Quotes about God
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“But the lesson of Abraham's story is that God demands the best we have to offer, that which is most precious to us.”

Ken Follett book The Pillars of the Earth

Source: The Pillars of the Earth

“The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.”

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) German late baroque era composer

Variant: The final aim and reason of all music is nothing other than the glorification of God and the refreshment of the spirit.

Music, Soul

“Dear God, woman,"said Will. "Are there any questions you don't want to know the answer to?”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Question

“What sense did the world make? Where was God, the Bloody Fool? Did He have no notion of fair and unfair? Couldn't He read a simple balance sheet? He would have been sacked long ago if He were managing a corporation, the things he allowed to happen…”

Rohinton Mistry A Fine Balance

Source: A Fine Balance

World, Fools, Sense, Reading

“To commit suicide is easy. To live without a god is more difficult. The drunkenness of triumph is greater than the drunkenness of sacrifice.”

Anaïs Nin book Incest: From a Journal of Love

Source: Incest: From a Journal of Love

Suicide

“My God,' he gasped, 'you're fun to kiss.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book Tender Is the Night

Source: Tender Is the Night

Kiss

“All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Source: Invisible Monsters

“I just don’t see how anyone can be so cold. (Kiara)
And you should be grateful, little girl, to whatever god you worship, that you can say that. In the world we come from, I don’t understand how anyone can be anything but cold. (Syn)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of the Night

World, Girl, Understanding

“How do people come up with a date and a time to take life from another man? Who made them God?”

Ernest J. Gaines A Lesson Before Dying

Source: A Lesson Before Dying

Life, People, Time

“If you take two steps towards God,' he used to tell me, 'God runs to you!”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi

“What are the stars but points in the body of God where we insert the healing needles of our terror and longing?”

Thomas Pynchon book Gravity's Rainbow

Gravity's Rainbow (1973)

Star

“He was the only boy I'd found worth dating in God knows how many schools. I mean, ever since he'd been bitten by a werwulf he'd been rock-steady. The best thing about this totally effed-up situation.”

Lilith Saintcrow (1976) American writer

Source: Jealousy

School, Boy

“Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for ages, not hurt anyone.”

Czeslaw Milosz (1911–2004) Polish, poet, diplomat, prosaist, writer, and translator

Age, Tree, Change, Hurt

“If my life is surrendered to God, all is well. Let me not grab it back, as though it were in peril in His hand but would be safer in mine!”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

Life

“I was the Sumerian god of fertility. You know what that means, don’t you? (Sin)
You have a lot of penis envy over the other fertility gods? Don’t worry. I won’t tell the other gods about your small penis problem. (Kat)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Devil May Cry

Problem, Envy

“Don't think you can frighten me by telling me that I am alone. France is alone. God is alone. And the loneliness of God is His strength.”

George Bernard Shaw Saint Joan

Source: Saint Joan

Thinking, Loneliness

“As long as you find something beautiful, good, and true to believe in and abide by, you have the equivalent of God in your life.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Creating True Peace: Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Family, Your Community, and the World

Life, Beauty

“My God, I could raise a family of six children and hold down a full-time job with all the energy I expend on depression!”

Elizabeth Wurtzel book Prozac Nation

Source: Prozac Nation

Children, Family, Time

“and every day I thank [God] that I am alive, not because I fear death, but because my wife has a husband and my son is not an orphan.”

Khaled Hosseini (1965) novelist

Death, Fear

“The fact is that far more crime and child abuse has been committed by zealots in the name of God, Jesus and Mohammed than has ever been committed in the name of Satan. Many people don’t like that statement, but few can argue with it.”

Carl Sagan book The Demon-Haunted World

Source: From the book The Demon-Haunted World Sagan quoting from Kenneth V. Lanning, FBI Behavioral Science Research Unit, from an article Satanic, Occult and Ritualistic Crime in The Police Chief, Oct 1989 note: Misattributed

People

“So India’s problem turns out to be the world’s problem. What happened in India has happened in God’s name.

The problem’s name is God.”

