Quotes about God
page 21

Friedrich Schiller photo

“One people will we be, — a band of brothers;
No danger, no distress shall sunder us.
We will be freemen as our fathers were,
And sooner welcome death than live as slaves.
We will rely on God's almighty arm,
And never quail before the power of man.”

Wir wollen sein ein einzig Volk von Brüdern,
in keiner Not uns trennen und Gefahr.
Wir wollen frei sein, wie die Väter waren,
eher den Tod, als in der Knechtschaft leben.
Wir wollen trauen auf den höchsten Gott
und uns nicht fürchten vor der Macht der Menschen.
Act II, Sc. 2, as translated by C. T. Brooke
Variant translation: We shall be a single People of brethren,
Never to part in danger nor distress.
We shall be free, just as our fathers were,
And rather die than live in slavery.
We shall trust in the one highest God
And never be afraid of human power.
Wilhelm Tell (1803)

Thomas Bradwardine photo

“O great and wonderful Lord our God, thou only light of the eyes, open, I implore thee, the eyes of my heart, and of others my fellow-creatures, that we may truly understand and contemplate thy wondrous works. And the more thoroughly we comprehend them, the more may our minds be affected in the contemplation with pious reverence and profound devotion. Who is not struck with awe in beholding thy all-powerful will completely efficacious throughout every part of the creation? It is by this same sovereign and irresistible will, that whom and when thou pleasest thou bringest low and liftest up, killest and makest alive. How intense and how unbounded is thy love to me, O Lord! whereas my love, how feeble and remiss! my gratitude, how cold and inconstant! Far be it from thee that thy love should even resemble mine; for in every kind of excellence thou art consummate. O thou who fillest heaven and earth, why fillest thou not this narrow heart? O human soul, low, abject, and miserable, whoever thou art, if thou be not fully replenished with the love of so great a good, why dost thou not open all thy doors, expand all thy folds, extend all thy capacity, that, by the sweetness of love so great, thou mayest be wholly occupied, satiated, and ravished; especially since, little as thou art, thou canst not be satisfied with the love of any good inferior to the One supreme? Speak the word, that thou mayest become my God and most enviable in mine eyes, and it shall instantly be so, without the possibility of failure. What can be more efficacious to engage the affection than preventing love? Most gracious Lord, by thy love thou hast prevented me, wretch that I am, who had no love for thee, but was at enmity with my Maker and Redeemer. I see, Lord, that it is easy to say and to write these things, but very difficult to execute them. Do thou, therefore, to whom nothing is difficult, grant that I may more easily practise these things with my heart than utter them with my lips. Open thy liberal hand, that nothing may be easier, sweeter, or more delightful to me, than to be employed in these things. Thou, who preventest thy servants with thy gracious love, whom dost thou not elevate with the hope of finding thee?”

Thomas Bradwardine (1300–1349) Theologian; Archbishop of Canterbury

Sample of Bradwardine devotional writing quoted by James Burnes, The Church of England Magazine under the superintendence of clergymen of the United Church of England and Ireland Vol. IV (January to June 1838)

Aurelius Augustinus photo
Eric Gill photo
Anne of Great Britain photo

“God be thanked we were not bred up in that communion but are of a Church that is pious and sincere, and conformable in all its principles to the Scriptures. … the Church of England is, without all doubt, the only true Church.”

Anne of Great Britain (1665–1714) queen of England, queen of Scotland and queen of Ireland (1702–07); queen of Great Britain (1707–14)

Letter to her sister, Princess Mary (29 April 1686), from B. C. Brown (ed.), The Letters and Diplomatic Instructions of Queen Anne (1935), p. 16.

Arthur Miller photo
Ronald Reagan photo
Martin Luther photo

“Man is by nature unable to want God to be God. Indeed, he himself wants to be God, and does not want God to be God.”

Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation

Thesis 17
Disputation against Scholastic Theology (1517)

Abraham Lincoln photo

“We think Slavery a great moral wrong, and while we do not claim the right to touch it where it exists, we wish to treat it as a wrong in the Territories, where our votes will reach it. We think that a respect for ourselves, a regard for future generations and for the God that made us, require that we put down this wrong where our votes will properly reach it. We think that species of labor an injury to free white men — in short, we think Slavery a great moral, social and political evil, tolerable only because, and so far as its actual existence makes it necessary to tolerate it, and that beyond that, it ought to be treated as a wrong.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

