Quotes about God
page 34

“I love you, Clary," he said without looking at her. He was staring out into the church, at the row of lighted candles, their fold reflected in his eyes. "More than I ever--" He broke off. "God. More than I probably should. You know that, don't you?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Love, Light

“Marissa, " he mumbled, taking her hand. "Don't want to see you drink so much?" Wait, not really what he'd been going for. "Ah… don't you to see me drink so much… want."

Whatever. God… he was so confused.~Butch”

Jessica Bird book Lover Revealed

Source: Lover Revealed

Drink, Waiting

“There’s a crack (or cracks) in everyone…that’s how the light of God gets in.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Light

“Never doubt God in the darkness what he has given us in the light.”

Francine Rivers book A Voice in the Wind

Source: A Voice in the Wind

Light

“It also occurred to him that throughout history, humankind has told two stories: the story of a lost ship sailing the Mediterranean seas in quest of a beloved isle, and the story of a god who allows himself to be crucified on Golgotha.”

Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish language literature

Source: Collected Fictions

History, Sea

“Oh my god, I am so awesome!" Leo bellowed.
"So awesome!" Echo yelled back.
"He is funny," a nymph ventured.
"And cute, in a scrawny way," another said.
"Scrawny?" Leo asked. "Baby I invented scrawny. Scrawny is the new sizzling hot.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

Way, Baby

“As it says in the Bible, God fights on the side with the heaviest artillery.”

Robert A. Heinlein book The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Source: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Fight

“I woke to a bucket of ice water in my face.
“Sadie! Get up,” Zia said.
“God!” I yelled. “Was that necessary?”
“No,” admitted Zia.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Water

“You do not need to work to become spiritual. Youspiritual; you need only to remember that fact. Spirit is within you. God is within you. (67)”

Julia Cameron (1948) American writer

Source: God is No Laughing Matter

“Our idea of God tells us more about ourselves than about Him.”

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Priest and author

Idea

“Power, no matter how well-intentioned, tends to cause suffering. Love, being vulnerable, absorbs it. In a point of convergence on a hill called Calvary, God renounced the one for the sake of the other.”

Philip Yancey book The Jesus I Never Knew

Source: The Jesus I Never Knew

Love, Suffering

“There is hope for the future because God has a sense of humor and we are funny to God.”

Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist

Hope, Sense, Future

“People in general would rather die than forgive. It'shard. If God said in plain language. "I'm giving you a choice, forgive or die," a lot of people would go ahead and order their coffin.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Variant: People, in general, would rather die than forgive. It'shard. If God said in plain language, "I'm giving you a choice, forgive or die," a lot of people would go ahead and order their coffin.
Source: The Secret Life of Bees

People, Forgiveness

“God writes a lot of comedy, Donna; the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny.”

Garrison Keillor (1942) American radio host and writer

Happy to be Here (1983), p. 259
Source: Happy to Be Here

“Outlines are the last resource of bad fiction writers who wish to God they were writing masters' theses.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

“Is there a cookie at the end of this lecture?… I got a cookie after all… Dear god, the cookie was poisoned.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Rises

“When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted friendship - when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us.”

Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) British missionary

Friendship, Disappointment, Question, Suffering

“And she would say, "Today you believe in God?" And he would say, "Today I believe in love".”

Jonathan Safran Foer (1977) Novelist

Love

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

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

Attributed to Bonhoeffer on the Internet, and supposedly from Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy http://books.google.com/books?id=aG0q3X8TVpsC&pg=PA486#v=onepage (2010) by Eric Metaxas; however, there is no actual reference in that book. However, in advertising the book Metaxas does state on his site that the quote is from Bonhoeffer. http://ericmetaxas.com/books/bonhoeffer-pastor-martyr-prophet-spy/ First attributed to Bonhoeffer in Explorations 12:1 (1998), p. 3, as referenced by James Cone (2004) Theology's Great Sin: Silence in the Face of White Supremacy, Black Theology, 2:2, 139-152, footnote 1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/blth.2.2.139.36027 Compare "Not to Act, is to Act!" by Francis W. McPeek http://www.ergo-sum.net/pics/McPeek.jpg, The Missionary Herald at Home and Abroad, v.141-142 (1945-1946), "Missionary herald, 1945 - Congregational churches," pp.34-35 (We must realize that church inaction is a form of political action, and it is altogether negative. “Not to act, is to act.”) Misattributed

