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Great/inspirational quotes
- Thread starter Lanora115
- Start date
“We must take a middle course and face two classes of men. We will meet first the unyielding and stubborn. There we must resist, do the very opposite, and offend them boldly lest by their views they drag many with them into error. In the presence of such men it is good to eat meat, break fasts, and for the sake of the liberty of faith do other things which they regard as the greatest of sins. Of them we must say, “Let them alone; they are blind guides.” According to this principle Paul would not circumcise Titus when the Jews insisted that he should (Galatians 2:3).
“The other class of men whom we will meet is the simple-minded, ignorant men, who are weak in the faith. Since they do and think as they do, not because they are stubborn, but only because their faith is weak, we must avoid giving them offense. This is the command of love which would harm no one but would serve all men. It is not by their fault that they are weak, but by that of their pastors who have taken them captive with the snares of their traditions and have wickedly used these traditions as rods with which to beat them (II Corinthians 11:20). They should have been delivered from these pastors by the teachings of faith and freedom.”
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
The Babylonian Captivity of the Church
“The other class of men whom we will meet is the simple-minded, ignorant men, who are weak in the faith. Since they do and think as they do, not because they are stubborn, but only because their faith is weak, we must avoid giving them offense. This is the command of love which would harm no one but would serve all men. It is not by their fault that they are weak, but by that of their pastors who have taken them captive with the snares of their traditions and have wickedly used these traditions as rods with which to beat them (II Corinthians 11:20). They should have been delivered from these pastors by the teachings of faith and freedom.”
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
The Babylonian Captivity of the Church
People are continually asking me what denomination I am with. “Which religious group sponsors you?” they query. Or, “But don’t you belong to some church?” – some of them with almost a look of terror on their faces! And my answer is nearly always the same: “No, I belong to the man Christ Jesus.”
Marvin L. Fieldhouse
Seed for the Sower (1960)
Marvin L. Fieldhouse
Seed for the Sower (1960)
Thank God for the tough spots He put you in. That is where He is getting His love through you to the unlovely, and to people who harm you. That is how Jesus lived on earth, expressing the love of God to those who criticized and hated Him; and that is how Jesus now lives in us, expressing the same love through us. He has put us among difficult people, so that His supernatural love may be seen by them. So praise the Lord for every tough spot you are in. It is not God's will to deliver us from tough spots, but in them. There is no other way of getting at those who do not know Him except by those who do living among them.
Norman P. Grubb (1895-1993)
Knight of Faith, Volume I
Norman P. Grubb (1895-1993)
Knight of Faith, Volume I
I know, I know . . . this is an oldie but goodie that has been quoted here before, more than once, and at least once by me, but it bears repeating right now:
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
C.S. Lewis, 1953, The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
C.S. Lewis, 1953, The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment
"If you want to get to Heaven, you've got to raise a little Hell."
Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Ozark Mountain Daredevils
God’s afflictions are sent in mercy and directed by love. They are designed to unite us more closely to the Savior, to wean us from earth, to elevate our affections to that blessed world where there shall be no more pain. Every breeze of earthly sorrow is only wafting us to those high and heavenly abodes, where temporal ills are forever unknown.
Weary mariner on life’s tempestuous ocean, when afflictions cloud your sky, and billows roar around you, trust in the Savior’s confiding love, knowing that, like the Captain of our salvation, you must also be made perfect through suffering; and that these light and momentary afflictions are working for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!
David Addison Harsha (1827-1895)
The Star of Bethlehem, A Guide to the Savior (1863)
Weary mariner on life’s tempestuous ocean, when afflictions cloud your sky, and billows roar around you, trust in the Savior’s confiding love, knowing that, like the Captain of our salvation, you must also be made perfect through suffering; and that these light and momentary afflictions are working for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!
David Addison Harsha (1827-1895)
The Star of Bethlehem, A Guide to the Savior (1863)
"There have always been 'society pedagogues' [those who believe the whole society has to be taught to be different], who have become fascinated by their own great ideas, which might, sometimes, even be true, but are more often constricted or contain the taint of some hidden pathological thought processes. Such people have always striven to impose pedagogical methods which would impoverish and deform the development of the world view of individuals and societies; they inflict permanent harm upon societies, depriving them of universally useful values. By claiming to act in the name of a more valuable idea, such pedagogues actually undermine the values they claim and open the door for destructive ideologies."
Andrew M Lobaczewski
Political Ponerology, 1984
Andrew M Lobaczewski
Political Ponerology, 1984
And what may be another Re-Pete:
"It shall greatly help thee to understand scripture, if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom, and unto whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstance, considering what goeth before, and what followeth after."
