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“The bliss of the elect in heaven would not be perfect unless they were able to look across the abyss and enjoy the agonies of their brethren in eternal fire.”
Pope Gregory I (540–604) said by 604 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have no doubt that in heaven the angels will regard the blessed as a necessary evil.”
Alan Bennett (born 1934) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Diary entry for August 9, 1985, p. 290.
“Yet not for a single moment did I have any doubts about my own integrity and honour as a woman. I knew that my profession had been invented by men, and that men were in control of both our worlds, the one on earth, and the one in heaven. That men force women to sell their bodies at a price, and that the lowest paid body is that of a wife. All women are prostitutes of one kind or another.”
Nawal El Saadawi (1931–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Nawal El Tatawy
“I knew that [prostitution] had been invented by men, and that men were in control of both our worlds, the one on earth, and the one in heaven. That men force women to sell their bodies at a price, and that the lowest paid body that of a wife. All women are prostitutes of one kind or another.”
Nawal El Saadawi (1931–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As the owners of heaven forbade chocolate to mortals, so the owners of earth forbade it to commoners.”
Eduardo Galeano (1940–2015) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone (2009), p. 7
“I do deeply deplore, of the sake of the cause, the prevalent notion, that the clergy must be had, either by persuasion or by bribery. They will not need persuasion or bribery, if their hearts are with us; if they are not, we are better without them. It is idle to suppose that the kingdom of heaven cannot come on earth, without their cooperation.”
Sarah Grimké (1792–1873) first seen 1837 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter 15 (October 20, 1837).
“Anchorites used to ill-treat themselves in the way they did, so that the common people would not begrudge them the beatitude they would enjoy in heaven.”
Cesare Pavese (1908–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You cannot find the centre Where we dance, where we play, Where life is still asleep Under the closed flower, Under the smooth shell Of eggs in the cupped nest That mock the faded blue Of your remoter heaven.”
R. S. Thomas (1913–2000) said by 2000 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In 1917 European history, in the old sense, came to an end. World history began. It was the year of Lenin and Woodrow Wilson, both of whom repudiated the traditional standards of political behaviour. Both preached Utopia, Heaven on Earth. It was the moment of birth for our contemporary world.”
A. J. P. Taylor (1906–1990) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The First World War ([1963] 1970) p. 165
“Book-learning scarcely tells me Of severe afflictions after death-bed; And such as have heard my bardic books They shall obtain the region of heaven, the best of all abodes.”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Twelve thousand in the convention Believed through the voice of John. They worship, they deserve a portion, In heaven they will not be angry.”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Kings will shudder [that] day, Woe awaits them! When the recompenser shall appear, Let the heaven appear below. A ruddy wind will be brought Out to the cinder, Until the world is as desolate As when created.”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A wave do ye displace, A shield do ye extend To the travelling woe, And violent exertion through grief. And inflaming through fury Between heaven and earth.”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ruler of heaven, Ruler of every people! We knew not, O Christ! that it was thou. If we had known thee, Christ, we should have refrained from thee.”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ye have committed wickedness Against the Creator. A hundred thousand angels Are to me witnesses, Who came to conduct me After my hanging, When hanging cruelly, Myself to deliver me In heaven there was trembling When I had been hung. When I cried out Eli!”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The heath was victorious, keeping off on all sides. The common people were charmed, During time proceeding of the men. The oak, quickly moving, Before him, tremble heaven and earth. A valiant door-keeper against an enemy, his name is considered. The blue-bells combined, And caused a consternation. In rejecting, were rejected, Others, that were perforated”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Abiding in heaven was he, my desire, Against the eagle, against the fear of the unskilful. I am a bard, and I am a harper, I am a piper, and I am a crowder. Of seven score musicians the very great enchanter.”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“May the countenance of Prydain be bright for my guidance. Sovereign of heaven, let my messages not be rejected.”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wear your love like heaven.”
“I can introduce a man who says, "There are more things between heaven and hell than any of us have accepted." And I have the witnesses and the documents to prove it. Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Steven Greer.”
Steven M. Greer (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An aged Christian, with the snow of time on his head, may remind us that those points of earth are whitest that are nearest heaven.”
Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seamed with scars; martyrs have put on their coronation-robes glittering with fire; and through their tears have the sorrowful first seen the gate of heaven.”
Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It would be a sign of great simplicity to think that the world was created in six days, or indeed at all in time; [...] Time is a thing posterior to the world. Therefore it would be correctly said that the world was not created in time, but that time had its existence in consequence of the world. For it is the motion of the heaven that has displayed the nature of time.”
Philo (15 BC–50) said by 50 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Allegories of the Sacred Laws (Legum allegoriae), Book I, §2; tr. C. D. Yonge, The works of Philo Judaeus (1854), Vol. 1, pp. 52–53.
“I congratulate you, my dear friend, on the law of your state for suspending the importation of slaves, and for the glory you have justly acquired by endeavoring to prevent it forever. This abomination must have an end, and there is a superior bench reserved in heaven for those who hasten it.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In fine, I repeat, you must lay aside all prejudice on both sides, and neither believe nor reject anything, because any other persons, or description of persons, have rejected or believed it. Your own reason is the only oracle given you by heaven, and you are answerable, not for the rightness, but uprightness of the decision.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He who steadily observes the moral precepts in which all religions concur, will never be questioned at the gates of heaven as to the dogmas in which they all differ.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) first seen 1813 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to William Canby (18 September 1813)
“Would you treat this world like home? It isn’t. The greatest calamity is not to feel far from home when you are, but to feel right at home when you are not. Don’t squelch, but rather, stir this longing for heaven.”