Silence, Evil

“Before you came into my life, I believed that God had abandoned me. Now I know that He has blessed me beyond measure.

~Sir Bannor”

Teresa Medeiros (1962) American writer

Source: Charming the Prince

Life

“There is a reason God limits our days.'
'Why?'
'To make each one precious.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Variant: There is a reason God limits man's days.
Source: The Time Keeper

“If God meant to interfere in the degeneracy of mankind would he not have done so by now? Wolves cull themselves, man. What other creatures could? And is the race of man not more predacious yet?”

Cormac McCarthy (1933) American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter

Blood Meridian (1985)
Source: Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West
Context: And the answer, said the judge. If God meant to interfere in the degeneracy of mankind would he not have done so by now? Wolves cull themselves, man. What other creature could? And is the race of man not more predacious yet? The way of the world is to bloom and to flower and die but in the affairs of men there is no waning and the noon of his expression signals the onset of night. His spirit is exhausted at the peak of its achievement. His meridian is at once his darkening and the evening of his day. He loves games? Let him play for stakes. This you see here, these ruins wondered at by tribes of savages, do you not think that this will be again? Aye. And again. With other people, with other sons.

“O God, I love you to the edge of madness, Venetia, but I'm not mad yet--not so mad that I don't know how disastrous it might be to you--to us both! You don't realize what an advantage I should be taking of your innocence!”

Georgette Heyer book Venetia

Source: Venetia

Love, Madness

“If you want to make God laugh, tell her your plans.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

“When I pray for another person, I am praying for God to open my eyes so that I can see that person as God does, and then enter into the stream of love that God already directs toward that person.”

Philip Yancey (1949) American writer

Love, Personality

“God is God. He knows what he is doing. When you can’t trace his hand, trust his heart.”

Max Lucado (1955) American clergyman and writer

Heart

“There seemed to be some correlation between devotion to God and a misguided zeal for marshmallows.”

David Sedaris Naked

Source: Naked

“God never witholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. God's refusals are always merciful -- "severe mercies" at times but mercies all the same. God never denies us our hearts desire except to give us something better.”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

Love, Wisdom, Time, Heart

“God never takes away something from your life without replacing it with something better.”

Billy Graham (1918–2018) American Christian evangelist

Life

“Parents are like God because you wanna know they're out there, and you want them to think well of you, but you really only call when you need something.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Source: Invisible Monsters

Thinking, Parent, Family, For Parents

“We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Personality

“Morality is of the highest importance -- but for us, not for God.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

“You’re not alone, and you’re not the one in charge,” Mother said gently. “Ask for help when you need it, and give help when you can. I think that is how we serve God—and each other and ourselves—in times as dark as these.”

Kristin Hannah book The Nightingale

Source: The Nightingale

Thinking, Time, Help

“Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.”

John Piper (1946) American writer

Pleasure

“Gods, woman," William said. "Your voice is like death. Can you shut it until I leave the room? Please. Seriously, you're like the one woman in the world Ito resist." -Page 271”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: The Darkest Pleasure

Death, World

“I believe in God--in spite of God! I believe in Mankind--in spite of Mankind! I believe in the Future--in spite of the Past!”

Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor

Past, Future

“Solace? That's why God made fermented beverages and the blues.”

Tom Robbins Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates

Source: Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates

“I came to think that maybe God was what you believed in because you needed to feel you weren’t alone. Maybe God was simply that part of yourself that was always there and always strong, even when you were not.”

