Unsorted Quotes, Devotional Bits, "Good 'uns," and Beloved Bible Passages

It is better to be un-informed than ill-informed. (Keith Duckworth)

Every time I've done something that doesn't feel right, it's ended up not being right. Mario Cuomo)

I don't put anything in writing. If it's important enough, you shouldn't, and if it is not important enough, why bother? (Ditta Beard)

It isn't hard to be good from time to time . . .. What's tough is being good every day. (Willie Mays)

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of discussion. (Plato)

Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself. (Ausonius)

A great marriage is not when the 'perfect couple' comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences. (Dave Meurer)

To feel that one has a place in life solves half the problem of contentment. (George E. Woodberry)

Jealousy is the greatest of all sufferings, and the one that arouses the least pity in the person who causes it. (Paul De Gondi)

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other. (Chinese Proverb)

Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes. (Benjamin Disraeli)

. . . if you cannot say what you have to say in twenty minutes, you should go away and write a book about it. (Lord Brabizon)

Knowing that intercessory prayer is our mightiest weapon and supreme call for Christians today, I pleadingly urge our people everywhere to pray.... Let there be prayer at sun-up, at noon day, at sundown, at midnight, all through the day. Let us all pray for our children, our youth, our aged, our pastors, our homes. Let us pray for our churches. Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word, 'concern' for those who have never known Jesus Christ and redeeming love, for moral forces everywhere, for our national leaders. Let prayer be our passion. Let prayer be our practice. (General Robert E. Lee)

The strength of a country is the strength of its religious convictions. (Calvin Coolidge)

Faith is an excitement and an enthusiasm: it is a condition of intellectual magnificence to which we must cling as to a treasure, and not squander on our way through life in the small coin of empty words, or in exact and priggish argument. (George Sand)

One is happy as a result of one's own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness—simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self denial to a point, love of work, and, above all, a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain. (George Sand)

About the general connection between Christianity and politics, our position is more delicate. Certainly we do not want men to allow their Christianity to flow over into their political life, for the establishment of anything like a really just society would be a major disaster. (CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters)

When you wish to instruct, be brief; that men's minds take in quickly what you say, learn its lesson, and retain it faithfully. Every word that is unnecessary only pours over the side of a brimming mind. (Marcus Tullius Cicero)

Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once. (Lillian Dickson)

My faith is that the only soul a man must save is his own. (William Orville Douglas)

Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is? ... If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man: it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. (CS Lewis)

The great high of winning Wimbledon lasts for about a week. You go down in the record book, but you don't have anything tangible to hold on to. But having a baby — there isn't any comparison. (Chris Evert Lloyd)

No great man ever complains of want of opportunity. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

The percentage of mistakes in quick decisions is no greater than in long-drawn-out vacillations, and the effect of decisiveness itself 'make things go' and creates confidence. (Anne O'Hare McCormick)

Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win. (Jonathan Kozol)

There's no right way of writing. There's only your way. (Milton Lomask)

Defensive strategy never has produced ultimate victory. (Douglas McArthur)

That's the way things come clear. All of a sudden. And then you realize how obvious they've been all along. (Madeleine L'Engle)

The art of living easily as to money is to pitch your scale of living one degree below your means. (Sir Henry Taylor)

A satisfying prayer life elevates and purifies every act of body and mind and integrates the entire personality into a single spiritual unit. In the long pull we pray only as well as we live. (A. W. Tozer)

Avoid all disrespect to or contempt of the religion of the country and its ceremonies. Prudence, policy, and a true Christian spirit will lead us to look with compassion upon their errors without insulting them. While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious of violating the rights of conscience in others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to him only in this case they are answerable. (George Washington)

You have put together many notes. But they lack ... legato. Simplicity is the final accomplishment—and the most difficult. (Chopin, in the movie Impromptu)

The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself. (Rita Mae Brown)

Look at this rose. You can see its beautiful colors, you can enjoy its fragrance—but it still has thorns. If you want to, you can press them into your flesh until you bleed. Thoughts are like that.... (Marjorie Holmes)

It often happens that those of whom we speak least on earth are best known in heaven. (Nicolas Caussin)

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them—every day begin the task anew. (Saint Francis de Sales)

You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it's a little thing, do something for others — something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. (Albert Schweitzer)

During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world were discussing whether any one belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death. The debate went on for some time until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room. "What's the rumpus about?" he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity's unique contribution among the world's religions. In his forthright manner, Lewis responded, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace."

