Most of these quotes are serious, others are humorous. Some I agree with, some I disagree with.
Generosity:
"He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receive many curses." - Proverbs 28:27
"He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who is kind to the needy." - Proverbs 14:21
"A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." - Proverbs 11:25
"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." - Proverbs 22:9
"Freely you have received, freely give." - Matthew 10:8
Jesus also said to the man who had invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, lest perhaps they also invite you in return, and so you are paid back. But when you give a banquet or a reception, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind. Then you will be blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied), because they have no way of repaying you, and you will be recompensed at the resurrection of the just (upright)." - Luke 14:12-14, Amplified Bible
"Defer not charities till death; for certainly, if a man weigh it rightly, he that doth so is rather liberal of another man's than of his own." - Francis Bacon, Of Riches
"Misers certainly do not go to the heaven of the gods, and fools do not praise liberality; but noble men find joy in generosity, and this gives them joy in higher worlds." - Dhammapada 177
"In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity." - Richard Baxter (1615-91)
Genius:
"When Nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it." - Emerson, Method of Nature
"Genius is only a great aptitude for patience." - Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon
Excerpts from George Bernard Shaw's speech on "The Religion of the Future": "There are many people who are made more religious if they have a God who produces frightful calamities. If we study the proceedings of African and, I have no doubt, European kings, we shall find the same thing. In order, however, not to be personal, I shall keep to the African potentates as much as possible. [laughter] In Africa they had found it generally necessary, when building their palaces, to bury several people alive and to commit a great number of cruel and horrible murders. This was to create an impression on the tribe and show their majesty and greatness. In Mahometan religion, Mahomet found it necessary to describe the Judgment Day in most revolting and disgusting terms - to introduce intimidation into religion in order to impress the wild and warlike Arabs. The man of genius finds it difficult to make people understand him. I know this, for I am by profession a man of genius. [laughter & applause] The difference between a man of genius and the ordinary man is that the man of genius perceives the importance of things. There are a great number of people who do not understand the vital truths of religion, and so the man of genius has to amuse and frighten them with more or less dreadful things."
"But the state is always only the means for the preservation of many individuals: how could it be the aim? The hope is that with the preservation of so many blanks one may also protect a few in whom humanity culminates. Otherwise it makes no sense at all to preserve so many wretched human beings. The history of the state is the history of the egoism of the masses and of the blind desire to exist; this striving is justified to some extent only in the geniuses, inasmuch as they can thus exist. Individual and collective egoisms struggling against each other - an atomic whirl of egoisms - who would look for aims here? Through the genius something does result from this atomic whirl after all, and now one forms a milder opinion concerning the senselessness of this procedure - as if a blind hunter fired hundreds of times in vain and finally, by sheer accident, hit a bird. A result at last, he says to himself, and goes on firing." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"Since when was genius found respectable?" - Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Gentleness:
"Let your gentleness be evident to all." - Philippians 4:5
"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." - Proverbs 15:1
1 Timothy 6:11 exhorts us to "pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness."
Colossians 3:12 says to "clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."
"Gentleness is long-run compassion." - James McManus
"He who speaks words that are peaceful and useful and true, words that offend no one - him I call a Brahmin." - Dhammapada 408
Giving:
He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood." - Mark 12:41-44, New American Bible
"One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty." - Proverbs 11:24
"A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the great." - Proverbs 18:16
"A man there was, tho' some did count him mad, / The more he cast away, the more he had." - John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress
Bis das si cito das. "You give twice if you give quickly." - Roman proverb
"Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you." - André Gide, Pretexts
"God doesn't measure by how much we give. He looks at how much we have left." - from the files of James McManus
Gloating:
"He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished." - Proverbs 17:5
"Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn His wrath away from him." - Proverbs 24:17-18
Glory:
"For my name and memory, I leave it to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and the next ages." - Francis Bacon
"Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave." - Sir Thomas Browne
Gluttony:
"When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive." - Proverbs 23:1-3
"Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags." - Proverbs 23:20-21
"The man who is lazy and a glutton, who eats large meals and rolls in sleep, who is like a pig which is fed in the sty, this fool is reborn to a life of death." - Dhammapada 325
God:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
- Psalm 23, King James Version
In the beginning was the Word:
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things came into being,
not one thing came into being except through him.
