“The highest form of selfishness is that of the man who is content to go to heaven alone.”

—  J.C. Ryle

Vol. I, Luke VIII: 16–21, p. 257
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. Luke (1858–1859)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 11, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The highest form of selfishness is that of the man who is content to go to heaven alone." by J.C. Ryle?
J.C. Ryle photo
J.C. Ryle 62
Anglican bishop 1816–1900

Related quotes

J.C. Ryle photo

“A converted man will not wish to go to heaven alone.”

J.C. Ryle (1816–1900) Anglican bishop

Vol. I, Luke V: 27–32, p. 150
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. Luke (1858–1859)

“Show me the man who would go to heaven alone if he could, and I will show you one who will never be admitted there.”

Owen Feltham (1602–1668) English writer

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 535.

Florence Earle Coates photo

“poetry in some form is necessary to all—save, perhaps, to those who are content to live upon bread alone.”

Florence Earle Coates (1850–1927) American writer and poet

On poetry

Thomas Carlyle photo

“There are depths in man that go to the lowest hell, and heights that reach the highest heaven, for are not both heaven and hell made out of him, everlasting miracle and mystery that he is.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

As quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts : Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors, Both Ancient and Modern (1891) edited by Tryon Edwards. p. 327.
1890s and attributed from posthumous publications

“I would go to heaven, but I would take my hell; I would not go alone.”

Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet

Iría al paraíso, pero con mi infierno; solo, no.
Voces (1943)

Anne Rice photo

“Heaven would be Hell in no time if every cruel, selfish, vicious soul went to Heaven.”

Anne Rice book Memnoch the Devil

Source: Memnoch the Devil

Carl Sagan photo

“There is no question that religions have historically played the role of making people contented with their lot. …such a doctrine would be very appealing to the ruling classes of a society. …Many societies, for this reason alone, encourage the contentment with your lot that the religious premise of heaven affords.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God (2006)

Walter Scott photo

“True love's the gift which God has given
To man alone beneath the heaven”

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto V, stanza 13.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)
Context: True love's the gift which God has given
To man alone beneath the heaven:
It is not fantasy's hot fire,
Whose wishes, soon as granted, fly;
It liveth not in fierce desire,
With dead desire it doth not die;
It is the secret sympathy,
The silver link, the silken tie,
Which heart to heart, and mind to mind
In body and in soul can bind.

Swami Vivekananda photo

“After so much austerity I have known that the highest truth is this: He is present in every being! These are all in manifold forms of him. There is no other God to seek for! He alone is worshipping God, who serves all beings!”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Source: As quoted in Vivekananda : The Yogas and Other Works (1953), p. 173; also at "The Story Of Swami Vivekananda: Mission Impossible" at MyLifeYoga (10 December 2011) http://mylifeyoga.com/2011/12/10/the-story-of-swami-vivekananda-mission-impossibl/

Hadewijch photo

“They who stand ready to content Love are also eternal and unfathomable. For their conversation is in heaven, and their souls follow everywhere their Beloved who is unfathomable”

Hadewijch (1200–1260) 13th-century Dutch poet and mystic

P. Mommaers, Hadewijch: Writer, Beguine, Love Mystic, p. 82.

Related topics