Augusten Burroughs book A Wolf at the Table

Source: A Wolf at the Table

Feeling, Thinking, Strong, Parting

“Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is.”

Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) British missionary

Source: My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year

“Oh my God, can you see me? I thought I was wearing my invisibility cloak.”

Cate Tiernan (1961) American novelist

Source: Darkness Falls

“If our lives are truly "hid with Christ in God," the astounding thing is that this hiddenness is revealed in all that we do and say and write. What we are is going to be visible in our art, no matter how secular (on the surface) the subject may be.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Source: Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

Art, Christ

“Imagination is a gift given to us from God and each one of us use it differently.”

Brian Jacques (1939–2011) British fiction writer known for Redwall animal fantasy novels

Imagination

“God does not give us more than we can handle," I am told but I wonder if God doesn't overestimate me just a little. Or perhaps, and this is likely, I underestimate God.”

Julia Cameron (1948) American writer

Source: Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance

“Writing is a bit like being a god”

Charlie Higson (1958) British actor, writer and singer

“Babies, babies, babies. Why did God make so many babies? But no, God didn't make them. Stupid people made them.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

People, Stupidity, Baby

“You love me?"
He just looked at me for a moment. And then he reared back his head and laughed, a rich, mellow sound, unreserved and unashamed. " No, not at all. I regularly battle gods for women I dislike!”

Karen Chance American writer

Source: Hunt the Moon

Love, Women

“We are not meant to die merely in order to be dead. God could not want that for the creatures to whom He has given the breath of life. We die in order to live.”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

Source: Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ's Control

Life, Dead

“There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark.”

Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist

Source: Light in my Darkness

Way, Help

“Oh God," I said. "I'm Zmey's daughter. Zmey junior. Zmeyette, even.”

Richelle Mead Blood Promise

Source: Blood Promise

Daughters

“All god wants us to do is do what he asks us to do.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

“God help us for we knew the worst too young.”

Rudyard Kipling book The Light That Failed

Source: The Light That Failed

Help

“She let him know how much she liked what he was doing by scoring his back with her nails and crying out with pleasure.
"Oh, God."
"Nay, lass. Connor.”

Julie Garwood (1946) American writer

Source: The Wedding

Pleasure, Cry

“I mean that gods do not limit men. Men limit men.”

Tom Robbins book Jitterbug Perfume

Source: Jitterbug Perfume

Men

“Weary or bitter of bewildered as we may be, God is faithful. He lets us wander so we will know what it means to come home.”

Marilynne Robinson Home

Source: Home

Faith, Home

“A God who counts minutes and pennies, a desperate sensual God, who grunts like a pig. A pig with golden wings, who falls and falls, always belly side up, ready for caresses, that’s him, our master. Come, kiss me.”

Louis-ferdinand Céline book Journey to the End of the Night

Source: Journey to the End of the Night

Kiss

“Why is marijuana against the law? It grows naturally on our planet, serves a thousand different functions, all of them positive. To make marijuana against the law is like saying that God made a mistake. Like on the seventh day God looked down, "There it is. My Creation, perfect and holy in all ways. Now I can rest. [Gives shocked expression] Oh my Me! I left fuckin' pot everywhere. I should never have smoked that joint on the third day. Hehe, that was the day I created the possum. Still gives me a chuckle. But if I leave pot everywhere, that's gonna give people the impression they're supposed to … use it. Now I have to create Republicans."”

Bill Hicks (1961–1994) American comedian

" … and God wept", I believe is the next part of that story.
Chicago '91 (1991)

People, Law, Way, Nature

“God knows better than we do what we need.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

“God has mercifully ordered that the human brain works slowly; first the blow, hours afterwards the bruise.”