1860s, Allow the humblest man an equal chance (1860)
Context: To us it appears natural to think that slaves are human beings; men, not property; that some of the things, at least, stated about men in the Declaration of Independence apply to them as well as to us. I say, we think, most of us, that this Charter of Freedom applies to the slave as well as to ourselves, that the class of arguments put forward to batter down that idea, are also calculated to break down the very idea of a free government, even for white men, and to undermine the very foundations of free society. We think Slavery a great moral wrong, and while we do not claim the right to touch it where it exists, we wish to treat it as a wrong in the Territories, where our votes will reach it. We think that a respect for ourselves, a regard for future generations and for the God that made us, require that we put down this wrong where our votes will properly reach it. We think that species of labor an injury to free white men — in short, we think Slavery a great moral, social and political evil, tolerable only because, and so far as its actual existence makes it necessary to tolerate it, and that beyond that, it ought to be treated as a wrong.

James MacDonald photo
Rabindranath Tagore photo

“God seeks comrades and claims love,
the Devil seeks slaves and claims obedience.”

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali polymath

25
Fireflies (1928)

C.G. Jung photo

“Called or uncalled, God will be present.”
Vocatus atque non vocatus, Deus aderit.

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology

This is actually a statement that Jung discovered among the Latin writings of Desiderius Erasmus, who declared the statement had been an ancient Spartan proverb. Jung popularized it, having it inscribed over the doorway of his house, and upon his tomb.
Variant translations:
Summoned or not summoned, God is present.
Invoked or not invoked, God is present
Called or not called, the god will be there.
Bidden or unbidden, God is present.
Bidden or not bidden, God is present.
Bidden or not, God is present.
Bidden or not bidden, God is there.
Called or uncalled, God is there.
Misattributed

Stephen Hawking photo

“I'm not religious in the normal sense. I believe the universe is governed by the laws of science. The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws.”

Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author

Quoted in "Stephen Hawking prepares for weightless flight", New Scientist (26 April 2007) http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11722-stephen-hawking-prepares-for-weightless-flight.html

Friedrich Nietzsche photo

“We are, all of us, growing volcanoes that approach the hour of their eruption; but how near or distant that is, nobody knows — not even God.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

Sec. 9
The Gay Science (1882)

Charles Spurgeon photo

“I am not superstitious, but the first time I saw this medal, bearing the venerated likeness of John Calvin, I kissed it, imagining that no one saw the action. I was very greatly surprised when I received this magnificent present, which shall be passed round for your inspection. On the one side is John Calvin with his visage worn by disease and deep thought, and on the other side is a verse fully applicable to him: ‘He endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.’
This sentence truly describes the character of that glorious man of God. Among all those who have been born of women, there has not risen a greater than John Calvin; no age, before him ever produced his equal, and no age afterwards has seen his rival. In theology, he stands alone, shining like a bright fixed star, while other leaders and teachers can only circle round him, at a great distance — as comets go streaming through space — with nothing like his glory or his permanence.”

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist

The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon, Compiled from His Diaries, Letters, and Records by His Wife and His Private Secretary, 1899, Fleming H. Revell, Vol. 2, (1854-1860), pp. 371-372. http://books.google.com/books?id=t3RAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA371&dq=%22I+saw+this+medal,+bearing+the+venerated+likeness+of+John+Calvin,+I+kissed+it%22&hl=en&ei=JP4LTd-SMcX_lgf0--yzDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22I%20saw%20this%20medal%2C%20bearing%20the%20venerated%20likeness%20of%20John%20Calvin%2C%20I%20kissed%20it%22&f=false

Catherine of Genoa photo
Mark Twain photo
Northrop Frye photo
Edith Stein photo

“As woman was the first to be tempted, so did God's message of grace come first to a woman, and each time woman's assent determined the destiny of humanity as a whole.”

Edith Stein (1891–1942) Jewish-German nun, theologian and philosopher

Essays on Woman (1996), The Separate Vocations of Man and Woman According to Nature and Grace (1932)

Ted Chiang photo
Charles Spurgeon photo

“I never wish to be more charitable than Christ. I find it written: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."”

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 490.

Plato photo
Peter Steele photo

“It’s a funny thing, when you talk to God, you’re religious, but when he talks to you, you’re a psychopath.”

Peter Steele (1962–2010) American musician

Source: "lost" interview on rocksalt.mx http://rocksalt.mx/?p=844

Voltaire photo

“All philosophical sects have run aground on the reef of moral and physical ill. It only remains for us to confess that God, having acted for the best, had not been able to do better.”

