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“Thy pardon, Father, I beseech, In this my prayer if I offend; One something sees beyond his reach From childhood to his journey’s end. My wife, our little boy Aignan, Have travelled even to Narbonne; My grandchild has seen Perpignan; And I — have not seen Carcassonne...”
Gustave Nadaud (1820–1893) said by 1893 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They who have steeped their souls in prayer Can every anguish calmly bear.”
Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton (1809–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You marry to be worthy of a gift, and want to say so out loud, but without shouting. One doesn't shout a prayer. Marriage is one of the few ceremonies left to us about which it is impossible — or at least self-demeaning — to be cynical.”
John Leonard (critic) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Emotion, feeling — these are well enough if they feed the springs of power. Prayer, praise, preaching — these are all good and never to be dispensed with; but if the life to which they minister have no manifestation out of them, it is a failure.”
Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Then the rainstorm came over me And I felt my spirit break I had lost all of my belief, you see And realized my mistake But time threw a prayer to me And all around me became still I need love, love's divine Please forgive me, now I see that I've been blind Give me love, love is what I need to help me know my name.”
Seal (musician) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Children are the keys of Paradise. … They alone are good and wise, Because their thoughts, their very lives, are prayer.”
Richard Henry Stoddard (1825–1903) said by 1903 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O let Thy mercy descend upon the whole church; preserve her in truth and peace, in unity and safety, in all storms, and against all temptations and enemies; that she, offering to Thy glory the never-ceasing sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving, may advance the honour of her Lord, and be filled with His Spirit, and partake of His glory. Amen.”
Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) first seen 1650 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Holy Living (1650), ch. 1, Prayers and Devotions
“The first things that hinders the prayer of a good man from obtaining its effects is a violent anger, and a violent storm in the spirit him who prayers.”
Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) said by 1667 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Works of Jeremy Taylor, Anthology of English Prose (Dent 1948)
“I couldn't get to sleep at night without saying the Lord's Prayer because, when I was young, I felt I was touched by the hand of Jesus, and hated myself for challenging it.”
Bruce Parry (born 1969) first seen 1007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Bruce Parry: 'My job doesn't allow me a private life" by Cassandra Jardine in The Telegraph (19 September 1007)
“Regardless of its purpose, the humpback-whale song is the most complex piece of nonhuman composition on earth. Whether it's art, prayer, or booty call, the humpback song is an amazing thing to experience firsthand, and I suspect that even once the science of it is put to bed, it will remain, as long as they sing, magic.”
Christopher Moore (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I care not what black spiritual crisis we may come through or what delightful spiritual Canaan we may enter, no blessing of the Christian life becomes continually possessed unless we are men and women of regular, daily, unhurried, secret lingerings in prayer.”
J. Sidlow Baxter (1903–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Wright L. Lassiter, The Power of Prayer (2005), p. xiv.
“The pure, the beautiful, the bright, That stirred our hearts in youth, The impulse to a wordless prayer, The dreams of love and truth, The longings after something lost, The spirit’s yearning cry, The strivings after better hopes,— These things can never die.”
Sarah Doudney (1841–1926) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Poem: Things that never die, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“A print of the painting, The Prayer At Valley Forge, depicting George Washington on bended knee, praying in the hard snow at Valley Forge, hangs over the desk in my office. If the practice of witchcraft, such as is allowed now at Fort Hood, is permitted to stand, one wonders what paintings will grace the walls of future generations.”
Bob Barr (born 1948) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The Right of Wiccans to Practice in the Military" (20 May 1999), ReligiousTolerance.
“Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, Uttered or unexpressed,— The motion of a hidden fire That trembles in the breast.”
James Montgomery (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: James Montgomery
“Faith is a practical habit, which, like every other, is strengthened and increased by continual exercise. It is nourished by meditation, by prayer, and the devout perusal of the Scriptures; and the light which it diffuses becomes stronger and clearer by an uninterrupted converse with its object, and a faithful compliance with its dictates.”
Robert Hall (1764–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One who makes a habit of prayer will easily overcome all difficulties and remain calm and unruffled in the midst of the trials of life.”
Sarada Devi (1853–1920) said by 1920 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You should work, no doubt. Work saves the mind from going astray. But prayer and meditation also are necessary. You must sit for meditation at least once in the morning and once in the evening. That will be like the helm of a boat. When one sits in meditation in the evening, there is self-examination in respect of the work done in the course of the day.”
Sarada Devi (1853–1920) said by 1920 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the hills the unbelievers of the land of the enemy have forbidden fasting and prayer; convert them all to Islam, so that the religion of Thy messenger may gain in strength.”
Tipu Sultan (1751–1799) said by 1799 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From Tipu Sultan's dream journal. quoted in Vikram Sampath - Tipu - The Saga of Mysore's Interregnum (2024)
“I reject unchecked subjectivism as the authority in religion. No one can suppose that the final authority in religion is what the individual happens to think is true, unless his decision is preceded by long meditation, the weighing of all the available evidence and prayer for guidance.”
Leslie Weatherhead (1893–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One reason why we Christians argue so much about which hymn to sing, which liturgy to follow, which way to worship is that the commandments teach us to believe that bad liturgy eventually leads to bad ethics. You begin by singing some sappy, sentimental hymn, then you pray some pointless prayer, and the next thing you know you have murdered your best friend.”