Salman Rushdie book The Satanic Verses

Source: The Satanic Verses

World, Problem

“Oh my gods, when do you not sport wood? There are bathrooms in the back, so go burp the worm or whatever.--Regin”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Dreams of a Dark Warrior

Sport

“If you tell people you talk to God, they'll think you're religious, but if you say God talks to you, it's ten to one they'll think you're crazy.”

Robert Fulghum (1937) American writer

Source: Maybe, Maybe Not

People, Thinking

“Would Grandmother scold him? Would she say, “Frank! Thank the gods, you've come. I'm surrounded by monsters.”
More likely she'd scold him, or mistake them for intruders and chase them off with a frying pan.”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

“He suddenly recalled the famous myth from Plato's Symposium: People were hermaphrodites until God split them in two, and now all the halves wander the world over seeking one another. Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Variant: He suddenly recalled from Plato's Symposium: People were hermaphrodites until God split then in two, and now all the halves wander the world over seeking one another. Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost.
Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Love, People, World

“All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul's refreshment; where this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hubbub.”

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) German late baroque era composer

Quoted in Ludwig Prautzsch Bibel und Symbol in den Werken Bachs, p. 7 http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xaG9peANY9kC&pg=PA7&dq=teuflisches+%22Finis+und+Endursache+anders+nicht,+als+nur+zu+Gottes+Ehre+%22;translation from Albert Schweitzer (trans. Ernest Newman) J. S. Bach (New York: Dover, 1966), vol. 1, p. 167 <br class="br">Variant: Like all music, the figured bass should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the recreation of the soul; where this is not kept in mind there is no true music, but only an infernal clamour and ranting.

Music, Soul

“If you stumble about believability, what are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi

Love, Life, Lovers, Problem

“Thank God for the things that I do not own.”

Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) Roman Catholic saint

“Like God's own chocolate, I'd lick her shadow off a hot sidewalk”

Christopher Moore book Coyote Blue

Source: Coyote Blue

“Oh my God!" said one of the Ambers. "Is this not the worst trip ever? Did you see the snow?"
She was a sharp one, this Amber. What would she notice next? The train? The moon? The hilarious vagaries of human existence? Her own head?”

Maureen Johnson book Let It Snow

Source: Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances

Training

“Gods have great power, but only humans have creativity, the power to change history.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

History, Change

“Where there is love, there is courage
Where there is courage, there is peace
Where there is peace, there is God
And when you have God, you have everything.”

Louise Penny book A Fatal Grace

Variant: Where there is love there is courage,
where there is courage there is peace,
where there is peace there is God.
And when you have God, you have everything.
Source: A Fatal Grace

Love, Peace, Courage

“There is no way our little minds can comprehend the love of God. But that didn't keep him from coming.”

Max Lucado (1955) American clergyman and writer

Source: America Looks Up: Reaching Toward Heaven for Hope and Healing

Love, Way

“Sassenach,” he said against my shoulder, a moment later. “Mm?” “Who in God’s name is John Wayne?” “You are,” I said. “Go to sleep.”

Diana Gabaldon book Outlander

Source: Outlander

Sleep

“May the gods have mercy on whoever pisses them off, because Zarek and Jericho will have none for them. (Madoc)
You’d better be glad I’m flattered by that. Otherwise I’d gut you. (Zarek)
Ditto. (Jericho)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dream Warrior

“God is always more interested in why we do something than in what we do. Attitudes count more than achievements.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

“It's not easy having a good marriage--but I don't want easy. Easy doesn't make you grow. Easy doesn't make you think. I thank God everyday that I am married to a man who makes me think. That's my definition of true love.”

Madonna (1958) American singer, songwriter, and actress

Love, Marriage, Thinking

“A God who let us prove his existence would be an idol”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi

“My god, Sage. Your eyes. How have I never noticed them? When you stand in the light. They're amazing… like molten gold. I could paint those… They're beautiful. You're beautiful.”

Richelle Mead Bloodlines

Source: Bloodlines

Beauty, Light, Painting

“Here lies a toppled god.
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.”

Frank Herbert book Dune Messiah

Source: Dune Messiah

“Man and wife were supposed to stay together because they'd made their vows in front of God and family.”

