Favorite Quotes

Animals

Tiger! Tiger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
-- William Blake (The Tiger)

Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you. Give me a pig. He looks you in the eye and treats you as an equal. -- Winston Churchill

In a cat's eyes, all things belong to cats. -- English Proverb

Apologetics

I think we must attack wherever we meet it the nonsensical idea that mutually exclusive propositions about God can both be true. -- C.S. Lewis

Beauty

It is hard, if not impossible, to snub a beautiful woman; they remain beautiful and the rebuke recoils. -- Winston Churchill

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one? -- Abraham Lincoln

The Bible

Scripture is like a pair of spectacles which dispels the darkness and gives us a clear view of God. -- John Calvin

The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs to me; it has hands, it lays hold on me. -- Martin Luther

Defend the Bible? I would just as soon defend a lion. Just turn the Bible loose. It will defend itself. -- Charles Spurgeon

Capitalism

The vice of capitalism is that it stands for the unequal sharing of blessings; whereas the virtue of socialism is that it stands for the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill

Childhood

The forest will always be there, and anyone who is friendly to bears can find it. -- A.A. Milne

The Christian Life

Love God and do as you please. -- Augustine

Don't waste time asking God to keep you from doing things. Don't do them. -- Oswald Chambers

The heart set to do the Father's will, need never fear defeat. -- Elizabeth Elliot

Waiting silently is the hardest thing of all. -- Elizabeth Elliot

I ask not a long life, but a full one, like Thee, Lord Jesus. -- Jim Elliot

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. -- Jim Elliot

I would not give much for your religion unless it can be seen. Lamps do not talk, but they do shine. -- Charles Spurgeon

If my life is broken when given to Jesus, it is because pieces will feed a multitude, while a loaf will satisfy only a little lad. -- Ruth Stull

Communism

All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. -- George Orwell (Animal Farm)

Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! -- Ronald Reagan

It is the Soviet Union that runs against the tide of history...it is the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people. -- Ronald Reagan

Let us beware that while the Soviet rulers preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination over all the peoples of the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world...I urge you to beware of temptation...to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of any evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil. -- Ronald Reagan

For us in Russia, communism is a dead dog, while, for many people in the west, it is still a living lion. -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Death

It is important that when we come to die we have nothing to do but die. -- Charles Hodge

He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again. -- William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

The Devil

Although the Devil be exceedingly crafty and subtle, yet he is one of the greatest fools and blockheads in the world. -- Jonathan Edwards

Satan is an astute theologian. -- John Calvin

Duty

Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die.
-- Alfred Lord Tennyson (Charge of the Light Brigade)

Dying Words

I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace. -- Thomas Becket

Friends applaud, the Comedy is over. -- Ludwig von Beethoven

How is the Empire? -- George V

Don't give up the ship! -- James Lawrence

Turn up the lights, I don't want to go home in the dark. -- William Sydney Porter [O.Henry]

Crito, I owe a cock to Aslepius; will you remember to pay the debt? -- Socrates

Even in the valley of the shadow of death, two and two do not make six. -- Leo Tolstoy

Education

Some people talk in their sleep. Lecturers talk while other people sleep. -- Albert Camus

To the uneducated, an "A" is just three sticks. -- A.A. Milne (A House at Pooh Corner)

Exercise

I get my exercise being a pallbearer for those of my friends who believed in regular running and calisthenics. -- Winston Churchill

Fanatics

A fanatic is someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject -- Winston Churchill

Fashion Models

We are talking about mutated women, the result of cruel genetic experiments performed by fashion designers so lacking in any sense of human decency that they think nothing of putting their initials on your eyeglass lenses. The leading cause of death among fashion models is falling through street grates. If a normal woman puts on clothing designed for these unfortunate people, she is quite naturally going to look like Revenge of the Pork Person. -- Dave Barry

Freedom

Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! -- Patrick Henry

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. -- Thomas Jefferson

No arsenal or no weapon of arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. -- Ronald Reagan

We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free. -- Ronald Reagan

God

The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. -- Jonathan Edwards

God does not play dice with the universe -- Albert Einstein

God gives all
God asks all
-- Elizabeth Elliot

Man proposes, but God disposes. -- Thomas a Kempis

A man with God is always in the majority. -- John Knox

If God is satisfied with the work, the work may be satisfied with itself. -- C.S. Lewis

How rich a God our God is! He gives enough, but we don't notice it. He gave the whole world to Adam, but this was nothing in Adam's eyes; he was concerned about one tree and had to ask why God had forbidden him to eat it. -- Martin Luther

It would be easy to show that at our present rate of progress the kingdoms of the world never could become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Indeed, many in the church are giving up the idea of it, except on the occasion of the advent of Christ, which, as it chimes in with our own idleness, is likely to be a popular doctrine. I myself believe that King Jesus will reign, and the idols be utterly abolished; but I expect the same power which turned the world upside down once will still continue to do it. The Holy Ghost would never allow the imputation to rest upon His holy name that He was not able to convert the world. -- Charles Spurgeon

Government

It is not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work -- work with us, not over us; stand by our side, not ride our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it. -- Ronald Reagan

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Ronald Reagan

Heaven

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in; aim at earth, and you will get neither. -- C.S. Lewis