Toutes les sectes des philosophes ont échoué contre l’écueil du mal physique et moral. Il ne reste que d’avouer que Dieu ayant agi pour le mieux n’a pu agir mieux.
"Power, Omnipotence," Dictionnaire philosophique (1785-1789)
Citas

José Saramago photo
Pope Francis photo
Albert Camus photo
Homér photo

“Just take in peace what gifts the gods will send.”

XVIII. 142 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Fernando Pessoa photo
Gabriel Iglesias photo
Socrates photo
Karen Blixen photo
Martin Luther photo

“…women and girls begin to bare themselves behind and in front, and there is nobody to punish and hold in check, and besides, God’s word is mocked.”

Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation

To His Housewife (An Seine Hausfrau), end of July 1545, De Wette, vol. v (Fünfter Theil, 1828), p. 753. No. MMCCLXXXVI http://books.google.com/books?vid=0SgD2vFniuUDWUSHsu8FSM5&id=Ez96yjkxWYoC&pg=PA752&dq=Dr.+Martin+Luthers+Briefe,+Sendschreiben McGiffert, p. 374 (English tr.).
McGiffert, Arthur Cushman. Martin Luther: The Man and His Work http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC01594761&id=ySbbvfFlGLMC&pg=PP15&lpg=PA1&dq=%22Arthur+Cushman+McGiffert+%22 (Century, 1911), from Google Books. Reprint from Kessinger Publishing (July 2003), ISBN 076617431X

Sören Kierkegaard photo
Osama bin Laden photo

“The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam. The religion of the Unification of God; of freedom from associating partners with Him, and rejection of this; of complete love of Him, the Exalted; of complete submission to His Laws; and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion He sent down to His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Islam is the religion of all the prophets, and makes no distinction between them - peace be upon them all. It is to this religion that we call you; the seal of all the previous religions. It is the religion of Unification of God, sincerity, the best of manners, righteousness, mercy, honour, purity, and piety. It is the religion of showing kindness to others, establishing justice between them, granting them their rights, and defending the oppressed and the persecuted. It is the religion of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil with the hand, tongue and heart. It is the religion of Jihad in the way of Allah so that Allah's Word and religion reign Supreme. And it is the religion of unity and agreement on the obedience to Allah, and total equality between all people, without regarding their colour, sex, or language. It is the religion whose book - the Quran - will remained preserved and unchanged, after the other Divine books and messages have been changed. The Quran is the miracle until the Day of Judgment. Allah has challenged anyone to bring a book like the Quran or even ten verses like it.”

Osama bin Laden (1957–2011) founder of al-Qaeda

2000s, 2002, Letter to the American people (2002)

Ray Comfort photo
Henri Barbusse photo
Samuel Rutherford photo

“Let your children be as so many flowers, borrowed from God. If the flowers die or wither, thank God for a summer loan of them.”

Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661) Scottish Reformed theologian

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 51.

Jânio Quadros photo

“From a distance I became more convinced than ever that Almighty God destined us to become a great people.”

Jânio Quadros (1917–1992) Brazilian politician

"One Man's Cup of Coffee," Time Magazine profile (June 30, 1961)

Charles Spurgeon photo

“I believe that when Paul plants and Apollos waters, God gives the increase; and I have no patience with those who throw the blame on God when it belongs to themselves.”

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 129.

Voltaire photo

“It is a serious question among them whether they [Africans] are descended from monkeys or whether the monkeys come from them. Our wise men have said that man was created in the image of God. Now here is a lovely image of the Divine Maker: a flat and black nose with little or hardly any intelligence. A time will doubtless come when these animals will know how to cultivate the land well, beautify their houses and gardens, and know the paths of the stars: one needs time for everything.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

C’est une grande question parmi eux s’ils [les africains] sont descendus des singes ou si les singes sont venus d’eux. Nos sages ont dit que l’homme est l’image de Dieu: voilà une plaisante image de l’Être éternel qu’un nez noir épaté, avec peu ou point d’intelligence! Un temps viendra, sans doute, où ces animaux sauront bien cultiver la terre, l’embellir par des maisons et par des jardins, et connaître la route des astres il faut du temps pour tout.
Les Lettres d'Amabed (1769): Septième Lettre d'Amabed http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/21/10AMABED.html
Citas

Benny Hinn photo

“The reason people lose their healing, is because they begin questioning if God really did it.”

Benny Hinn (1952) American-Canadian evangelist

[NBC News, Dateline, http://www.culteducation.com/reference/hinn/hinn20.html, 2002-12-27]

Constantin Brâncuși photo

“Work like a slave; command like a king; create like a god.”