Nicholas Sparks book Safe Haven

Source: Safe Haven

Family

“So you can't live in Manhattan?' she asked.
Amos's brow furrowed as he looked across at the Empire State Building. 'Manhattan has other problems. Other gods. It's best we stay separate.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

Problem

“Who was it that said that coincidence was just God’s way of remaining anonymous?”

Donna Tartt book The Goldfinch

Source: The Goldfinch

Way

“The willingness to be and to have just what God wants us to be and have, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else, would set our hearts at rest, and we would discover the simpler life,
the greater peace.”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

Life, Peace, Heart

“Spirituality is not about being fixed; it is about God's being present in the mess of our unfixedness. (Messy Spirituality)”

Mike Yaconelli (1942–2003) American theologian

“Whiskers of the cat,
Webbed toes on my swimming dog;
God is in the details.”

Dean Koontz (1945) American author

Source: The Book Of Counted Sorrows

Dogs, Cats

“Mortals did not need gods to order them to kill eachother. They were quite capable of finding reasons to do so themselves.”

Trudi Canavan (1969) Australian writer

Source: Voice of the Gods

“There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else (parents in the case of children, God in the case of adults) has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point.”

Richard Dawkins book The God Delusion

Source: The God Delusion (2006), p. 360

Life, Children, Parent

“To work with God's happiness bubbling in the soul is to carry a portable paradise within you wherever you go.”

Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) Yogi, a guru of Kriya Yoga and founder of Self-Realization Fellowship

Happiness, Soul

“Gay men are guardians of the masculine impulse. To have anonymous sex in a dark alleyway is to pay homage to the dream of male freedom. The unknown stranger is a wandering pagan god. The altar, as in pre-history, is anywhere you kneel.”

Camille Paglia (1947) American writer

Men, Dreams, Sex, History

“The truth is that we all are one, that all of us together create god, that god is not man's ancestor, but his descendant.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Report to Greco

Source: Report to Greco

Truth

“Have a purpose in life, and having it, throw into your work such strength of mind and muscle as God has given you.”

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

Life

“Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

Variant: He who delights in solitude is either a wild beast or a God.

Solitude

“I begin with writing the first
sentence—and trusting to Almighty
God for the second.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Source: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

“You're killing me because you want me to give a message to God for you?" Jace shook his head, the point of the blade scraping across his throat. "You're crazier than I thought”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“It don't matter if you believe in God Nick, he believes in you.”

Stephen King book The Stand

Source: The Stand

“I looked up at the dark sky and prayed to God for a better break in life and a better chance to do something for the little people I loved.”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

Source: On the Road: the Original Scroll

Love, Life, People, Chance

“I knew you'd come, Claire. I knew you would. Dear God, you took your time.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Bitter Blood

Time

“If you are going to try, go all the way or don't even start. If you follow it you will be alive with the gods. It is the only good fight there is.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Way, Fight

“The end of life is not to be happy, nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Life, Pain, Happiness, Pleasure

“Everybody is an atheist in saying that there is a god - from Ra to Shiva - in which he does not believe. All that the serious and objective atheist does is to take the next step and to say that there is just one more god to disbelieve in.”

Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author

“Every ending is a new beginning. Through the grace of God, we can always start again. (Page 120.)”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Source: Everyday Grace: Having Hope, Finding Forgiveness And Making Miracles

“Why, I can't help wondering, is God thought to need such ferocious
defence? One might have supposed him amply capable of looking
after himself.”

Richard Dawkins book The God Delusion

Source: The God Delusion

Help

“The proud person always wants to do the right thing, the great thing. But because he wants to do it in his own strength, he is fighting not with man, but with God.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

Fight, Personality

“No one infers a god from the simple, from the known, from what is understood, but from the complex, from the unknown, and incomprehensible. Our ignorance is God; what we know is science.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

Source: On the Gods and Other Essays

Science

“I thank God for Closed Doors”

Tyler Perry (1966) American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, producer, author, and songwriter

“God has a prepared path for us to follow. We just have to read the omens he has left for us.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

Reading

“Sometimes doubting is not a lack of faith, but an expression of it. Sometimes to doubt is to merely insist that God be taken seriously not frivolously, to insist that our faith is placed in and upheld by something other than seeming conjuring tricks.”

