--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Redemption is possible, and it is the…" description: "\"Redemption is possible, and it is the measure of a civilized society.\" — Greg Boyle" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e3/greg-boyle-3692_civilized_redemption-is-possible-and-it-is-the-mea_2960702.png" --- # Redemption is possible, and it is the measure of a… ![“Redemption is possible, and it is the measure of a civilized society.” quote by Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e3/greg-boyle-3692_civilized_redemption-is-possible-and-it-is-the-mea_2960702.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e3/greg-boyle-3692_civilized_redemption-is-possible-and-it-is-the-mea_2960702.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e3/greg-boyle-3692_civilized_redemption-is-possible-and-it-is-the-mea_2960702.png) > “Redemption is possible, and it is the measure of a civilized society.” [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A society’s civility is reflected in its capacity to offer redemption to its members. **In simple terms:** Redemption shows a civilized society. Key Takeaway Promote forgiveness and second chances. Themes justice redemption civilization Mood hopeful serious Type philosophical social When to use this quote - criminal justice - education - community work Key Concepts rehabilitation social equity Questions to Reflect On - Who deserves a second chance? - How can redemption be fairly applied? A Different Perspective Redemption may be limited by systemic biases. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilized society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/) [Community](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) [Redemption](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/redemption/) [Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society/) ## Related quotes > [As a society, we come up lacking in many of the marks of compassion and wisdom by which we measure ourselves as civilized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/as-a-society-we-come-up-lacking-in-many-of-the-marks-of-compassion/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [The measure of civilized behavior is compassion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/the-measure-of-civilized-behavior-is-compassion/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [“Was it possible to measure what the heart felt?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-hawthorne/was-it-possible-to-measure-what-the-heart-felt/) [Rachel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-hawthorne/) > [“What many people failed to do then (and continue to fail to do today) is admit what happened, understand the context, and make sure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-fonda/what-many-people-failed-to-do-then-and-continue-to-fail-to-do-today/) [Jane Fonda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-fonda/) > [“Redemption becomes possible when we strive to find selflessness, conscience, and a capacity to love within ourselves where before there was none.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-ford/redemption-becomes-possible-when-we-strive-to-find-selflessness/) [Jim Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-ford/) > [Our better angels get clouded and we're more selfish than we should be, more anxious or neurotic or desperate or self-sabotaging. 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Is our only response to this the certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/the-truth-is-this-brutalized-victimized-children-invariably-will/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [I don't save people. God saves people. I can point them in the right direction. I can say, 'There's that door. I think if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/i-don-t-save-people-god-saves-people-i-can-point-them-in-the-right/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [Gang members aren't frightened into acceptable behavior by increased penalties, enhanced punishments, and the promise of new detention facilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/gang-members-aren-t-frightened-into-acceptable-behavior-by-increased/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [The idea that any law enforcement agency or person would ever know these gang members better than Homeboy Industries is impossible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/the-idea-that-any-law-enforcement-agency-or-person-would-ever-know/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [You can't reason with gang violence: you can't talk to it, sit it at the table, and negotiate with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/you-can-t-reason-with-gang-violence-you-can-t-talk-to-it-sit-it-at/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [I have never seen a hopeful person join a gang.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/i-have-never-seen-a-hopeful-person-join-a-gang/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [Most citizens viewing the tape of Rodney G. King being beaten by police officers were stunned and uncomprehending. Most citizens, that is, but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/most-citizens-viewing-the-tape-of-rodney-g-king-being-beaten-by/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [“On most days, if I'm true to myself, I just want to share my life with the poor, regardless of result. I want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/on-most-days-if-i-m-true-to-myself-i-just-want-to-share-my-life-with/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [The poor evangelize you about what's important and what is the Gospel, and that that's where the joy is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/the-poor-evangelize-you-about-what-s-important-and-what-is-the-gospel/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [“Leon Dufour, a world-renowned Jesuit theologian and Scripture scholar, a year before he died at ninety-nine, confided in a Jesuit who was caring for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/leon-dufour-a-world-renowned-jesuit-theologian-and-scripture-scholar/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [When the vastness of God meets the restriction of our own humanity, words can't hold it. The best we can do is find the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/when-the-vastness-of-god-meets-the-restriction-of-our-own-humanity/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [I spent the summers of 1984 and 1985 as an associate pastor at Dolores Mission Church, the poorest parish in the Los Angeles archdiocese.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/i-spent-the-summers-of-1984-and-1985-as-an-associate-pastor-at/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [The margins don't get erased by simply insisting that the powers-that-be erase them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/the-margins-don-t-get-erased-by-simply-insisting-that-the-powers-that/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [It has become an accepted tenet that kids will rarely listen to their parents but seldom fail to imitate them. Communicating the message has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/it-has-become-an-accepted-tenet-that-kids-will-rarely-listen-to-their/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) > [There is no such thing as a bad cop, only disturbing and dominant cop thinking that will invariably lead to excessive force and tragic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-boyle/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-bad-cop-only-disturbing-and-dominant-cop/) [Greg Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) [Explore all 124 Greg Boyle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-boyle/) ## More Civilized quotes > [ That country \[Carthage\] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws;… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinking-into-the-state-of-barbarism/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [Be neither too early in the fashion, nor too long out of it, nor too precisely in it; what custom hath civilized is become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-quarles/be-neither-too-early-in-the-fashion-nor-too-long-out-of-it-nor-too/) [Francis Quarles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-quarles/) > [Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/wine-is-one-of-the-most-civilized-things-in-the-world-and-one-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Civilized nations are ones that simply can't endure wrongs or injustice except at home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-anderson/civilized-nations-are-ones-that-simply-can-t-endure-wrongs-or/) Joseph Anderson > [Our guiding principle was that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but simply an integral part of the stuff of life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-gropius/our-guiding-principle-was-that-design-is-neither-an-intellectual-nor/) [Walter Gropius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-gropius/) > [War is not civilized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/talib-kweli/war-is-not-civilized/) [Talib Kweli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/talib-kweli/) > [For it is an absurdity to call a country civilized in which a decent and industrious man, laboriously mastering a trade which is valuble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-an-absurdity-to-call-a-country-civilized-in-which-a-decent/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roosevelt/no-people-is-wholly-civilized-where-a-distinction-is-drawn-between/) [Theodore Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roosevelt/) > [Mine was, as it were, the connecting link between wild and cultivated fields; as some states are civilized, and others half-civilized, and others savage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/mine-was-as-it-were-the-connecting-link-between-wild-and-cultivated/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [The military mind is indeed a menace. Old-fashioned futurity that sees only men fighting and dying in smoke and fire; hears nothing more civilized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-o-casey/the-military-mind-is-indeed-a-menace-old-fashioned-futurity-that-sees/) [Sean O'Casey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-o-casey/) > [As long as there are prisons, police, armies, navies; we are not civilized. When the Earth joins together and uses the Earth intelligently, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacque-fresco/as-long-as-there-are-prisons-police-armies-navies-we-are-not/) [Jacque Fresco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacque-fresco/) > [We're all intrigued, in our civilized world that we live in, and curious about how we would get on, on an undiscovered island that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hiddleston/we-re-all-intrigued-in-our-civilized-world-that-we-live-in-and/) [Tom Hiddleston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hiddleston/) > [When passions and appetites are stronger than the intellect, men are savages; when the intellect governs the passions, when the passions are servants, men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/when-passions-and-appetites-are-stronger-than-the-intellect-men-are/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [The malady of civilized man is his knowledge of death. 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