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for. (Joseph Addison)

A misery is not to be measured from the nature of the evil, but from the temper of the sufferer. (Joseph Addison)

Postmodern is akin to a new longuage: using personal experience, community living, and storytelling as a better means of sharing the truth—Jesus Christ, according to John 14:6—with an upcoming generation. (Kent Clayton)

A decade ago, the eminent theologian Michael Novak argued that Western liberal democracy is like a three-legged stool. Political freedom is the first leg, economic freedom the second, and moral responsiblity the third. Weaken any leg, and the stool topples. (Charles Colson)

I always remember an epitaph which is in the cemetery at Tombstone, Arizona. It says: "Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest." I think that is the greatest epitaph a man can have — When he gives everything that is in him to do the job he has before him. That is all you can ask of him and that is what I have tried to do. (Harry S Truman)

The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him and show your distrust. (Henry L. Stimson)

Success is relative: it is what we can make of the mess we have made of things. (T.S. Elliot)

It's the most unhappy people who most fear change. (Mignon McLaughlin)

God give me strength to face a fact though it slay me. (Thomas H. Huxley)

The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays — not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship. (Martin Luther)

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. (Helen Keller)

Remember that nobody will ever get ahead of you as long as he is kicking you in the seat of the pants. (Walter Winchell)

Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it. (Tallulah Bankhead)

Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth. (Blaise Pascal)

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. (Albert Einstein)

The highest proof of virtue is to possess boundless power without abusing it. (Lord Macaulay)

We are so fond of being out among nature, because it has no opinions about us. (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche)

Whoever only speaks of God, but seldom to God, easily leases body and soul to idols. The Christian thus places his whole future in jeopardy by a stunted prayer life. (Carl F.H. Henry)

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. (Dalai Lama)

Never spend your money before you have it. (Thomas Jefferson)

Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste they hurry past it. (Soren Kierkegaard)

Adversity introduces a man to himself. (Anonymous)

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. (Albert Camus)

It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business. (Mohandas K. Gandhi)

There is always a certain peace in being what one is, in being that completely. (Ugo Betti)

Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind's eye, and you will be drawn toward it. (Harry Emerson Fosdick)

The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves. (William Hazlitt)

All married couples should learn the art of battle as they should learn the art of making love. Good battle is objective and honest — never vicious or cruel. Good battle is healthy and constructive, and brings to a marriage the principle of equal partnership. (Ann Landers)

Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do? (Epicurus)

One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful. (Sigmund Freud)

Education is learning what you didn't know you didn't know. (George Boas)

Is the glass half empty, half full, or twice as large as it needs to be? (Anonymous)

Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both. (John Andrew Holmes)

Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble. (Carl Jung)

When you can't have what you want, it's time to start wanting what you have. (Kathleen A. Sutton)

We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands upon himself, and the latter who makes no demands on himself. (Jose Ortega y Gasset)

Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem. (Henry Kissinger)

Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. (Henry Ward Beecher)

The hypothalamus is one of the most important parts of the brain, involved in many kinds of motivation, among other functions. The hypothalamus controls the "Four F's": fighting, fleeing, feeding, and mating. (Heard in a neuropsychology classroom)

Decision and determination are the engineer and fireman of our train to opportunity and success. (Burt Lawlor)

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. (Benjamin Franklin)

Laziness is a secret ingredient that goes into failure. But it's only kept a secret from the person who fails. (Robert Half)

Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours. (Yogi Berra)

God gave us two ends — one to sit on and one to think with.
Success depends on which one you use. Head you win, tail you lose. (Anonymous)

He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help. (Abraham Lincoln)

Be a fountain, not a drain. (Rex Hudler)

Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy. (Mahatma Gandhi)

In short, the way to wealth, if you desire it, is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, INDUSTRY and FRUGALITY; i.e., Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. He that gets all he can honestly and saves all he gets (necessary expenses excepted) will certainly become rich, if that Being who governs the world, to Whom all should look for a blessing on their honest endeavors, doth not in His wise Providence otherwise determine. (Benjamin Franklin)

I am praying that you will find a steady and reliable source of income commensurate with your needs and stretching your great talent. (Dan Shafer)

Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand spent 14 years in prison for preaching the gospel. Although his captors smashed four of his vertebrae and either cut or burned 18 holes in his body, they could not defeat him. He testified, "Alone in my cell, cold, hungry, and in rags, I danced for joy every night."

The one thing more difficult than following a regimen is not imposing it on others. (Marcel Proust)

There will be a time when loud-mouthed, incompetent people seem to be getting the best of you. When that happens, you only have to be patient and wait for them to self destruct. It never fails. (Richard Rybolt)

I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? (2 Cor. 11:27, 29)

When I go aside in order to pray, I find my heart unwilling to approach God; and when I tarry in prayer my heart is unwilling to abide in Him. Therefore I am compelled first to pray to God to move my heart into Him, and when I am in Him, I pray that my heart remain in Him. (John Bunyan)

Real integrity stays in place whether the test is adversity or prosperity. (Chuck Swindoll)

