<blockquote class="templatequote">Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime;
therefore, we must be saved by hope.
Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
therefore, we must be saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, could be accomplished alone;
therefore, we must be saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our own standpoint;
therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.
—[Reinhold Niebuhr](/Reinhold_Niebuhr), **[The Irony of American History - 1952](http://www.amazon.com/Irony-American-History-Reinhold-Niebuhr/dp/0226583988)**
</blockquote>