Home > Christian History & Biography > Quote of the Week
Quote of the Week
posted 05/08/08
"For a servant of God to have authority in every sentence he utters, he must first suffer for the message he is to deliver. Without great tribulation, there is no great illumination."
—John Sung, 20th-century Chinese evangelist
posted 05/01/08
"One man seems silent in speech, but is condemning other people with his heart—he is really talking incessantly. Another man seems to talk all day, yet keeps his silence, for he always speaks in a way that is useful to his hearers."
—Abba Poemen on true righteousness
posted 04/24/08
"Just as it is easier to sin in thought than in deed, correspondingly, it is more difficult to struggle with thoughts than with deeds."
—St. Maxim the Confessor (c.580-662)
posted 04/17/08
"I trust in the Lord God Almighty … that he will not take away from me the cup of his redemption, but firmly hope to drink from it today in his kingdom."
—John Huss (1369-1415)
posted 04/10/08
"I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music."
—J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
posted 04/03/08
"Even those who have renounced Christianity and attack it, in their inmost being still follow the Christian ideal, for hitherto neither their subtlety nor the ardor of their hearts has been able to create a higher ideal of man and of virtue than the ideal given by Christ."
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1812-1881)
posted 03/27/08
"No other sentiment draws people to Jerusalem than the desire to see and touch the places where Christ was physically present … and to say 'We have gone into his tabernacle, and have worshipped in the places where his feet have stood.'"
—Paulinus of Nola (c.354-431) on the Holy Land
posted 03/20/08
"Christ hath trampled down death by death and become the First-born from the dead. he hath delivered us from the depths of Hades, granting the world great mercy."
—From an Orthodox hymn, Basil Kazan (1915-2001)
posted 03/13/08
"Your accumulated offences do not surpass the multitude of God's mercies: your wounds do not surpass the great Physician's skill."
—Cyril of Jerusalem (c.315-386)
posted 03/06/08
"As no darkness can be seen by anyone surrounded by light, so no trivialities can capture the attention of anyone who has his eyes on Christ."
—Gregory of Nyssa (c.330-c.395)
posted 02/28/08
"Let us remember the poor, and not forget kindness to strangers; above all, let us love God with all our soul, and might, and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves."
—Athanasius (296-373)
posted 02/21/08
"Let us, therefore, forsake the vanity of the crowd and their false teachings and turn back to the word delivered to us from the beginning, "watching unto prayer" and continuing steadfast in fasting, beseeching fervently the all-seeing God "to lead us not into temptation, even as the Lord said, 'The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'"
—Polycarp (69-156)
posted 02/14/08
"The war made me poignantly aware of the beauty of the world."
—J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)
posted 02/07/08
"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen, nobody knows but Jesus. Nobody knows the trouble I've had, glory hallelujah."
—African American Spiritual
posted 01/31/08
"Do not be guilty of possessing a library of learned books while lacking learning yourself."
—Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)
posted 01/24/08
"The greatest gift that God in His bounty made in creation, and the most conformable to His goodness, and that which He prizes the most, was the freedom of will, with which the creatures with intelligence, they all and they alone, were and are endowed."
—Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
posted 01/17/08
"Do not wish to jump immediately from the streams to the sea, because one has to go through easier things to the more difficult."
—Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
posted 01/10/08
"Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal high priest himself, the Son of God Jesus Christ, build you up in faith and truth and in all gentleness and in all freedom from anger and forbearance and steadfastness and patient endurance and purity."
—Polycarp of Smyrna (69-156)
posted 01/03/08
"Who can describe the bond of God's love? Who is able to explain the majesty of its beauty? The height to which love leads is indescribable. … In love the master received us, Jesus Christ our Lord, in accordance with God's will gave his blood for us, and his flesh for our flesh, and his life for our lives."
—Clement of Rome (c. 96)
posted 12/27/07
"You can see that a city is prosperous by the wealth of goods for sale in the market. Land too we call prosperous if it bears rich fruit. And so also the soul may be counted prosperous if it is full of good works of every kind."
—Basil the Great (c.330-379)
posted 12/20/07
"Men forsook God, and made carved images of men. Since therefore an image of man was falsely worshipped as God, God became truly Man, that the falsehood might be done away."