I keep the telephone of my mind open to peace, harmony, health, love and abundance. Then, whenever doubt, anxiety or fear try to call me, they keep getting a busy signal — and soon they'll forget my number. (Edith Armstrong)

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. (Peter Drucker)

To get the best out of a man go to what is best in him. (Daniel Considine)

The mode in which the inevitable comes to pass is through effort. (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Conditions are never just right. People who delay action until all factors are favorable do nothing. (William Feather)

It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere. (Agnes Repplier)

Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. (William Congreve)

I will not gratify the Devil by being discouraged. (Spiros Zhodiates)

It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis. (Margaret Bonnano)

Despise not any man, and do not spurn anything; for there is no man who has not his hour, nor is there anything that has not its place. (Ben Azai, Mishna)

As we move forward from Sept. 11, let us not simply focus on the future in an effort to forget the past. Let us remember who we were on Sept. 10 and the event that changed all that. Let us use our darkness to become people of deeper character, faith and love. This will thwart our enemies and honor our lost loved ones in a way no memorial or tribute ever could. (Lisa Beamer)

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned. (Buddha)

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. (Nelson Mandela)

Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing. (Harriet Braiker)

To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. (Confucius)

Humor is a rubber sword — it allows you to make a point without drawing blood. (Mary Hirsch)

Humor has a way of bringing people together. It unites people. In fact, I'm rather serious when I suggest that someone should plant a few whoopee cushions in the United Nations. (Ron Dentinger)

The sparrow is sorry for the peacock at the burden of his tail. (Rabindranath Tagore)

Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped. (African Proverb)

Envy is a symptom of lack of appreciation of our own uniqueness and self worth. Each of us has something to give that no one else has. (Elizabeth O'Connor)

The best way to break a bad habit is to drop it. (Leo Aikman)

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. (Jimmy Johnson)

A man should carry two stones in his pocket. On one should be inscribed "I am but dust and ashes." On the other, "For my sake was the world created." And he should use each stone as he needs it. (Anonymous Rabbi)

Truth is not in the middle, and not in one extreme, but in both extremes. (Charles Simeon)

Christianity got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites by keeping them both and keeping them both furious. (G.K. Chesterton)

In times of desolation, we must never make a change but stand firm and constant in the resolutions and determination in which we were the day before the desolation or in the time of the preceding consolation. (Ignatius Loyola)

If one wishes to eliminate uncertainty, tension, confusin, and disorder from one's life, there is no point in getting mixed up either with Yahweh or with Jesus of Nazareth. (Horace Greeley)

Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame. (Erica Jong)

Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else. (Ivern Ball)

You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it. (Charles Buxton)

Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life. (Daniel Auber)

It is sad to grow old but nice to ripen. (Brigitte Bardot)

Exercising faith in the present means trusting God to work through the encounter before me despite the background clutter of the rest of my life. As the recovery movement has taught us, our very helplessness drives us to God. (Philip Yancy)

Sometimes a light surprises
The Christian while he sings.
It is the Lord who rises
With healing in his wings. (William Cowper)

Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause; He noblest lives and noblest dies who makes and keeps his self-made laws. (Sir Richard Francis Burton)

There are times when we must sink to the bottom of our misery to understand truth, just as we must descend to the bottom of a well to see the stars in broad daylight. (Vaclav Havel)

I do not get to know God, then do His will; I get to know Him more deeply by doing His will. (Philip Yancey)

In order to arrive at what you are not you must go through the way in which you are not. (TS Eliot)

God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me. (Anonymous)

Consciousness is a specific biological product of the brain. A computer program simulating the brain would no more be able to be conscious than a program simulating digestion would be able to eat a pizza. (John Sedarle)

The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests. (Epictetus)

Understanding a person does not mean condoning; it only means that one does not accuse him as if one were God or a judge placed above him. (Erich Fromm)

Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health. (Carl Jung)

Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned. (Peter Marshall)

Do not think of knocking out another person's brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself ten years ago. (Horace Mann)

Once, when I asked an elderly friend if she regretted not having had children, she responded in her characteristically forthright manner. "It was the great tragedy of my life." Each life must hold one, I think: one pain that overarches and obscures all others, one haunting irreversible fault for which one can never atone (Nancy Mairs)

God does not make our lives all shipshape, clear, and comfortable. Never try to get things too clear. Religion can't be clear. In this mixed-up life there is always an element of uncearlness. I believe God wills it so. There is always an element of tragedy. How can it be otherwise if christianity is our ideal? (Baron Friedrich von Hugel)

Suffering is surely good or bad only according to the results it produces. Had it been a bad thing in itself, the Son of God would not have taken it for us chosen instrucment for the cure of the world.... I do not mean by this that we should lessen our attempts to alleviate pain and remove the causes of distress, for such is the simple duty of charity; I only mean that what we cannot remove is not wasted (R. Somerset Ward)