Dietrich Bonhoeffer was imprisoned and later executed (in 1944) by Nazi Germany.  While in prison, he wrote many letters that were smuggled out.  Here are some quotations from those letters:

“It is only when one submits to God’s law that one can speak of grace.”

“Falsehood is the destruction of, and hostility to, reality as it is in God.”

“It seems to me more important actually to share someone’s distress than to use smooth words about it.’

“People do not want to feel alone in times of danger, but to be sure of some invisible presence.”

“A man can and must plan, develop, and shape his own life, and that life has a purpose, about which a man must make up his mind and which he must then pursue with all his strength.”

“Jesus claims for Himself and the Kingdom of God the whole of human life in all its manifestations.”

“If you set out to seek freedom, then learn above all things to govern your soul and your senses, for fear that your passions and longings may lead you away from the path you should follow.”

“How great a power there is in a hope that is based on certainty, and how invincible a life with such hope is.  ‘Christ our hope’ — this Pauline formula is the strength of our lives.”

“The beyond is not what is infinitely remote, but what is nearest at hand.”

“Absolute seriousness is never without a dash of humor.”

“Our relation to God is a new life in existence for others through participation in the being of Jesus.”

“The Church is the Church only when it exists for others.”

“Some people are spoilt by being satisfied with mediocrity.”

“For many today man is just a part of the world of things, because the experience of the human simply eludes them.”

“It is certain that we may always live close to God and in the light of His presence, and that such living is an entirely new life for us; that nothing is then impossible for us, because all things are possible with God.”