—Cyril of Jerusalem (c.315-387)
posted 12/13/07
"We expect to receive again our own bodies, though they be dead and cast into the earth, for we maintain that with God nothing is impossible."
—Justin Martyr (100-165)
posted 12/06/07
"It is not necessary to seek the truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since the apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth."
—Ireneaus (c. 130-200)
posted 11/29/07
"The cross of Christ is the true ground and chief cause of Christian hope."
—Leo the Great (400-461)
posted 11/21/07
"Since the hour when Christ despoiled Hades, men have danced in triumph over death."
—Gregory Thaumaturgus (210-260)
posted 11/15/07
"As one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation."
—William Bradford (1590-1657)
posted 11/08/07
"Our faith is an astounding thing—astounding that I should believe him to be the Son of God who is suspended on the cross, whom I have never seen, with whom I have never become acquainted."
—Martin Luther (1483-1546)
posted 11/01/07
"[T]he Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost [are] three … not in condition, but in degree; not in substance, but in form; not in power, but in aspect; yet of one substance, and of one condition, and of one power, inasmuch as He is one God, from whom these degrees and forms and aspects are reckoned, under the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
—Tertullian (c. 160-c. 225)
posted 10/25/07
"I walked not in the way of righteousness. … But the Almighty God, who sits in the court of heaven, granted what I did not deserve."
—Constantine (280-337)
posted 10/18/07
"Pictures and ornaments in churches are the lessons and Scripture of the laity."
—William Durand in the thirteenth century
posted 10/11/07
"As for me, my charter is Jesus Christ, the inviolable charter is His cross and His death and resurrection, and faith through Him."
—Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35 — c. 107)
posted 10/04/07
"Religion that arises only from superficial impressions is wont to wither away … when it comes to be tried by … difficulties."
—Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
posted 09/27/07
"Peace be with you O Jerusalem, peace be with you O Holy Land, peace on the whole land; Christ who chose you will deliver you."
—Jerusalem Patriarch Zachariah, 7th century
posted 09/20/07
"Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise."
—Martin Luther (1483-1546)
posted 09/13/07
"Where there is Love and Wisdom, there is neither Fear nor Ignorance.
Where there is Patience and Humility, there is neither Anger nor Annoyance.
Where their is Poverty and Joy, there is neither Cupidity nor Avarice.
Where there is Peace and Contemplation, there is neither Care nor Restlessness.
Where there is the Fear of God to guard the dwelling, there no enemy can enter.
Where there is Mercy and Prudence, there neither Excess nor Harshness."
—Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)
posted 09/06/07
"An apostolic missionary must have both heart and tongue ablaze with charity."
—Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870)
posted 08/30/07
"Where there is devotional music, God with his grace is always present."
—J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
posted 08/23/07
"The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."
—Tertullian (160-225)
posted 08/16/07
"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul."
—J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
posted 08/09/07
"Peace is not automatic. It is a gift of the grace of God. It comes when hearts are exposed to the love of Christ. But this always costs something. For the love of Christ was demonstrated through suffering and those who experience that love can never put it into practice without some cost."
—Festo Kivengere (1919-1988)
posted 08/02/07
"It is an old custom of the servants of God to have some little prayer ready and to be frequently darting them up to heaven during the day, lifting their minds to God out of the mire of this world."
—Philip Neri (1515-1595)
posted 07/26/07
"The further the soul advances, the greater are the adversaries against which it must contend."
—Evagrius of Pontus (D. 399)
posted 07/19/07
"If ever we would have the church of God to continue among us, we must bring it into our households, and nourish it in our families."
— An American Puritan
posted 07/12/07
"Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings … let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the evil torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ."
— Ignatius of Antioch (35-107)
posted 07/05/07
"Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish."
— Ann Bradstreet (1612-1672)
posted 06/28/07
"You are obliged to love your neighbor as yourself, and loving him, you ought to help him spiritually, with prayer, counseling him with words, and assisting him both spiritually and temporally, according to the need in which he may be, at least with your goodwill if you have nothing else."
— Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), from The Dialogue
posted 06/21/07
"Whatever you may do for your brother, being hungry, and a stranger, and naked, not even the devil will be able to despoil, but it will be laid up in an inviolabe treasure."