Hell

I am the way into the city of woe.
I am the way to a forsaken people.
I am the way into eternal sorrow.
Sacred justice moved my architect.
I was raised here by divine omnipotence,
Primordial love and ultimate intellect.
Only those elements time cannot wear
Were made before me, and beyond time I stand.
Abandon all hope ye who enter here.
-- Dante Alighieri (The Inferno)

God has laid himself no obigation, by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell one moment...whatever some have imagined and pretended about promises made to natural men's earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain and manifest, that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion, whatever prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction. -- Jonathan Edwards

History

A nation that forgets its past has no future. -- Winston Churchill

History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it. -- Winston Churchill

Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery. -- Edward Gibbon

History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap. -- Ronald Reagan

Humility

God wants to bring a man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another. -- C.S.Lewis

Jesus Christ

Jesus...told people that their sins were forgiven...This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin.
...I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nosense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. -- C.S. Lewis

Loneliness

Loneliness itself is material for sacrifice. The very longings themselves can be offered to Him who understands perfectly. The transformation into something He can use for the good of others takes place only when the offering is put into his hands. -- Elizabeth Elliot

Love

We were created to love people and use things. When we start to love things we will always end up using people. -- Robert Copley

Love is something more stern and splendid than mere kindness. -- C.S. Lewis

Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
-- Alfred Lord Tennyson (In Memoriam)

Marriage

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man, in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. -- Jane Austen

Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly. -- Voltaire

The Media

Journalism lagely consists of saying 'Lord Jones is dead' to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive. -- G.K. Chesterson

The Times is speechless and takes three columns to express its speechlessness. -- Winston Churchill

Old Age

I will never make an issue of my worthy opponent's youth and inexperience. -- Ronald Reagan

Politics

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book. -- Ronald Reagan

Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere. -- Ronald Reagan

Power

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely -- Lord Acton

I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli. -- George Bush

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. -- Abraham Lincoln

Prayer

Prayer is an earnest and familiar talking with God, to whom we declare all our miseries, whose support and help we implore and desire in our adversities, and whom we laud and praise for our benefits received. So that prayer contains the exposition of our sorrows, the desire of God's defence, and the praising of His magnificent name, as the Psalms of David clearly do teach. -- John Knox

The Psalms and Psalmody

The Donatists reproach us with our grave chanting of the divine songs of the prophets in our churches, while they inflame their passions in their revels by the singing of psalms of human composition, which rouse them like the stirring notes of the trumpet of the battlefield. But when brethren are assembled in the church, why should not the time be devoted to the singing of sacred songs, excepting of course while reading or preaching is going on, or while the presiding minister prays aloud, or the united prayer of the congragation is led by the deacon's voice? At the other intervals not thus occupied, I do not see what could be a more excellent, useful and holy excercise for a Christian congragation. -- Augustine

Wherever you turn, the labourer at the plough sings Alleluia; the toiling reaper beguiles his work with Psalms; the vine-dresser as he prunes the vine with hsi curved pruning-hook sings something of David's. These are the songs of this province; these, to use the common phrase, are its love ditties; these are the shepherd's whistles; these are the labourers implements. -- Jerome

The Psalter ought to be a precious and beloved book, if for no other reason than this: it promises Christ's death and resurrection so clearly--and pictures His kingdom and the condition and nature of all Christendom--that it might well be called a little Bible. In it is comprehended most beautifully and briefly everything that is in the entire Bible. It is really a fine enchiridion or handbook. In fact, I have a notion that the Holy Spirit wanted to take the trouble Himself to compile a short Bible and book of examples of all Christendom or all saints, so that anyone who could not read the whole Bible would here have anyway an entire summary of it, comprised in one little book. -- Martin Luther

Sports

Men know, deep in their souls, that if a woman had to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she would probably elect to save the infant's life, without even considering whether there were men on base. -- Dave Barry

Time

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils -- Hector Berlioz

This thing all other things devours
Birds, beasts, men, flowers.
Gnaws iron, bites steel,
Grinds hard stones to meal.
--J.R.R. Tolkien

Truth

'What is truth?' said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer. -- Francis Bacon

Tis strange -- but true; for truth is always strange;
Stranger than fiction: if it could be told,
How much would novels gain by the exchange!
-- Lord Byron

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most times he will pick himself up and carry on. -- Winston Churchill

When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. -- Arthur Conan Doyle

Whenever you find a man who says he doesn't believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later. -- C.S. Lewis

I do not know that I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. -- Isaac Newton

War and Peace

In war there is no substitute for victory. -- Douglas MacArthur

Let him who desires peace, prepare for war. -- Vegetius

Wishing

We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified -- Aesop

Work

The world is full of willing people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them. -- Robert Frost

I think I missed my calling. I should have been an interior decorator. -- Victor Hugo

Work banishes those three great evils, boredom, vice, and poverty. -- Voltaire

Worship

I know how difficult it is to persuade the world that God disapproves of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned by His word. The opposite persuasion which cleaves to them, being seated, as it were, in their very bones and marrow, is, that whatever they do has in itself sufficient sanction, provided it exhibits some kind of zeal for the honor of God. But since God not only regards as fruitless, but also plainly abominates, whatever we undertake from zeal to his worship, if at variance with his command, what do we gain by a contrary course? The words of God are clear and distinct, "Obdiance is better than sacrifice." "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," (I Sam. 15:22; Matt. 15:9). Every addition to His word, especially in this matter, is a lie. -- John Calvin