Nothing worth doing is completed in
our lifetime; therefore, we are saved
by hope. Nothing true or beautiful or
good makes complete sense in any
immediate context of history;
therefore, we are 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
from our own,; therefore, we are
saved by the final form of love,
which is forgiveness.
-Reinhold Niebuhr