— John Chrysostom (349-407)
posted 06/14/07
"When the father is going on in his journey, if the child will not goe on, but stands gaping upon vanity, and when the father calls, he comes not, the onely way is this: the father steps aside behind a bush, and then the child runs and cries, and if he gets his father againe, he forsakes all his trifles, and walkes on more faster and more cheerefully with his father than ever."
— Thomas Hooker (1586-1647)
posted 06/07/07
"The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man."
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1812-1881)
posted 05/31/07
"My Lord, I have nothing to do in this World, but to seek and serve thee; I have nothing to do with a Heart and its affections, but to breathe after thee. I have nothing to do with my Tongue and Pen, but to speak to thee, and for thee, and to publish thy Glory and thy Will."
—Richard Baxter (1615-1691)
posted 05/24/07
"…a silent man is a son of wisdom and is always gaining great knowledge."
—John Climacus, 6th-century monk
posted 05/17/07
One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
posted 05/10/07
A mother experiences more than one death, even though she herself will only die once. She fears for her husband; she fears for her children; again she fears for the women and children who belong to her children. … For each of these—whether for loss of possessions, bodily illness, or undesired misfortune—she mourns and grieves no less than those who suffer.
—John Chrysostom (349-407)
posted 05/03/07
The Church's foundation is unshakable and firm against the assaults of the raging sea. Waves lash at the Church but do not shatter it. Although the elements of this world constantly batter and crash against her, she offers the safest harbor of salvation for all in distress.
—Ambrose (339-397)
posted 04/26/07
"All who ask receive, those who seek find, and to those who knock it shall be opened. Therefore, let us knock at the beautiful garden of Scripture. It is fragrant, sweet, and blooming with various sounds of spiritual and divinely inspired birds. They sing all around our ears, capture our hearts, comfort the mourners, pacify the angry, and fill us with everlasting joy."
—John of Damascus (675-753)
posted 04/19/07
Consider that the devil doesn't sleep, but seeks our ruin in a thousand ways.
—Angela Merici (c.1417-1540)
posted 04/12/07
Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided, but because we cannot prevent the birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them nest in our hair.
—Martin Luther (1483-1546)
posted 04/05/07
A heavenly light more brilliant than all others sheds its radiance everywhere, and he who was begotten before the morning star and all the stars of heaven, Christ, mighty and immortal, shines upon all creatures more brightly than the sun.
—Hippolytus of Rome (c.170-c.236)
posted 03/29/07
Lex orandi, lex credendi (we pray as we believe)
—based on St. Prosper of Aquitaine (c.390-c.463)
posted 03/22/07
All the ways of this world are as fickle and unstable as a sudden storm at sea.
—The Venerable Bede (673-735)
posted 03/15/07
He [God] watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son.
—Saint Patrick (415-c.461)
posted 03/08/07
Expect great things from God! Attempt great things for God!
—William Carey (1761-1834)
posted 03/01/07
Lenten fasts make me feel better, stronger, and more active than ever.
—Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510)
posted 02/21/07
If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer—His grace sufficient, His promises unchangeable.
—Attributed to John Newton (1725-1807)
posted 02/15/07
"How can there be instruction without exercise or progress without practice?"
—Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (340-397)
posted 02/08/07
"If you think little about yourself, you will have rest wherever you reside."
—Abba Poemen (4th or 5th-century monk)
posted 02/01/07
An apostolic missionary must have both heart and tongue ablaze with charity.
—Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870)
posted 01/25/07
Love is something more stern and splendid than mere kindness.
—C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
posted 01/18/07
The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up.
—Dorothy Day (1897-1980)
posted 01/11/07
A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, "You are mad; you are not like us."
—Attributed to Antony of Egypt, (251-356)
posted 01/04/07
God alone is the author of all the motions in the world.
—Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
posted 12/21/06
Even if we stand at the very summit of virtue, it is by mercy that we shall be saved.
—John Chrysostom, 349-407
posted 12/14/06
If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen—nothing else matters.
—Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006)
posted 12/07/06
The Church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life's different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship, but to keep her on her course.
—Boniface (675-754)
posted 11/30/06
Mary was not only holy. She was also the mother of the Lord.
—Martin Luther (1483-1546)
posted 11/23/06
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, thine unworthy servants, do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men; We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful; and that we show forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.
