Famous quotes
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“He showed no fear. It seemed that, at the commencement, his race had known gods and no other. Gods had bound and ill treated and slaughtered and played with them. Gods were a fact, as were the sun and the shaking of the earth. Just another terrible reality.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men cried to their gods. In the morning they would slay each other; by night, fresh from the battlefield, they raved before unreplying altars. So they came to hate even the gods, and smashed their images and defiled their sanctums. “There are no gods!” they cried. “Then who has done this thing to us?”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oloru slumped against the tree, shivering and shedding tears, white as death, calling to the gods piteously. “The gods?” inquired Sovaz. “You know they have no care for men. For yourself, what do you need with gods?”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Me and Jesus are cool. I'm cool with all the gods. Gods recognize gods.”
Conor McGregor (born 1988) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: UFC 197 press conference" (January 2016), Ultimate Fighting Championship, Zuffa, LLC
“To strut about in the E-kur is a glory for Bird, as its singing is sweet. … It shall utter its cries in the temple of the great gods. The Anuna gods rejoice at its voice. It is suitable for banquets in the great dining hall of the gods.”
Shulgi (died 2045 BC) said by 2045 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
Marcus Aurelius (misattributed) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: No printed sources exist for this prior to 2009, and this seems to have been an attribution which arose on the internet, as indicated by web searches and rationales provided at "Marcus Aurelius and source checking" at T…
“The most acceptable prayer is the one offered with the utmost spirituality and radiance; its prolongation hath not been and is not beloved by God. The more detached and the purer the prayer, the more acceptable is it in the presence of God.”
Báb (1819–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Above all practice the presence of God in prayer. Divine Mind has given us all potentialities, in prayer we recognize it as the source of these, and with a right understanding of our relation to it our soul grows great with infinite capacity, all potentiality. "With God all things are possible." "All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine.”
Charles Fillmore (1854–1948) said by 1948 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God pours His grace into our soul according to our capacity and according to our prayers, without violating our freedom. Therefore, we have to pray. This is our basic and first duty—not the prayer of petition only, to ask for graces, but the prayer of adoration. The first task of all creation is to adore God, to acknowledge His divinity, His majesty, His greatness.”
Athanasius Schneider (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Often, prayer is called something that is not prayer at all: a person went to church, stood there, looked at the icons, or first at the people, at their faces, their outfits, and says: I prayed to God; stood at home in front of an icon, nodded his head, said memorized words without understanding or sympathy, and says: I prayed to God.”
John of Kronstadt (1829–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Prayer is often called something that is not prayer at all: a person went to church, stood there, looked at the icons, or first at the people, at their faces, their outfits, and says: I prayed to God; stood at home in front of an icon, nodded his head, said memorized words without understanding or sympathy, and says: I prayed to God.”
John of Kronstadt (1829–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Prayer crowns God with the honor and glory that are due to his name, and God crowns prayer with assurance and comfort. Usually, the most praying souls are the most assured souls.”
Thomas Brooks (Puritan) (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If the stars twinkled more than usual on any given night, it meant that the angels in heaven were happy and were flitting across the doors of heaven; and since stars were merely holes ventilating heaven, the twinkling came from the angels flitting past the holes that admitted air into the holy home of God.”
Richard Wright (1908–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I personally believe that Satan fell from heaven about a hundred years after the creation of Adam and Eve. I believe that he had watched Adam and Eve have fellowship with their creator with pride and envy in his heart. He had been God’s choir director since he was created. His desire to be God was thwarted when God cast him out of heaven.”
Kent Hovind (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We shall be quiet and wait till a star falls from heaven. Can you see, how above one light appears after the other and they together form a dome! We sit in silence and fold our hands in prayer. We shall be quiet and wait until a star falls from heaven.”
Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am not attacking any particular version of God or gods. I am attacking God, all gods, anything and everything supernatural, wherever and whenever they have been or will be invented. (p. 57 of the Black Swan paperback edition of 2007)”
Richard Dawkins (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nature is what we know. We do not know the gods of religions. And nature is not kind, or merciful, or loving. If God made me — the fabled God of the three qualities of which I spoke: mercy, kindness, love — He also made the fish I catch and eat. And where do His mercy, kindness, and love for that fish come in? No; nature made us — nature did it all — not the gods of the religions”
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) first seen 1910 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Thomas Edison ""No Immortality of the Soul" says Thomas A. Edison. In Fact, He Doesn't Believe There Is a Soul — Human Beings Only an Aggregate of Cells and the Brain Only a Wonderful Machine, Says Wizard of Electricity…
“But this argument you will try to shake with an objection from the name of God, by alleging that that name is a vague one, and applied to other beings also; as it is written, “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; He judgeth among the gods.” And again, “I have said, Ye are gods.”