Miles Coverdale (1488-1568)
Coverdale Bible (Prologue to the Reader, 1535)
Probably never better articulated, before or since.
"It shall greatly help thee to understand scripture, if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom, and unto whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstance, considering what goeth before, and what followeth after."
Miles Coverdale (1488-1568)
Coverdale Bible (Prologue to the Reader, 1535)
Probably never better articulated, before or since.
From another site I found this collection of quotes about censorship:
“What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.” – Salman Rushdie, In Good Faith
“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.” – Potter Stewart, Dissenting to Ginzburg v. United States
“If you live in self-punishment or self-imposed ignorance or lack of self-awareness it genuinely diminishes your existence. Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.” – Ai Weiwei, Truth to Power
“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.” – Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin: His Life as He Wrote it
“The principle [of censorship] is wrong. It’s like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can’t have steak.” – Robert A. Heinlein, The Man Who Sold the Moon
“Perhaps you will learn from this that books are sacred to free men for very good reasons, and that wars have been fought against nations which hate books and burn them. If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own.” – Kurt Vonnegut, Letter to Charles McCarthy
“Censorship is the child of fear. the father of ignorance. and the desperate weapon of fascists everywhere.” – Laurie Halse Anderson, SHOUT
“All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let’s get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States – and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!” – Kurt Vonnegut
“New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.” – Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions
“When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say.” – George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings
“If you don’t want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none.” – Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
“No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free, no one ever will. If virtuous, it need not fear the fair operation of attack and defense. Nature has given to man no other means of sifting out the truth, either in religion, law, or politics.” – Thomas Jefferson, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 24: 1 June–31 December 1792
“Books won’t stay banned. They won’t burn. Ideas won’t go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education.” – Alfred Whitney Griswold, Essays on Education
“But it’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.” – Judy Blume, Judy Blume Talks About Censorship
“The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen.” – Tommy Smothers
“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever.” – Nadine Gordimer
“The crime of book purging is that it involves a rejection of the word. For the word is never absolute truth, but only man’s frail and human effort to approach the truth. To reject the word is to reject the human search.” – Max Lerner
“Among people who have learned something from the 18th century (say, Voltaire) it is a truism, hardly deserving discussion, that the defense of the right of free expression is not restricted to ideas one approves of, and that it is precisely in the case of ideas found most offensive that these rights must be most vigorously defended.” – Noam Chomsky, Some Elementary Comments on The Rights of Freedom of Expression
“Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.” – Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
“We’re getting the language into its final shape – the shape it’s going to have when nobody speaks anything else. When we’ve finished with it, people like you will have to learn it all over again. You think, I dare say, that our chief job is inventing new words. But not a bit of it! We’re destroying words – scores of them, hundreds of them, every day. We’re cutting the language down to the bone. The Eleventh Edition won’t contain a single word that will become obsolete before the year 2050.” – George Orwell, 1984
“If large numbers of people believe in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech, even if the law forbids it. But if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them.” – George Orwell, Free Speech for Me – But Not for Thee (attributed)
“All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently, the first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.” – George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warren’s Profession
“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.” – Heinrich Heine, Almansor: A Tragedy
“The German Censors —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— Idiots —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— ——” – Heinrich Heine, Ideen. Das Buch Le Grand
“Media censorship is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes, but with an enormous increase in flows of information, it becomes increasingly difficult for any state to completely curb news coverage before it reaches the public.” – Qiuqing Tai, China’s Media Censorship: A Dynamic and Diversified Regime
“We believe that access is a fundamental right, and it’s very sad if it’s denied to citizens of Egypt or any country.” – David Drummond
“The internet treats censorship as a malfunction and routes around it.” – John Perry Barlow
“When you have strict censorship of the internet, young students cannot receive a full education. Their view of the world is imbalance. There can be no true discussion of the issues.” – Ai Weiwei
“Thank god my husband had to shake his porn habit after he got here.” – Nellie Yellow, Why we’re staying in China (when asked about internet access)
“What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.” – Salman Rushdie, In Good Faith
“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.” – Potter Stewart, Dissenting to Ginzburg v. United States
“If you live in self-punishment or self-imposed ignorance or lack of self-awareness it genuinely diminishes your existence. Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.” – Ai Weiwei, Truth to Power
“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.” – Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin: His Life as He Wrote it
“The principle [of censorship] is wrong. It’s like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can’t have steak.” – Robert A. Heinlein, The Man Who Sold the Moon
