God is not a cosmic bellboy for whom we can press a button to get things.

Preaching is personal counseling on a group basis.

Preaching is he discharge of a pipette of eye medicine from a third story window into a crowded street in the hope that it will hit someone in the right place.

Retirement is a situation where one shouldn't retire from something, but rather one should have something to retire to.

War is the greatest destroyer of democracy in the world.