Mark Buchanan (1961) American physicist

Source: Your God Is Too Safe

Faith

“People plan, God laughs.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Longest Ride

Source: The Longest Ride

People

“Self-sufficiency is the enemy of salvation. If you are self-sufficient, you have no need of God. If you have no need of God, you do not seek Him. If you do not seek Him, you will not find Him.”

William Nicholson movie Shadowlands

Source: Shadowlands (1993)

“Treat everyone you meet as if they have infinite value because in God’s eyes they do”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

“If I stopped loving Him, I would cease to believe in His love. If I loved God, then I would believe in His love for me. It's not enough to need it. We have to love first, and I don't know how. But I need it, how I need it.”

Graham Greene (1904–1991) English writer, playwright and literary critic

Love

“Kid. You just made the last mistake of your life.'
'God,' I said. 'I.”

Jim Butcher book Small Favor

Source: Small Favor

Life

“When I was young, I asked my priest how to get to heaven and still protect yourself from all the evil in the world. He told me what God told His children;'You are sheep among wolves, be wise as the serpent, yet innocent as doves.”

Dennis Lehane book Gone, Baby, Gone

Source: Gone, Baby, Gone

Children, World, Evil

“One can no more keep the mind from returning to an idea than the sea from returning to a shore. For a sailor, this is called the tide; in the case of the guilty it is called remorse. God stirs up the soul as well as the ocean.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Soul, Idea, Sea

“Hell’s bells. I don’t call him the Fist of God as a pet name, folks.”

Jim Butcher book Small Favor

Source: Small Favor

Hell

“He did not study God; he was dazzled by him.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Study

“If I've got the powers of a god, then why am I so…"
"Lame?" Sadie suggested.
"Shut up," I said.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

“There will be guards,” Bast said. “And traps. And alarms. You can bet the house is heavily charmed to keep out gods.”
“Magicians can do that?” I asked. I imagined a big can of pesticide labeled God-Away.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Imagination, Housing

“In God's eyes all children are beautiful but here on earth we have higher standards.”

Stephen Colbert (1964) American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor

Children, Beauty

“When a sense of dissatisfaction persists, that means it was placed there by God for one reason only: you need to change everything and move forward.”

Paulo Coelho book Aleph

Source: Aleph

Sense, Change

“Then you're a bigger fool than I thought. Since when has any man ever been worthy of the woman he loved? It's only by God's grace that they love us in spite of ourselves.”

Teresa Medeiros (1962) American writer

Source: The Bride and the Beast

Love, Fools

“The next time you feel rejection's sting, remember God's words to Samuel: "It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me." (1 Sam. 8:7)”

Beth Moore (1957) American evangelist

Feeling, Time

“It is far more comforting to think God listened and said no, than to think that nobody’s out there.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Thinking

“Life's metaphors are God's instructions.”

Elizabeth Gilbert (1969) American writer

Life

“Friends are God's way of apologizing for your family.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Source: The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-create Your World Your Way

Family, Way

“God is the Champion at bringing people from a place of destruction to a place of total victory. As they reach that place of victory they become trophies of his grace. and they are set on the display as a fragrant reminder of God's goodness.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

Source: Beauty for Ashes: Receiving Emotional Healing

People, Victory

“We were given the Scriptures to humble us into realizing that God is right, and the rest of us are just guessing.”

Rich Mullins (1955–1997) American christian musician

Lufkin, Texas http://www.kidbrothers.net/words/concert-transcripts/lufkin-texas-jul1997-full.html (July 19, 1997) <br class="br">In Concert <br class="br">Context: It starts off so beautifully and then at the end of that Psalm, the last verse of that Psalm is “How very blessed is the man who dashes the little one’s heads against the rocks.” This is not the sort of scripture you read at a pro-life meeting. But it’s in there none the less. Which is the thing about the Bible that’s why it always cracks me up when people say ‘Well in Dududududududududududududu it says’ you kinda go ‘Wow it says a lot of things in there.’ Proof texting is a very dangerous thing. I think if we were given the scriptures it was not so that we could prove that we were right about everything. If we were given the scriptures it was to humble us into realizing that God is right and the rest of us are just guessing. Which is what makes them so much fun to read, especially if you are not a fundamentalist.