Walter de la Mare (1873–1956) English poet and fiction writer

Source: The Return

“I mean, five gods in one stomach—dang. That's enough for doubles tennis, including a ref. They'd been down there so long, they were probably hoping Kronos would swallow down a deck of cards or a Monopoly game.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

Source: Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

Hope, Game

“Now, Max, I think we both know your parents aren't missionaries."
I opened my eyes wide. "No? Well, for God's sake, don't tell them. They'd be crushed. Thinking they're doing the
Lord's work and all.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: School's Out—Forever

Thinking, Parent

“There is no greater discovery than seeing God as the author of your destiny.”

Ravi Zacharias (1946) Indian philosopher

“Someone told me much later that you always know the people who are going to make a difference in your life, from the very first time you set eyes on them, even if you do not like them at all. And I had noticed him, as he had me. God help us.”

Sarah Dunant book The Birth of Venus

Source: The Birth of Venus

Life, People, Time, Help

“Hobbes: Do you think there's a God?
Calvin: Well, somebody's out to get me!”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

Thinking

“It is said that all people who are happy have God within them.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

Happiness, People

“I only said I felt like God, Sassenach," he murmured. "I never said I was.”

Diana Gabaldon book Outlander

Source: Outlander

“And how does God speak to you?"
"In the language of everything that is beautiful.”

Mark Helprin A Soldier of the Great War

Source: A Soldier of the Great War

Beauty

“Oh my God, she was retarded and I was going to kill Jim.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

“I swore an oath before the altar of God to protect this woman. And if you're tellin' me that ye consider your own authority to be greater than that of the Almighty, then I must inform ye that I'm not of that opinion, myself.”

Diana Gabaldon book Outlander

Source: Outlander

“Let go of me or slow down," she demanded as she tried to keep pace with him.
He slowed down. "I swear to God, you try the patience of a saint."
"You aren't a saint, Brodick, no matter what your mother might have told you.”

Julie Garwood (1946) American writer

Source: Ransom

Patience

“I disobeyed Ra's wishes, and so he ordered my onw father, Shu-"
"Hang on," I said. "Shoe?"
"S-h-u," she said. "The god of the wind."
"On." I wished these gods had names that wearn't common household objects. "Go on, please.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Shoe

“Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will.”

Eric Metaxas (1963) American journalist

Source: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

Courage

“God wants you to be delivered from what you have done and from what has been done to you - Both are equally imporant to Him.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

Source: Beauty for Ashes: Receiving Emotional Healing

“I love this quote when Valerian the King of the Nymphs says to his mate Shaye;

"I am Valerian, leader of the nymphs. You may call me Oh God, that is what the other surface dwellers have preferred to call me".”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: The Nymph King

Love, Quotes

“No woman who had been intimate with a god was easily disturbed.”

Michael Cadnum (1949) American writer

“People have crushes on priests all the time, you know. It’s exciting to have to deal with God as a rival.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie book Purple Hibiscus

Source: Purple Hibiscus

People, Time

“To love is to be in communion with the other and to discover in that other the spark of God.”

Paulo Coelho book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Love

“How do you invent a religion?” Evie asked.

Will looked over the top of his spectacles. “You say, ‘God told me the following,’ and then wait for people to sign up.”

Libba Bray book The Diviners

Source: The Diviners

People, Religion, Waiting

“And now, farewell to kindness, humanity and gratitude… I have substituted myself for Providence in rewarding the good; may the God of vengeance now yield me His place to punish the wicked.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 30 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Count_of_Monte_Cristo/Chapter_30 Source: The Count of Monte Cristo (1845–1846)

Gratitude

“I try to be a Christian…I don't pray really, because I don't want to bore God.”

Orson Welles (1915–1985) American actor, director, writer and producer

Quoted in interview by Merv Griffin, from Frank Brady, Citizen Welles: A Biography of Orson Welles, Charles Scribner's Sons: New York, NY (1989), page 576.

