“Devotion to GOD is still a voluntary thing; hence the differences of attainment among Christians.”

Source: Life of Pi (2001), Chapter 16, pp. 54–55

Essay 2, Section 20
On the Genealogy of Morality (1887)

Letter 21 (73) to Henry Oldenburg , November (1675) http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&amp;staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1711&amp;chapter=144137&amp;layout=html&amp;Itemid=27 <br class="br">Context: My opinion concerning God differs widely from that which is ordinarily defended by modern Christians. For I hold that God is of all things the cause immanent, as the phrase is, not transient. I say that all things are in God and move in God, thus agreeing with Paul, and, perhaps, with all the ancient philosophers, though the phraseology may be different; I will even venture to affirm that I agree with all the ancient Hebrews, in so far as one may judge from their traditions, though these are in many ways corrupted. The supposition of some, that I endeavour to prove in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus the unity of God and Nature (meaning by the latter a certain mass or corporeal matter), is wholly erroneous.<br>As regards miracles, I am of opinion that the revelation of God can only be established by the wisdom of the doctrine, not by miracles, or in other words by ignorance.

Source: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (1942), p. 607
Context: The one essential thing is bhakti, loving devotion to God. Do the Theosophists seek bhakti? They are good if they do. If Theosophy makes the realization of God the goal of life, then it is good. One cannot seek God if one constantly busies oneself with the mahātmās and the lunar, solar, and stellar planes. A man should practise sādhanā and pray to God with a longing heart for love of His Lotus Feet. He should direct his mind to God alone, withdrawing it from the various objects of the world. … You may speak of the scriptures, of philosophy, of Vedanta; but you will not find God in any of those. You will never succeed in realizing God unless your soul becomes restless for Him.

quoted in Peter Hardy in Historians of India, Pakistan and Ceylon. by Philips, C. H. (Cyril Henry), 1912- https://archive.org/details/historiansofindi0000phil/page/298/mode/2up and in E. Sreedharan - A Textbook of Historiography, 500 B.C. to A.D. 2000-Orient blackswan (2019)

L'esprit consiste à connaître la ressemblance des choses diverses et la différence des choses semblables.
Pt. 3, ch. 8
De l’Allemagne [Germany] (1813)

Soren Kierkegaard, For Self-Examination, Hong p. 67
1850s, For Self-Examination (1851), Christ is the Way

Theology and Mysticism

[Swami Tapasyananda, Swami Nikhilananda, Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations, 315]