Constantin Brâncuși (1876–1957) French-Romanian artist

Original in Romanian:
Muncește ca un sclav, poruncește ca un rege, creează ca un zeu.
Brancusi - De la Maiastra la Pasare in Vazduh (II), Observator Cultural, 2011-03-13, Matei Stircea-Craciun http://www.observatorcultural.ro/Brancusi-de-la-Maiastra-la-Pasare-in-vazduh-(II)*articleID_18619-articles_details.html,

Pope Francis photo
Oscar Wilde photo

“Those whom the gods love grow young.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

A humorous reference to Menander's "ὃν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν ἀποθνῄσκει νέος [whom the gods love dies young]".
A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894)

Steven Erikson photo
Rabindranath Tagore photo
Pope Pius XII photo

“True science discovers God in an ever-increasing degree — as though God were waiting behind every door opened by science.”

Pope Pius XII (1876–1958) 260th Pope of the Catholic Church

address http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12EXIST.HTM to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 22 November 1951
quoted in Time, 3 December 1951
quoted by Dan Brown, Angels and Demons, page 44

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius photo

“What place can be left for random action, when God constraineth all things to order?”
Quis enim cohercente in ordinem cuncta deo locus esse ullus temeritati reliquus potest?

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480) philosopher of the early 6th century

Prose I; translation by H. R. James
The Consolation of Philosophy · De Consolatione Philosophiae, Book V

Gregory of Nyssa photo

“[E]very concept that comes from some comprehensible image, by an approximate understanding and by guessing at the Divine nature, constitutes a idol of God and does not proclaim God.”

Gregory of Nyssa (335–395) bishop of Nyssa

The life of Moses; translation, introd. and notes by Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett Ferguson ; pref. by John Meyendorff Page 96 (1978 ed).

Galileo Galilei photo

“Surely, God could have caused birds to fly with their bones made of solid gold, with their veins full of quicksilver, with their flesh heavier than lead, and with their wings exceedingly small. He did not, and that ought to show something. It is only in order to shield your ignorance that you put the Lord at every turn to the refuge of a miracle.”

Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) Italian mathematician, physicist, philosopher and astronomer

Notes in a copy of Jean-Baptiste Morin's "Famous and ancient problems of the earth's motion or rest, yet to be solved" (published 1631), as quoted in The Crime of Galileo (1976) by Giorgio De Santillana, p. 167
Other quotes

The Mother photo
Martin Luther photo
Abraham Lincoln photo
Pope Francis photo
U.G. Krishnamurti photo
Isaac Newton photo

“Godliness consists in the knowledge love & worship of God, Humanity in love, righteousness & good offices towards man.”

Isaac Newton (1643–1727) British physicist and mathematician and founder of modern classical physics

Of Godliness.
A short Schem of the true Religion

Paracelsus photo

“God, our Father, has given us the life and the art of healing to protect and maintain it.”

Paracelsus (1493–1541) Swiss physician and alchemist

Paracelsus - Doctor of our Time (1992)

Reinhold Niebuhr photo

“Man does not know himself truly except as he knows himself confronted by God. Only in that confrontation does he become aware of his full stature and freedom and of the evil in him.”

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American protestant theologian

vol. 1, p. 131
The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation (1941)

Thomas Paine photo
Edgar Allan Poe photo

“O God! Can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?”

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) American author, poet, editor and literary critic

"A Dream Within A Dream" (1849).

Aurelius Augustinus photo

“Shut out the evil love of the world, that you may be filled with the love of God. You are a vessel that was already full: you must pour away what you have, that you may take in what you have not.”

Aurelius Augustinus (354–430) early Christian theologian and philosopher

Second Homily, as translated by John Burnaby (1955), p. 274
Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John (414)

Charles Spurgeon photo

“Holiness is the architectural plan upon which God buildeth up His living temple.”

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist

Gleanings Among the Sheaves, Holiness, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 369.

Fred Thompson photo

“They say that God protects drunks and children. I would add young morons to that list.”