- John 1:1-3, New Jerusalem Bible
Jesus answered, "If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, 'He is our God'; and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I shall be a liar like you, but I do know Him, and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." The Jews therefore said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." - John 8:54-58, New American Standard
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." - John 10:11
"I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father" - John 10:14-18, New American Standard
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father are one." - John 10:27-30, New International Version
And Jesus, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." - Matthew 3:16-17
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me." - John 14:6
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." Pilate therefore said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." - John 18:36-37
And after six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and led them up onto a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. And His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, such as no fuller on earth could whiten them. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter spoke and said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles: one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- for he knew not what to say, for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "THIS IS MY BELOVED SON: HEAR HIM!" - Mark 9:2-7, 21st Century King James Version
Again the high priest asked him and said to him, "Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One?" Then Jesus answered, "I am; and 'you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.'" - Mark 14:61-62, New American Bible
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!" - Luke 2:14, Revised Standard Version
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom; and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the company they went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances; and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously." And he said to them, "How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man. - Luke 2:41-52, Revised Standard Version
Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he said in reply, "The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, 'Look, here it is,' or, 'There it is.' For behold, the kingdom of God is among you." Then he said to his disciples, "The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. There will be those who will say to you, 'Look, there he is,' (or) 'Look, here he is.' Do not go off, do not run in pursuit. For just as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be (in his day)." - Luke 17:20-24, New American Bible
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and a report concerning him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." - Luke 4:14-21, Revised Standard Version
Good and evil:
"The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart." - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Good works:
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 5:14-16, New American Standard
But also keep in mind:
"Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you." - Matthew 6:1-4
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." - Matthew 6:19-21
"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." - Matthew 10:40-42, New International Version
And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said unto him, "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" And he answering said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." And he said unto him, "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live." But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, "And who is my neighbour?" And Jesus answering said, "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, 'Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.' Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?" And he said, "He that shewed mercy on him." Then said Jesus unto him, "Go, and do thou likewise." - Luke 10:25-37, King James Version
"Sell what you have and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven have no holes in them. Your treasure will be safe -- no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be." - Luke 12:32-34, New Living Translation
He said therefore to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." And the multitudes asked him, "What then shall we do?" And he answered them, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than is appointed you." Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages." - Luke 3:7-14, Revised Standard Version
Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it upon His head as He reclined at the table. But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, "Why this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor." But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. For the poor you have with you always; but you do not always have Me. For when she poured this perfume upon My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done shall also be spoken of in memory of her." - Matthew 26:6-13
"Good works are rarely glamorous. Nehemiah built the walls of Jericho in 52 days and the concluding remark was simple: 'so the wall was finished'. (Neh. 6:15)" - James McManus
"As from a large heap of flowers many garlands and wreaths can be made, so by a mortal in this life there is much good work to be done." "Just as a man who has long been far away is welcomed with joy on his safe return by his relatives, well-wishers and friends; in the same way the good works of a man in his life welcome him in another life, with the joy of a friend meeting a friend on his return." - Dhammapada 53, 219-220
Goodness:
"The inclination to goodness is imprinted deeply in the nature of man: insomuch, that if it issue not towards men, it will take unto other living creatures." - Francis Bacon
Gossip:
"A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends." - Proverbs 16:28
"The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts." - Proverbs 18:8
"Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down." - Proverbs 26:20
Government:
"98 percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then - we elected them." - Lily Tomlin
"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment." - Robert M. Hutchins
"In public services, we lag behind all the industrialized nations of the West, preferring that the public money go not to the people but to big business. The result is a unique society in which we have free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich." - Gore Vidal, "Reflections Upon A Sinking Ship"
"Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right." - H.L. Mencken
Grace:
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. - John 1:17
Gratitude:
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"O God, Thou hast given so much to us, give one more thing - a grateful heart. Amen." - George Herbert
The French philosopher Jacques Maritain said that "Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy."
