[Dialogue] Bonhoeffer quote

[Terry Bergdall]

The correct version (except for the outdated exclusive language) is better than my memory:

"The ultimate question for a responsible man to ask, is not how to extricate himself heroically from the affair, but how the coming generation is to live."

A Google search revealed this to have been quoted in M. Bosanquet, The Life and Death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (New York: Harper, 1962), p. 221.


On 10 Dec 2010, at 08:41, Terry Bergdall wrote:

> On 10 Dec 2010, at 07:34, James Wiegel wrote:
>> I like George's quote, isn't there a similar one by Bonhoeffer?  something about the challenge is not how to survive, but how the future generations will live . . .
> 
> I am not sure about its source nor its exact phrasing (though I think this is close), but here is something I recall:
> 
> "The question the man of responsibility asks is not 'how can we extricate ourselves from the current situation' but rather 'how is the coming generation to live?'"
> 
> Since I've remembered it for over 40 years, it obviously made a big impression on me.
> 
> Terry