Fred Thompson (1942–2015) American politician and actor

Teaching the Pig to Dance

Catherine of Genoa photo
Oscar Wilde photo

“God knows; I won't be an Oxford don anyhow. I'll be a poet, a writer, a dramatist. Somehow or other I'll be famous, and if not famous, I'll be notorious. Or perhaps I'll lead the life of pleasure for a time and then—who knows?—rest and do nothing. What does Plato say is the highest end that man can attain here below? To sit down and contemplate the good. Perhaps that will be the end of me too.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

As quoted in In Victorian Days and Other Papers (1939) http://books.google.com/books?id=LfIjfuQGwOIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=In+Victorian+days&as_brr=0&cd=1#v=onepage&q=notorious&f=false by Sir David Oswald Hunter-Blair, p. 122

Catherine of Aragon photo
H.P. Lovecraft photo
Pope Francis photo

“This is the Church’s destination: it is, as the Bible says, the “new Jerusalem”, “Paradise”. More than a place, it is a “state” of soul in which our deepest hopes are fulfilled in superabundance and our being, as creatures and as children of God, reach their full maturity. We will finally be clothed in the joy, peace and love of God, completely, without any limit, and we will come face to face with Him! (cf. 1 Cor 13:12). It is beautiful to think of this, to think of Heaven. We will all be there together. It is beautiful, it gives strength to the soul. … At the same time, Sacred Scripture teaches us that the fulfillment of this marvellous plan cannot but involve everything that surrounds us and came from the heart and mind of God. The Apostle Paul says it explicitly, when he says that “Creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom 8:21). Other texts utilize the image of a “new heaven” and a “new earth” (cf. 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1), in the sense that the whole universe will be renewed and will be freed once and for all from every trace of evil and from death itself. What lies ahead is the fulfillment of a transformation that in reality is already happening, beginning with the death and resurrection of Christ. Hence, it is the new creation; it is not, therefore, the annihilation of the cosmos and of everything around us, but the bringing of all things into the fullness of being, of truth and of beauty.”

Pope Francis (1936) 266th Pope of the Catholic Church

"General Audience", in Saint Peter's Square (26 November 2014) https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2014/documents/papa-francesco_20141126_udienza-generale.html.
2010s, 2014

Mark Twain photo
Friedrich Nietzsche photo
Robert Browning photo

“God's justice, tardy though it prove perchance,
Rests never on the track until it reach”

Robert Browning (1812–1889) English poet and playwright of the Victorian Era

Cenciaja.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Catherine of Genoa photo
Emile Zola photo
Saul Bellow photo
George Washington photo

“It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”

George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States

Washington is known to have made some official statements of public piety, but this is not one of them. The assertion is very widely reported to have been said in Washington's Farewell Address (17 September 1796), but this is not actually the case, as any search of the documents would reveal. It has also been presented as http://www.doctorsenator.com/ReligionandTyranny.html having been part of his Proclamation on January 1, 1795 of February 19th, 1795 as a day of national Thanksgiving. The oldest form of this saying appears as part of an argument for the existence of God attributed to Washington in an undocumented biography written for children. In A Life of Washington (1836) by James K. Paulding, Washington is quoted as having stated:
It is impossible to govern the universe without the aid of a Supreme Being.
(For the context see Paulding's anecdote given below in the section of quotations about Washington.) This is unattributed, and no source other than Paulding is known. In 1864 the words "the aid of a Supreme Being" were replaced by the word "God" in Benjamin Franklin Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States https://books.google.com/books?id=H92keUU_Xy8C&pg=PA510#v=onepage&q&f=false (1864), p. 510:
:*It is impossible ... to govern the universe without God...
Three years later, in 1867, Henry Wilson (Testimonies of American Statesmen and Jurists to the Truths of Christianity, American Tract Society) replaced "universe" with "world":
:*It is impossible to govern the world without God.
In 1893 Howard H. Russell ( A Lawyer's Examination of the Bible http://books.google.com/books?id=-z0OAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q&f=false, 1893) added the word "rightly" and the phrase "and the Bible" to create the most commonly cited form:
:* It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.
This form, which is also found in Upper Room Bulletin, Vol. 7, No. 3 (23 October 1920) https://books.google.com/books?id=bb_hAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA35&dq=%22It+is+impossible+to+rightly+govern+the+world+without+God+and+the+Bible%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=whWlVJ61GJDugwTMk4CgDQ&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22It%20is%20impossible%20to%20rightly%20govern%20the%20world%20without%20God%20and%20the%20Bible%22&f=false, rests on no other authority than Russell, who was born long after Washington had died. It is clearly spurious. The saying is often found attached to genuine material such as Washington's 1795 Thanksgiving proclamation http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ThanxProc1789.htm:
:*It is in an especial manner our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experienced. It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe, without the agency of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to govern the universe without the aid of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being. Religion is as necessary to reason, as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other. A reasoning being would lose his reason, in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature, had he not a Supreme Being to refer to.
The first sentence is an almost accurate rendition of one from the official proclamation, being a portion of this segment:
: In such a state of things it is in an especial manner our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experience. Deeply penetrated with this sentiment, I, George Washington, President of the United States, do recommend to all religious societies and denominations, and to all persons whomsoever, within the United States to set apart and observe Thursday, the 19th day of February next as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, and on that day to meet together and render their sincere and hearty thanks to the Great Ruler of Nations for the manifold and signal mercies which distinguish our lot as a nation...
It is to be noted that there is genuine piety expressed in this statement, but it is not of any sectarian kind, Christian or otherwise. The last portion of the bogus statement which uses it is a truncation of a statement attributed to him in an undocumented biography written for children. In A Life of Washington (1836) by James K. Paulding, Washington is quoted as having stated:
: It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being. Religion is as necessary to reason as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other. A reasoning being would lose his reason in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature, had he not a Supreme Being to refer to; and well has it been said, that if there had been no God, mankind would have been obliged to imagine one.
In the spurious version of the Thanksgiving proclamation which uses a portion of this, Washington's allusions to Voltaire's famous statement that "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him" has been omitted. In the cases of these "quotations" it seems that if statements suitable to their sectarian interests do not exist, some people feel it necessary to invent them.
Misattributed, Spurious attributions