"Grumbling, fretting and worrying are symptoms of ungrateful hearts. Those living in abundance forget to thank God for what they have." - Kweku Hutchful
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
"Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks." - Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 2, scene 2
Greatness:
"The people have little intelligence, the great no heart; if I had to choose, I should have no hesitation in choosing the people." - Jean de la Bruyère, Les Caractères, Des Grands
"There are not in the world at any one time more than a dozen persons who read and understand Plato - never enough to pay for an edition of his works; yet to every generation these duly come down, for the sake of those few persons, as if God brought them written in His hand." - Emerson, Essays, "Spiritual Laws"
"Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world." - Emerson, "Progress of Culture", Phi Beta Kappa address, July 18, 1876
"It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact." - Edmund Burke
Greed:
"For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" - Matthew 16:26
"Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, `What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, `Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." - Luke 12:15-21, Revised Standard Version
"One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty." - Proverbs 11:24
"A greedy man brings trouble to his family, but he who hates bribes will live." - Proverbs 15:27
"A stingy man is eager to get rich and is unaware that poverty awaits him." - Proverbs 28:22
"Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, or desire his delicacies; for as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, 'Eat and drink!', but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten, and waste your compliments." - Proverbs 23:6-8
"All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income." - Samuel Butler 1835-1902
"To believe that if we could but have this or that we would be happy is to suppress the realization that the cause of our unhappiness is in our inadequate and blemished selves. Excessive desire is thus a means of suppressing our sense of worthlessness." - Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind
"Because of greed for wealth the fool destroys himself as if he were his own enemy." - Dhammapada 355
"Who is well-provided, who is rich? For whom shall I hold my love?" - Sumerian saying
"Never marry for money. Ye'll borrow it cheaper." - Scottish saying
"Greed is envy with its sleeves rolled up." - George F. Will
"Riches are a good handmaid, but the worst mistress." - Francis Bacon
Grief:
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." - Matthew 5:4
"Give sorrow words. The grief that does not speak / Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break." - Shakespeare, Macbeth, act 4, scene 3
Guilt:
"Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; / The thief doth fear each bush an officer." - Shakespeare, King Henry VI, part III, act 5, scene 6
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." - Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 3, scene 2
"I would much rather think that he had never been my enemy and consider it a misunderstanding, of which I take all the fault on myself, than argue about how much of it really is my fault, for I have not time left for such things." - Vincent Van Gogh
"Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving." - Erma Bombeck
Habit:
"Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity." - St. Augustine
"Refrain to-night, / And that shall lend a kind of easiness / To the next abstinence, the next more easy; / For use almost can change the stamp of nature." - Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 3, scene 4
Happiness:
"I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live." - Ecclesiastes 3:12
"The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness." - Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind
"It is a joy to see the noble and good, and to be with them makes one happy. If one were able never to see fools, then one could be for ever happy!" - Dhammapada 206
"Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman - or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle." - George Burns
"Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can be felt only if you don't set any conditions." - Arthur Rubinstein
"Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey!" - quoted in Charting the Journey (Consumers Union)
Haste:
"In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed." - Emerson, Essays: vii. Prudence
Hate:
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." - John 15:18
"He who conceals his hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool." - Proverbs 10:18
"There is no fire like lust. There is no evil like hate. There is no pain like disharmony. There is no joy like Nirvana." - Dhammapada 202
"The mortification born of a shameful act does not usually last long. With most people it passes within 48 hours. And yet each mortification as it passes leaves a stain and a blemish on our feeling of well-being. Thus gradually an undercurrent of self-contempt begins coursing within us, and now and then it leaks out in bitterness and hatred toward others." - Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind
"We are unified both by hating in common and by being hated in common... To agree with us means much of the time to hate with us." - Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind
"One of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they seem to sense, once hate is gone, that they will be forced to deal with pain." - James Baldwin
"Hatred rarely does any harm to its object. It is the hater who suffers. His soul is warped and his life poisoned by dwelling on past injuries or projecting schemes of revenge. Rancor in the bosom is the foe of personal happiness." - Max Aitken, Baron Beaverbrook, The Divine Propagandist
Health:
"Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. Nirvana is the greatest joy." - Dhammapada 204
Heaven:
"Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going." - John 14:1-4, New American Standard
Jesus taught the people as He went through the cities and towns on His way to Jerusalem. Someone asked Jesus, "Lord, will only a few people be saved from the punishment of sin?" Jesus said to them, "Work hard to go in through the narrow door. I tell you, many will try to go in but will not be able to go in. The owner of the house will get up and shut the door. You who are on the outside will knock on the door and say, 'Lord, let us in.' Then He will say, 'I do not know you.' Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with You when You taught in our streets.' But He will say, 'I tell you, I do not know you. Go away from Me. You are sinful.' There will be loud crying and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the early preachers in the holy nation of God, but you will be put out. Those who sit at the table in the holy nation of God will come from the east and west and from the north and south. Listen! Some are last who will be first. Some are first who will be last." - Luke 13:22-30, New Life Version
"Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." - Matthew 11:11
Hero-worship:
"Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized." - Albert Einstein, from "Living Philosophies", 1931
Heroism:
Andrea: "Unhappy the land that has no heroes!" Galileo: "No. Unhappy the land that needs heroes." - Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo
History:
"History does not repeat itself. Historians repeat each other." - attributed to Arthur Balfour, British statesman (1848-1930)
"Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river." - Will Durant in Life magazine
"It has been said that though God cannot alter the past, historians can; it is perhaps because they can be useful to Him in this respect that He tolerates their existence." - Samuel Butler
"Antiquities are history defaced, or some remnants of history which have casually escaped the shipwreck of time." - Francis Bacon
Holiness:
"Wherever holy men dwell, that is indeed a place of joy - be it in the village, or in a forest, or in a valley or on the hills." - Dhammapada 98
Honesty:
"An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips." - Proverbs 24:26
"An honest tale speeds best being plainly told." - Shakespeare, King Richard III, act 4, scene 4
"No legacy is so rich as honesty." - Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, act 3, scene 5
"Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing." - Emerson, Essays xii. Art
Probitas laudatur et alget. "Honesty is commended, and starves." - Juvenal, Satires, i. 74
"I never give them hell. I just tell the truth, and they think it is hell." - Harry S Truman
"It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place." - H.L. Mencken
"If asked when you can deliver something, ask for time to think. Build in a margin of safety. Name a date. Then deliver it earlier than you promised. The world is divided into two classes of people: the few people who make good on their promises (even if they don't promise as much), and the many who don't. Get in Column A and stay there. You'll be very valuable wherever you are." - Robert Townsend
Honor:
"A prophet is not without honor except in his home town, and in his own household." - Matthew 13:57
"Like tying a stone in a sling is the giving of honor to a fool." - Proverbs 26:8
"A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold." - Proverbs 22:1
"Rightly to be great / Is not to stir without great argument, / But greatly to find quarrel in a straw / When honor's at the stake." - Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 4, sc. 4
Summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori et propter vitam vivende perdere causas. "Deem it to be the summit of impiety to prefer existence to honor, and for the sake of life to sacrifice life's only end." - Juvenal
Hope:
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." - Romans 15:13
"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" - Romans 12:12
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." - Proverbs 13:12
"The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing." - Proverbs 10:28
"I am not an optimist, because I am not sure that everything ends well. Nor am I a pessimist, because I am not sure that everything ends badly. I just carry hope in my heart. Hope is a feeling that life and work have a meaning. You either have it or you don't, regardless of the state of the world that surrounds you. Life without hope is an empty, boring and useless life. I cannot imagine that I could strive for something if I did not carry hope in me. I am thankful to God for this gift. It is as big a gift as life itself." - Václav Havel
"I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains." - Anne Frank
"One of the most potent attractions of a mass movement is its offering of a substitute for individual hope. This attraction is particularly effective in a society imbued with the idea of progress. For in the conception of progress, 'tomorrow' looms large, and the frustration resulting from having nothing to look forward to is the more poignant." "Mass movements are usually accused of doping their followers with hope of the future while cheating them of the enjoyment of the present. Yet to the frustrated the present is irremediably spoiled... No real content or comfort can ever arise in their minds but from hope." - Eric Hoffer, The True Believer
"Take hope from the heart of man and you make him a beast of prey." - Ouida
"True hope is swift and flies with swallow's wings, / Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings." - Shakespeare, King Richard III, act 5, scene 2
"Oft expectation fails, and most oft there / Where most it promises." - Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, act 2, scene 1
"But what is Hope? Nothing but the paint on the face of Existence; the least touch of truth rubs it off, and then we see what a hollow-cheeked harlot we have got hold of." - Lord Byron
"Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper." - Francis Bacon
"The miserable have no other medicine / But only hope." - Shakespeare, Measure For Measure, act 3, scene 1
"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past." - Thomas Jefferson
"Everything starts as somebody's daydream." - Larry Niven, Niven's Laws
Human nature:
"What a piece of work is a man, / how noble in reason, / how infinite in faculties, / in form and moving, how express and admirable / in action, how like an angel / in apprehension, how like a god!" - Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 2, scene 2
"To live is like love, all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it." - Samuel Butler
"All men that are ruined are ruined on the side of their natural propensities." - Edmund Burke
"(Human) Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished." - Francis Bacon
"Men I find to be a Sort of Beings very badly constructed, as they are generally more easily provok'd than reconcil'd, more disposed to do Mischief to each other than to make Reparation, much more easily deceiv'd than undeceiv'd, and having more Pride and even Pleasure in killing than in begetting one another; for without a Blush they assemble in great armies at Noon Day to destroy, and when they have kill'd as many as they can, they exaggerate the Number to augment the fancied Glory; but they creep into Corners, or cover themselves with the Darkness of night, when they mean to beget, as being asham'd of a virtuous Action. A virtuous Action it would be, and a vicious one the killing of them, if the Species were really worth producing or preserving; but of this I begin to doubt." - Benjamin Franklin, letter to Joseph Priestley, 6/7/1782
Humility:
"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." (Proverbs 11:2) (Perhaps the word "pride" in that verse could be better translated as "hubris", the overbearing pride which the ancient Greeks saw as the prelude to disaster.)
"Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor." - Proverbs 18:12
"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 14:11, and again at 18:14; also at Matthew 23:12)
"Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 18:3-4
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." - Matthew 20:25-28
"Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips." - Proverbs 27:2
"Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud." (Proverbs 16:19)
"The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor." - Proverbs 15:33
And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." - Luke 18:9-14, New American Standard
"To be nameless in worthy deeds exceeds an infamous history." - Sir Thomas Browne
"Study to do anothers will rather than thine own. Choose ever to have less rather than more. Seek ever the lower place and to be subject to all; ever wish and pray that the will of God may be perfectly done in thee and in all. Behold, such a man enters the bounds of peace and calm." - Thomas à Kempis, "The Imitation Of Christ"
On a visit to the White House, Mother Teresa explained, "I never take food or drink in the homes of the rich or famous, so that when I visit the poor, they won't be embarrassed at having nothing to offer me."
Winston Churchill gave a fine example of practical humility when he was asked, "Doesn't it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?" Churchill replied, "It's quite flattering. But whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big."
"I sometimes have had a lesson from a hay-mower that was of more use to me than one in Greek." - Vincent Van Gogh
"Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast." - Jane Austen, Pride And Prejudice
"And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin / Is pride that apes humility." - Coleridge
"I really do not see much use in exalting the humble and meek; they do not remain humble and meek long when they are exalted." - Samuel Butler
"Content thyself to be obscurely good. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honour is a private station." - Joseph Addison
"My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge for another, if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor!" - Proverbs 6:1-3
"But for the grace of God there goes John Bradford." - John Bradford, watching some prisoners being led to their execution
Hypocrisy:
"Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops." - Luke 12:1-3, King James Version
"If a man sees the sins of others and forever thinks of their faults, his own sins increase forever, and far off is he from the end of his faults." - Dhammapada 253
"Just as a flower which seems beautiful and has color but no scent, so are the fruitless words of a man who speaks them but does them not." - Dhammapada 51
"Many wear the yellow robe of a monk, yet lead impure lives and have no self-control. Those evil men through their wicked deeds will be reborn into a hell of evil." - Dhammapada 307
"It would be better for an evil man to swallow a ball of red-hot iron than for him to eat offerings of food given to him by good people." - Dhammapada 308
"Just as a handful of sharp grass will cut one's hand if improperly grasped, the life of a monk, if imperfectly followed, will only lead him to hell. No great fruit can come from a life where acts of devotion are carelessly performed, where sacred vows are broken, and where the holy life is impure." - Dhammapada 311-312
"The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once they get humanity strapped to the operating table, they operate on it with an ax." - Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind
"As Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish Nobel laureate, once pointed out, Americans will say, practically in the same breath, 'No one can tell me what to do' and 'There ought to be a law against that'." - TIME, 6-21-86
"Those who give advice are amazed that their wisdom does not always affect others. But the real amazement lies in the fact that most great advice does not even reach from the mouth of the advisor to his own ear." - Muhammad Hijazi
"The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons." - Emerson, Conduct of Life
I would like to give credit to my Uncle James McManus, who first encouraged me to start a filing system which would allow me to keep facts and quotes in good order. Uncle Jim's files gave me my first batch of quotes, and I've used some of them here.