Tertullian (160–240) said by 240 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not unlikely, too, that the rejection of God is a kind of punishment: we may well believe that those who knew the Gods and neglected them in one life may in another life be deprived of the knowledge of them altogether. Also those who have worshipped their own kings as gods have deserved as their punishment to lose all knowledge of God.”
Sallustius (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God … must always be sought for Himself, never as a means toward something else. Whoever seeks God as a means toward desired ends will not find God. The mighty God, the maker of heaven and earth, will not be one of many treasures, not even the chief of all treasures. He will be all in all or He will be nothing. God will not be used.”
Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“SADNESSES OF THE COVENANT: Sadness of God's love; Sadness of God's back [sic]; Favorite-child sadness; Sadness of b[ein]g sad in front of one's God; Sadness of the opposite of belief [sic]; What if? Sadness; Sadness of God alone in heaven; Sadness of a God who would need people to pray to Him...”
Jonathan Safran Foer (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No word of reverence or piety, no utterance worthy of heaven and of the Gods of heaven, will be heard or believed.”
Apuleius (125–170) said by 170 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Cicero, in invoking the law of heaven, invoked what was by nature of heaven: law — inviolable principle, better than the vacillating gods.”
Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For dear to gods and men is sacred song. Self-taught I sing; by Heaven, and Heaven alone, The genuine seeds of poesy are sown.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“God heard the embattled nations sing and shout "Gott strafe England" and "God save the King!" God this, God that, and God the other thing – "Good God!" said God, "I've got my work cut out!”
J. C. Squire (1884–1958) first seen 1916 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the outbreak of the First World War, from Epigrams (1916).
“In the dominant Western religious system, the love of God is essentially the same as the belief in God, in God’s existence, God’s justice, God’s love. The love of God is essentially a thought experience. In the Eastern religions and in mysticism, the love of God is an intense feeling experience of oneness, inseparably linked with the expression of this love in every act of living.”
Erich Fromm (1900–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying God. It “consents,” so to speak, to God's creative love. It is expressing an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree.”
Thomas Merton (1915–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: New Seeds of Contemplation (1972).
“A man may go into the field and say his prayer and be aware of God, or, he may be in Church and be aware of God; but, if he is more aware of Him because he is in a quiet place, that is his own deficiency and not due to God, Who is alike present in all things and places, and is willing to give Himself everywhere so far as lies in Him. He knows God rightly who knows Him everywhere.”
Meister Eckhart (1260–1328) said by 1328 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am not religious. I believe in God, I draw my strength from God, I belong to a church and prayer group, I do my devotions every day, I take time off to read the word of God and to pray and I believe I get guidance from God.”
Irene Mulyagonja (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We must go on praying, for sometimes prayer seems so to alter mental attitudes and reinforce mental energies as to strengthen the patient’s resistance to disease and even overcome it, and in any case to sustain him in the bearing of it. But we must not lose faith when God does not answer prayer in the way we think we should if we had his power.”
Leslie Weatherhead (1893–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Lord's Prayer is an excellent model, but it was never intended to be a magical incantation to get God's attention. Jesus gave this prayer as a pattern to suggest the variety of elements that should be included when we pray.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I can write about prayer, you can read about prayer...but sooner or later you have to fall to your knees and just plain pray. Then, and only then, will you begin to operate in the vein of God's miracle-working ways.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When Jesus prayed the model prayer we call the Lord's Prayer, his first requests were that God's name be shown reverence, that his kingdom come, that his will be done.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I endorse it. I think it was correct. Contrary to what many have said, it sought to outlaw neither prayer nor belief in god. In a pluralistic society such as ours, who is to determine what prayer shall be spoken and by whom? Legally, constitutionally or otherwise, the state certainly has no such right.”
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: King sharing his thoughts on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to ban school prayer, ** Interview in Playboy (January 1965)
“Prayer is petition, intercession, adoration, and contemplation; great saints and mystics have agreed on this definition. To stop short at petition is to pray only in a crippled fashion. Further, such prayer encourages one of the faults which is most reprehended by spiritual instructors — turning to God without turning from Self.”
Robertson Davies (1913–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In prayer what is important is not the duration but the intensity. Pray albeit for five minutes, but abandoning yourself to God with love and longing. One person may pray all night long and another person only for five minutes and yet the five-minute prayer may be superior. This is a mysterious matter, of course, but that’s the way it is.”
Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia (1906–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Seventy thousand angels worship near the grave of Imām Husayn (a). The prayer (salah) of one of them, is equal to a thousand prayers of mankind. The reward of this prayer is for the visitors of Imām Husayn's (a) grave. The curse of God, His angels and all mankind is forever upon the killers of Imām Husayn (a).”
Ja'far al-Sadiq (699–765) said by 765 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The key to a Christian conception of studies is the realization that prayer consists of attention. It is the orientation of all the attention of which the soul is capable toward God. The quality of the attention counts for much in the quality of the prayer. Warmth of heart cannot make up for it.”
Simone Weil (1909–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Prayer simply means a longing of the heart, it is the wish felt, - it may be expressed, or not expressed. It may take the form of human language or it may never be uttered at all; still it is a prayer, if God only hears it in the secret recess of the heart.”
Keshub Chunder Sen (1838–1884) first seen 1870 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sermon at Hackney Unitarian Church, London, on 24th April 1870.
“... You will join with me now in repeating the prayer of the three martyrs whom we mourn - 'God save Ireland!' And all of you, men, women, and boys and girls that are to be men and women of holy Ireland, will ever keep the sentiment of that prayer in your heart of hearts.”
John Martin (Young Irelander) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From the earliest memory every day started with prayer and ended with prayer…And it is still in my bloodstream, even though I am not conventionally religious. I am not good at belonging to groups. But doesn’t everyone think about God?”
Celia Paul (born 1959) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On her daily mantra in “Celia Paul on life after Lucian Freud: ‘I had to make this story my own’” in The Guardian (2019 Oct 27)
“We know that Father Nimatullah lived a holy life. He was a man of prayer, totally 'enraptured by God'. He spent days and nights in meditation, prayer and adoration of the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary was his patron and Father Nimatullah prayed Her Rosary. He was also a very humble, sensitive and patient person who lived his monastic vows of 'obedience, chastity and poverty' to perfection.”
Saint Nimatullah Kassab (1808–1858) said by 1858 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our source of strength is daily prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, as well as daily Eucharist...Like other daily appointments, prayer (our appointment with God), needs to be scheduled.”
David Toups (born 1971) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Year for Priests, an opportunity to grow in our understanding of and appreciation for the ministerial priesthood”: Symposium sponsored by Catholic University of America (5 October 2009) Fides News Agency
“Prayer; I always start my day with prayer to thank God for keeping me alive and safe. I also ask him for wisdom and strength to go through the day.”
Florence Dolphyne (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We should start with prayer. That's where everything starts. We don't start by talking about ourselves or even examining our consciences. We start by prayer, on our knees. We come to the Lord and ask him to let us see ourselves as he sees us. He's the only one who can. God knows each one of us perfectly, and if we're seeking self-knowledge, we must go to him.”
Edward James Slattery (1940–2024) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bishop Slattery on Prayer, the Mass and New Vocations (28 October 2011) National Catholic Register
“Paul VI told me that the prayer he recited every morning was: “My God, call me back to You, call me back to You, I can't take it anymore”. I believe that all popes recite this prayer, even John Paul II.”
Jean Guitton (1901–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is a surprise to my eyes, my brothers, I hope you listen to us with your hands. Sit far away, my brothers, rise up, enter God Almighty. Yes, I said the prayer of the Prophet, yes, I said the prayer of the Prophet.”
Ahmed al-Sharaa (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Turn your eyes again upon your prayer, as God looked again upon each of His works in the creation of the world, and examine attentively what fruit you have drawn from your prayer, what resolutions to serve Him ; for this is like collecting the grain from the threshing floor, and conveying it to the granary to make. use of it and not to lose it.”
Alonso Andrada (1590–1672) said by 1672 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My childhood prayer is one I would never say today: God knows how many candles I lit before an exam or a test at school. It was a spontaneous, sincere way of praying, but today I practise other forms of prayer.”
Enzo Bianchi (1943–2026) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Riccardo Bigi, Festival delle religioni: a Firenze basilica di San Miniato gremita per Enzo Bianchi e Sergio Givone, Toscana Oggi.it, 26 April 2019
“We certainly must not go into a civil war, which would be a national tragedy. Hopefully, things will evolve peacefully. We ask all parties to reject violence and respect the law of the land. For more than a month now have called the faithful on to prayer. Our prayer continues, we ask for God's grace and peace upon Thailand at all the Masses that are celebrated in the Archdiocese.”
Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij (born 1949) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A hidden agenda meant to spread chaos in the country...” warns Archbishop of Bangkok (12 April 2010) Fides News Agency