Simon Wiesenthal photo
Murray Walker photo

“Motor racing can never be totally safe and it never should be in my opinion. But thank God it's a lot safer now.”

Murray Walker (1923) Motorsport commentator and journalist

The Gold Coast Bulletin staff (October 26, 2002) "Weekender", The Gold Coast Bulletin, p. W09.
Interviews

Auguste Comte photo
Newton Lee photo

“Denying the existence of God the Creator is like an artificial intelligent machine doubting the existence of human inventors.”

Newton Lee American computer scientist

Google It: Total Information Awareness, 2016

Olof Palme photo

“Human beings will find a balanced situation when they do good things not because God says it, but because they feel like doing them.”

Olof Palme (1927–1986) Swedish 20th century prime minister

Quoted in: V. Thomas (2009) The God Dilemma: To Believe Or Not to Believe,.

Homér photo
Plato photo
Sarada Devi photo

“God cannot be realized without love. Yes, sincere love.”

Sarada Devi (1853–1920) Hindu religious figure, spiritual consort of Ramakrishna

[A Short Life of the Holy Mother, 88]

Martin Luther photo
Benny Hinn photo

“The Spirit tells me - Fidel Castro will die - in the 90's. Oooh my! Some will try to kill him and they will not succeed. But there will come a change in his physical health, and he will not stay in power, and Cuba will be visited of God.”

Benny Hinn (1952) American-Canadian evangelist

[The Underground Christian Network, "Benny Hinn and Beyond: Word Faith movements hidden agenda: The Joker, The Guru and the Jack of Spades" http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=420067844, CD Edition 1 of 2, SermonAudio.com, 2006-04-21]

Kurt Vonnegut photo
Nas photo

“What really did I escape from, thought I saw Gods face on the design in my vintage Claiborne”

Nas (1973) American rapper, record producer and entrepreneur

In His Own Words
On Albums, Distant Relatives (2010)

Ludwig Wittgenstein photo
Jordan Peterson photo
Arthur Miller photo

“You and I, wonder at the sky, call God a different name. As we try, learn and long to fly — you and I are so differently the same.”

Dawud Wharnsby (1972) Canadian musician

"All of Us"
A Picnic of Poems in Allah's Green Garden (2011)

Jan Hus photo

“It is impossible that Christendom finds its peace in God's will, if the priesthood is not being called to order.”

Jan Hus (1369–1415) Czech linguist, religion writer, theologist, university educator and science writer

Source: A Companion to Jan Hus (2015), p. 194.

Isaac Bashevis Singer photo

“I know as a writer how valuable a tool is the wastebasket. Perhaps God throws away many experiments before He finds the right expression. Perhaps we are the discards — or we could be the part He keeps. This mystery is what keeps us all going, to see what happens in the next chapter.”

Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991) Polish-born Jewish-American author

"Isaac Singer’s Promised City" by Stefan Kanfer in City Journal (Summer 1997) http://www.city-journal.org/html/7_3_urbanities-isaac.html

Abraham Lincoln photo
Evagrius Ponticus photo

“35. Prayer is an ascent of the spirit to God.”

Evagrius Ponticus (345–399) Christian monk

Chapters on Prayer

Martin Luther photo
Ali al-Hadi photo