—Book of Common Prayer, 1928
posted 11/16/06
Prayer and sacrifice can touch souls better than words.
—Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
posted 11/09/06
It is the root of all religion that a man knows that he is nothing in order to thank God that he is something.
—G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
posted 11/02/06
I am willing to go anywhere, anywhere, anywhere—provided it be forward.
—David Livingstone (1813-1873)
posted 10/26/06
All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.
—Martin Luther (1483-1546)
posted 10/19/06
I serve for the love of God and in Him have all my hope.
—Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564)
posted 10/12/06
Churchgoers are like coals in a fire. When they cling together, they keep the flame aglow; when they separate, they die out.
—Billy Graham, born 1918
posted 10/5/06
I believe in Christianity as I believe in the rising sun; not because I see it, but by it I can see all else.
—C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
posted 9/28/06
A friend is long sought, hardly found, and with difficulty kept.
—St. Jerome (345-420)
posted 9/21/06
Trust in God and you need not fear.
—Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
posted 9/14/06
Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words.
—Francis of Assisi, (1182-1226)
posted 9/07/06
As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man.
—St. John Chrysostom (349-407)
posted 8/31/06
Whoever would be wise should read the Proverbs; whoever would be holy should read the Psalms.
—Richard Steele (1629-1692)
posted 8/24/06
He who loves not lives not.
—Raymond Llull (1233-1315)
posted 8/17/06
Do not fret, for God did not create us to abandon us.
—Michelangelo Buonarotti (1474-1564)
posted 8/10/06
O conscience, upright and stainless, how bitter a sting to thee is a little fault!
—Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
posted 8/2/06
An old man said, "We are not condemned because of our thoughts that enter us, but because we use our thoughts badly; our thoughts can cause us either to suffer shipwreck or to be crowned."
—Abba Poemen, 5th-century desert father
posted 7/27/06
The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the armor or a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error.
—William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925)
posted 7/20/06
The Christian's God does not consist merely of a God who is the author of mathematical truths and the order of elements… But a God of love and consolation.
—Blaise Pascal (1623-62)
posted 7/13/06
God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts.
Hence, if we feel in our hearts the cold which comes from the
devil - for the devil is cold - let us call on the Lord. He will
come to warm our hearts with perfect love, not only for Him but
also for our neighbor, and the cold of him who hates the good will
flee before the heat of His countenance.
—St. Seraphim of Sarov (1759-1864), Russian monk and mystic
posted 7/05/06
By everything true, everything holy, you are your brother's keeper.
—Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury (1801-1885)
posted 6/29/06
It is not that I want merely to be called a Christian, but actually to be one. Yes, if I prove to be one, then I can have the name.
—Ignatius of Antioch (35-120)
posted 6/22/06
The future is as bright as the promises of God.
—Adoniram Judson, (1788-1850)
posted 6/15/06
Let us remove the ignorance and darkness that spreads like a mist over our sight, and let us get a vision of the true God.
—Clement of Alexandria, (150-215)
posted 6/07/06
As fire does not give birth to snow, so those who seek honor here will not enjoy it in heaven… As those who climb a rotten ladder are in danger, so all honor, glory, and power are opposed to humility.
—John Climacus (579 - 649), from Ladder of Paradise
posted 6/01/06
We are taught in an especial manner to pray that God would give his Holy Spirit unto us, that through his aid and assistance we may live unto God in that holy obedience which he requires at our hands.
—John Owen, Pneumatologia (reprinted as The Holy Spirit), 1664
posted 5/25/06
Through Christ we see as in a mirror the spotless and excellent face of God.
—Clement of Rome
posted 5/18/06
God does not require of us the martyrdom of the body; he requires only the martyrdom of the heart and the will.
—St. Jean-Baptiste Marie Vianney
posted 5/11/06
…I am most certainly persuaded that I myself owe my life, my every breath, in short, my very inmost and secret thoughts, entirely to the favor of the Supreme God. Now I am well aware that they who are sincere in the pursuit of the heavenly hope, and have fixed this hope in heaven itself as the peculiar and predominant principle of their lives, have no need to depend on human favor, but rather have enjoyed higher honors in proportion as they have separated themselves from the inferior and evil things of this earthly existence.
—Constantine (recorded by Eusebius)
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