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, can be accomplished alone;
therefore we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite as virtuous
from the
standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint.
Therefore we must be saved by the final form
of love which is forgiveness.
Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American
History