“Perhaps you will learn from this that books are sacred to free men for very good reasons, and that wars have been fought against nations which hate books and burn them. If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own.” – Kurt Vonnegut, Letter to Charles McCarthy
“Censorship is the child of fear. the father of ignorance. and the desperate weapon of fascists everywhere.” – Laurie Halse Anderson, SHOUT
“All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let’s get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States – and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!” – Kurt Vonnegut
“New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.” – Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions
“When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say.” – George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings
“If you don’t want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none.” – Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
“No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free, no one ever will. If virtuous, it need not fear the fair operation of attack and defense. Nature has given to man no other means of sifting out the truth, either in religion, law, or politics.” – Thomas Jefferson, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 24: 1 June–31 December 1792
“Books won’t stay banned. They won’t burn. Ideas won’t go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education.” – Alfred Whitney Griswold, Essays on Education
“But it’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.” – Judy Blume, Judy Blume Talks About Censorship
“The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen.” – Tommy Smothers
“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever.” – Nadine Gordimer
“The crime of book purging is that it involves a rejection of the word. For the word is never absolute truth, but only man’s frail and human effort to approach the truth. To reject the word is to reject the human search.” – Max Lerner
“Among people who have learned something from the 18th century (say, Voltaire) it is a truism, hardly deserving discussion, that the defense of the right of free expression is not restricted to ideas one approves of, and that it is precisely in the case of ideas found most offensive that these rights must be most vigorously defended.” – Noam Chomsky, Some Elementary Comments on The Rights of Freedom of Expression
“Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.” – Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
“We’re getting the language into its final shape – the shape it’s going to have when nobody speaks anything else. When we’ve finished with it, people like you will have to learn it all over again. You think, I dare say, that our chief job is inventing new words. But not a bit of it! We’re destroying words – scores of them, hundreds of them, every day. We’re cutting the language down to the bone. The Eleventh Edition won’t contain a single word that will become obsolete before the year 2050.” – George Orwell, 1984
“If large numbers of people believe in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech, even if the law forbids it. But if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them.” – George Orwell, Free Speech for Me – But Not for Thee (attributed)
“All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently, the first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.” – George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warren’s Profession
“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.” – Heinrich Heine, Almansor: A Tragedy
“The German Censors —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— Idiots —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— ——” – Heinrich Heine, Ideen. Das Buch Le Grand
“Media censorship is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes, but with an enormous increase in flows of information, it becomes increasingly difficult for any state to completely curb news coverage before it reaches the public.” – Qiuqing Tai, China’s Media Censorship: A Dynamic and Diversified Regime
“We believe that access is a fundamental right, and it’s very sad if it’s denied to citizens of Egypt or any country.” – David Drummond
“The internet treats censorship as a malfunction and routes around it.” – John Perry Barlow
“When you have strict censorship of the internet, young students cannot receive a full education. Their view of the world is imbalance. There can be no true discussion of the issues.” – Ai Weiwei
“Thank god my husband had to shake his porn habit after he got here.” – Nellie Yellow, Why we’re staying in China (when asked about internet access)
Probably not a whole lotta shakin' goin' on in that household . . .
Contrary to common religious traditions, we are not to deny or despise the body. While speaking to husbands and wives, Paul matter-of-factly states, “no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it”(Ephesians 5:29). It must have brought God deep sadness to cover the beauty of Adam and Eve’s bodies with animal skins after they sinned. His glory is dimmed when we loathe or ignore the magnificence of the human body.
Bill Ewing
Rest Assured (2003)
Bill Ewing
Rest Assured (2003)
"I am more than happy to know that the responsibilities of the present generation do not rest upon me, but upon the shoulders of the younger and stronger spirits, who are called in the providence of God to bear them. I laugh to myself with pleasure at the thought, and quite enjoy the infirmities of age as they come upon me, and find it delightful to be laid aside from one thing after another, and to be at liberty to look on in a peaceful leisure at the younger wrestlers in the world’s arena. I cannot say that their wrestling is always done in the way that seems best to my old eyes, but I admire the Divine order that evidently lays upon each generation its own work, to be done in its own way; and I am convinced that, whether it may seem to us for good or for ill, the generation that is passing must give place to the one that is coming, and must keep hands off from interfering. Advice we who are older may give, and the fruits of our experience, but we must be perfectly content to have our advice rejected by the younger generation, and our experience ignored. Were we willing for this, I am convinced the young would much more often be glad to profit by what is called the “wisdom of the old”; but, as it is, they are afraid to ask advice because they know they will be expected to follow it, whether it commends itself to them or not, and because they fear the old will feel hurt if they do not. Perfect freedom in asking advice can only exist along with perfect freedom not to follow that advice."