Stanley Hauerwas (born 1940) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life (1999, with William H. Willimon). Page: 89
“I've had enough, this is my prayer. That I'll die living just as free as my hair.”
“Recreation is not the highest kind of enjoyment; but in its time and place it is quite as proper as prayer.”
Samuel I. Prime (1812–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Patience and perseverance are never more thoroughly Christian graces than when features of prayer.”
Samuel I. Prime (1812–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As we look upon that agony and those tearful prayers, let us not only look with thankfulness; but lot that kneeling Saviour teach us that in prayer alone can we be forearmed against our lesser sorrows; that strength to bear flows into the heart that is opened in supplication; and that a sorrow which we are made able to endure is more truly cohijuered than a sorrow which we avoid.”
Alexander Maclaren (1826–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The disciples seem alone; but up yonder, in some hidden cleft of the hills, their Master looks down on all the weltering storm, and lifts His voice in prayer. Then when the need is sorest, and the hope least, He comes across the waves, making their surges His pavement, and using all opposition as the means of His approach; and His presence brings calmness; and immediately they are at the land.”
Alexander Maclaren (1826–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Turn your confidence and your fears alike into prayer.”
Alexander Maclaren (1826–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth has no greater enemy than its unwise defenders, and no warmer friends than those who, receiving it in a meek and tolerant spirit, respect the conscientious convictions of others, and seek, in study and in prayer, for the best solution of mysterious and incomprehensible revelations.”
David Brewster (1781–1868) first seen 1855 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In his Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton, vol. 2 (Edinburgh: 1855)
“Oh! for this baptism of fire! when every spoken word for Jesus shall be a thunderbolt, and every prayer shall bring forth a mighty flood.”
Abbott Eliot Kittredge (1834–1912) said by 1912 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I cannot say where you are. Unreachable by prayer, even if poems are prayers. Unseeable in the air, even if souls are stars.”
Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Death and the Moon, from Feminine Gospels (2002).
“What do I have to help me, without spell or prayer, endure this hour, endless, heartless, anonymous, the death of love?”
Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Over, from Rapture (2005).
“If you have nothing of the spirit of prayer, nothing of the love of the brotherhood, nothing of mortifying the spirit of the world, nothing of growth in grace, of cordial, habitual, persevering obedience to the Divine commands, how can it be that you have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ?”
Gardiner Spring (1785–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is nothing about which a young Christian should be more anxious than maintaining the spirit, the love, the practice of private prayer j and nothing which should more seriously alarm him than any disposition to neglect it.”
John Angell James (1785–1859) said by 1859 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Blessed are they who, in the calm moments of retirement, of worship, of prayer, of silent waiting, have found that to "the weary and heavy laden " Christ can indeed give rest; that compared with the heavy bondage of the world or the exactions of human systems, His yoke indeed is easy, and His burden is light.”
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Are you there? Say a prayer for the Pretender. Who started out so young and strong Only to surrender.”
Jackson Browne (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How do you make your prayer-meetings interesting?" The whole subject is mixed up. "Interesting" to whom? The Lord? The suppliants? The spectators? The only way is to teach men to pray; to eliminate those who preach or rhapsodize or scold or "lament" interminably, to promote general fervor among the people, and apply to the meeting the ordinary principles of common sense.”
John Hall (Presbyterian pastor) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Adeline placed the glyphward in the brazier, then bowed his head as it burned. A prayer to the Almighty for aid. His combatants for the day would probably be burning their own prayers. How did the Almighty decide whom to help?”
Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dalinar bowed his head for a prayer. Let me be stronger than those who would kill me. Simple and to the point, the kind he figured the Almighty would prefer.”
Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The person of faith, in ritual or worship, while reciting a prayer, singing a psalm, and invoking a mantra, feels deep within a communion that, like the philosopher’s stone of alchemy, transforms the lead and copper of animal existence into the silver and gold of divine delight.”
Varadaraja V. Raman (born 1932) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life, if we would mark it, is made up of thousands of suggestions from some unseen quarter, prompting us to duty; starting some thought of what is wise and right and just and good; inclining us to thoughtfulness, to meditation, to prayer; making the soul dissatisfied with its present course, and drawing it along in the path of duty, benevolence, and peace.”
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) said by 1870 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Not every hour, nor every day, perhaps, can generous wishes ripen into kind actions; but there is not a moment that cannot be freighted with prayer.”
William Mountford (1816–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Prayer is a bridge from despair to hope.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People who are serious about something always make room for it in their schedules. If prayer is important to you, then you'll find time to do it.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Playing around is one thing; following an established regimen is quite another. It's true with exercise equipment and it is true with prayer.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Developing prayer fitness is similar to developing physical fitness: we must follow a pattern in order to stay balanced.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One prayer routine that is balanced and easy to remember is found in the word ACTS, an acrostic whose four letters stand for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Confession is probably the most neglected area of personal prayer.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How do you pray a prayer so filled with faith that it can move a mountain? By shifting your focus from the size of your mountain to the sufficiency of the Mountain Mover and then stepping forward in obedience.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By forcing us to look closely at our requests, prayer purifies us.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most common cause of unanswered prayer is prayerlessness.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you're tolerating sin in your life, my friend, don't waste your breath praying unless it's a prayer of confession.”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source