Max Lucado (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In olden days a glimpse of stocking Was looked on as something shocking But now, Heaven knows, Anything goes.”
Cole Porter (1891–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You are my fav'rite star, My haven in heaven above, You are ev'rything I love.”
Cole Porter (1891–1964) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ev'rything I Love" (1941)
“Now we must move heaven and earth to lower energy costs. We must complete the sale of NAPOCOR generating plants and PPA contracts to the private sector to generate more competition. Thus far, only about 40% have been privatized.”
Francis Escudero (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You will probably have what is called a Christian Church here; they will not admit that we are Christians, but they cannot think us further from the plan of salvation as revealed from heaven than we know them to be, so we are even on that ground, as far as it goes.”
Brigham Young (1801–1877) first seen 1871 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Journal of Discourses 14:196 (June 3, 1871)
“Yet, should thy darkest fears be true, If Heaven be so severe, That such a soul as thine is lost, Oh! how shall I appear?”
Anne Brontë (1820–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You may rejoice to think yourselves secure, You may be grateful for the gift divine, That grace unsought which made your black hearts pure And fits your earthborn souls in Heaven to shine. But is it sweet to look around and view Thousands excluded from that happiness, Which they deserve at least as much as you, Their faults not greater nor their virtues less?”
Anne Brontë (1820–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That none deserve eternal bliss I know: Unmerited the grace in mercy given, But none shall sink to everlasting woe That have not well deserved the wrath of Heaven.”
Anne Brontë (1820–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is perfect love in heaven!”
Anne Brontë (1820–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To regret the exchange of earthly pleasures for the joys of heaven, is as if the grovelling caterpillar should lament that it must one day quit the nibbled leaf to soar aloft and flutter through the air, roving at will from flower to flower, sipping sweet honey from their cups, or basking in their sunny petals.”
Anne Brontë (1820–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why, Rome was naked once, a bastard smudge, Tumbled on straw, the denfellow of whelps, Fattened on roots, and, when a-thirst for milk, He crept beneath and drank the swagging udder Of Tyber’s brave she-wolf; and Heaven’s Judea Was folded in a pannier.”
Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803–1849) first seen 1823 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Humble Beginnings" (wr. 1823-5; pub. 1851), as anthologised by Ricks (1987), no. 4
“He came, and no man knew it; no man knew The wondrous boon to Scotland given; That there—beneath that grim and wintry blue— A glorious Poet, strong and true, Had newly dropp'd from heaven!”
John Stanyan Bigg (1828–1865) said by 1865 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What comes now? The earth awaits What fierce wonder from the skies? Thunder, trampling through the night? Morning, with illustrious eyes? Morning, from the springs of light: Thunder, round Heaven's opening gates..”
Lionel Johnson (1867–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now the "rosy morn appearing" Floods with light the dazzled heaven; And the schoolboy groans on hearing That eternal clock strike seven:- Now the waggoner is driving Towards the fields his clattering wain; Now the bluebottle, reviving, Buzzes down his native pane.”
Charles Stuart Calverley (1831–1884) first seen 1862 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ode - "On a Distant Prospect" of Making a Fortune, from Verses and Translations (1862).
“This tower, patched unevenly with black ivy, arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry and pointed blasphemously at heaven.”
Mervyn Peake (1911–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lovely forms do flow From conceit divinely framed; Heaven is music, and thy beauty's Birth is heavenly.”
Thomas Campion (1567–1620) said by 1620 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O to be a dragon, a symbol of the power of Heaven — of silkworm size or immense; at times invisible. Felicitous phenomenon!”
Marianne Moore (1887–1972) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: O To Be A Dragon" in O To Be A Dragon (1957)
“Love is everywhere I'm not allowed. I feel he's been to hell, but he's near to heaven now. I need to see it. I can't not have it, so inscrutable, so beautiful.”
Juliana Hatfield (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The appeal to heaven breaks off. The petals begin to fall, in self-forgiveness. It is a flower. On this mountainside it is dying.”
Galway Kinnell (1927–2014) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Flower Herding on Mount Monadnock (1976).
“But oh, to him I loved Who loved me not at all, I owe the little open gate That led thru heaven's wall.”
Sara Teasdale (1884–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am alone, as though I stood On the highest peak of the tired gray world, About me only swirling snow, Above me, endless space unfurled; With earth hidden and heaven hidden, And only my own spirit's pride To keep me from the peace of those Who are not lonely, having died.”
Sara Teasdale (1884–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“(Doctor in bed) I dreamt I died and went to Heaven and they handed me some old Ms. magazines, a paper sheet, and made me sit in a little room with a bunch of other doctors.”
Nicole Hollander (1939–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“(Woman on telephone) Yes of course if you were imprisoned in a foreign land by a right-wing junta and our government was unresponsive to your plight, I would organize demonstrations and move heaven and earth for your release, but I'm not going to pick you up at the airport.”
Nicole Hollander (1939–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Islam prescribes the bases of social justice. It insures that the poor have claims on the possessions of the rich, and it lays down a just policy for government and finance. It does not need to numb people's feelings and does not call on people to abandon their rights on earth and to expect them only in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Sayyid Qutb (1906–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sayyid Qutb and Islamic Activism: A Translation and Critical Analysis of Social Justice in Islam (1996), p. 16