Hannah Whitall Smith, at age 71, in The Unselfishness of God, 1903
Hannah Whitall Smith, at age 71, in The Unselfishness of God, 1903
“Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason toward my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.”
Patrick Henry, 1775 speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses
Patrick Henry, 1775 speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses
This is a poem I ran accross today.
To war we go. Raise the trumpet loudly blow, warn your kinsmen, let them know.
Draw the sword, and bend the bow, armed with faith to war we go.
Our foundation is the rock, protecting from the aftershock, of wrath to come on those who mock, the final ticks prophetic clock.
See the right, turn from the wrong, praise his name in prayer and song, to reach his called his arm is long, his mighty hand exceeding strong.
Proclaim his kingdom loud and clear, spread good news for all to hear, conceal not your neighbors ear, proclaim his name both far and near.
Our goal his kingdom precious place, so fight the battle, run the race, believe his son and seek his face, your twin companions law and grace.
To miss this voyage you can't afford, the ship is sailing climb aboard, bend the bow, and draw the sword, for kingdom come, when all is restored.
Raise the trumpet loudly blow, warn your kinsmen let them know, draw the sword and bend the bow, armed with faith, to war we go.
Author unknown.
To war we go. Raise the trumpet loudly blow, warn your kinsmen, let them know.
Draw the sword, and bend the bow, armed with faith to war we go.
Our foundation is the rock, protecting from the aftershock, of wrath to come on those who mock, the final ticks prophetic clock.
See the right, turn from the wrong, praise his name in prayer and song, to reach his called his arm is long, his mighty hand exceeding strong.
Proclaim his kingdom loud and clear, spread good news for all to hear, conceal not your neighbors ear, proclaim his name both far and near.
Our goal his kingdom precious place, so fight the battle, run the race, believe his son and seek his face, your twin companions law and grace.
To miss this voyage you can't afford, the ship is sailing climb aboard, bend the bow, and draw the sword, for kingdom come, when all is restored.
Raise the trumpet loudly blow, warn your kinsmen let them know, draw the sword and bend the bow, armed with faith, to war we go.
Author unknown.
Our experiences resemble a jigsaw puzzle. When it is all ready, we shall find that the dark pieces of the puzzle were as important in the completion of the full beauty of the pattern as the brightest sections. The dark background will only bring out in bolder and more gorgeous relief the figures in the picture, in the center of which will be His lovely face.
M. R. DeHaan (1891-1965)
Broken Things
M. R. DeHaan (1891-1965)
Broken Things
Resonating with me as we continue to watch what goes on around us while living in our temporary hotel quarters . . .
"One further principle of [Martin] Luther’s which merits attention is his concept of “the sanctity of all work.” He rejected the notion that one vocation is higher or more pleasing to God than another. What God demands of all men is total devotion of heart and soul and mind and strength, and this can be done by the maid sweeping the floor."
William Graham Cole
Sex in Christianity and Psychoanalysis (1955)
"One further principle of [Martin] Luther’s which merits attention is his concept of “the sanctity of all work.” He rejected the notion that one vocation is higher or more pleasing to God than another. What God demands of all men is total devotion of heart and soul and mind and strength, and this can be done by the maid sweeping the floor."
William Graham Cole
Sex in Christianity and Psychoanalysis (1955)
I take God’s will not to be something that I have got to discover outside of myself as it were, but because He is living His own life in me, the road I walk is His road, and therefore I take it for granted that He already has the answer in hand for all problems I meet on it.
Norman P. Grubb (1895-1993)
Knight of Faith, Volume I
Norman P. Grubb (1895-1993)
Knight of Faith, Volume I
“If you’re trying to prove your heart is in the right place, the failure of government programs to alleviate suffering is not only an acceptable outcome but in many ways the preferred one. Sometimes empathizers, such as those in the ‘helping professions’, acquire a vested interest in the study, management, and perpetuation – as opposed to the solution and resulting disappearance – of sufferers’ problems. This is why so many government programs end up, instead, colonizing it by building sprawling settlements where the helpers and the helped are endlessly, increasingly co-dependent.”
William Voegeli, author of Never Enough: America’s Limitless Welfare State
William Voegeli, author of Never Enough: America’s Limitless Welfare State