“Are you getting your period?" She narrows her eyes.
No! God. I hate that. I hate when every negative act is blamed on your period." Sometimes bitchiness is just bitchiness, happily unattached to anything hormonal. It should get full credit.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: The Nature of Jade

Hate

“Maybe humans are just the pet alligators that God flushed down the toilet.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“The man who prays is the one who thinks that god has arranged matters all wrong, but who also thinks that he can instruct god how to put them right.”

Christopher Hitchens Mortality

Source: Mortality

Thinking

“Oh, God," I said.
"No, it's Dexter," he replied, offering me his hand, which I ignored.
He glanced behind him, then back at me. "I'll see you soon," he said, and grinned at
me.
"Like hell," I replied”

Sarah Dessen book This Lullaby

Source: This Lullaby

Hell

“Then Jesus changed the situation. When he paid for our sins on the cross, the veil in the temple that symbolized our separation from God was split from top to bottom, indicating that direct access to God was once again available.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

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

Change

“I always thought when I got older that God would sort of come into my life in some way. He didn't. I don't blame him. If I was him I'd have the same opinion about me that he does.”

Cormac McCarthy book No Country for Old Men

Source: No Country for Old Men

Life, Way

“Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) Polish-American Conservative Judaism Rabbi

Life, Wisdom, Success

“With God on your side, what does luck matter?”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“My son Asclepius had become the god of medicine by the time he was fifteen, and I couldn’t have been happier for him. It left me time for my other interests. Besides, it’s every god’s dream to have a child who grows up to be a doctor.”

Rick Riordan book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

Dreams, Time

“God is merciful to all, as he has been to you; he is first a father, then a judge.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Variant: God is full of mercy for everyone, as He has been towards you. He is a father before He is a judge.
Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

“The religion of the future will be cosmic religion. It will transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Misattributed Variant: The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism. These two statements are very similar, widely quoted, and seem to paraphrase some ideas in the essay "Religion and Science" (see below), but neither of the two specific quotes above been properly sourced. Notable Einstein scholars such as John Stachel and Thomas J. McFarlane (author of Buddha and Einstein: The Parallel Sayings) know of this statement but have not found any source for it. Any information on any definite original sources for these is welcome. This quote does not actually appear in Albert Einstein: The Human Side as is sometimes claimed. Only two sources from before 1970 can be found on Google Books. The first is The Theosophist: Volume 86 which seems to cover the years 1964 http://books.google.com/books?id=7pLjAAAAMAAJ&q=1964#search_anchor and 1965 http://books.google.com/books?id=7pLjAAAAMAAJ&q=1965#search_anchor. The quote appears attributed to Einstein on p. 255 http://books.google.com/books?id=7pLjAAAAMAAJ&q=%22natural+and+spiritual%22#search_anchor, with the wording given as "The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description." An identical quote appears on p. 284 http://books.google.com/books?id=YpsfAQAAIAAJ&q=%22dogmas+and+theology%22#search_anchor of The Maha Bodhi: Volume 72 published by the Maha Bodhi Society of India, which seems to contain issues from throughout 1964 http://books.google.com/books?id=YpsfAQAAIAAJ&q=%22volume+72%22#search_anchor. A number of phrases in the quote are similar to phrases in Einstein's "Religion and Science". Comparing the version of the quote in The Theosophist to the version of "Religion and Science" published in 1930, "a cosmic religion" in the first resembles "the cosmic religious sense" in the second; "transcend a personal God" resembles "does not involve an anthropomorphic idea of God"; "covering both the natural and the spiritual" resembles "revealed in nature and in the world of thought"; "the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity" resembles "experience the totality of existence as a unity full of significance"; and "Buddhism answers this description" resembles "The cosmic element is much stronger in Buddhism". These phrases appear in the same order in both cases, and the ones from "Religion and Science" are all from a single paragraph of the essay. Context: Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and the spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity.

Religion, Future, Personality

“We have to be braver than we think we can be, because God is constantly calling us to be more than we are.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Thinking, Courageous