Quotes about religion and faith

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“When you are a child you are yourself and you know and see everything prophetically. And then suddenly something happens and you stop being yourself; you become what others force you to be. You lose your wisdom and your soul.”

Jean Rhys (1890–1979) novelist from Dominica

Source: After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie

“I swear by Apollo the physician, and Aesculapius, and Health, and All-heal, and all the gods and goddesses, that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this Oath and this stipulation”

Hippocrates (-460–-370 BC) ancient Greek physician

to reckon him who taught me this Art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and relieve his necessities if required; to look upon his offspring in the same footing as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation; and that by precept, lecture, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the Art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath according to the law of medicine, but to none others.
Variant translation: I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant ...
As translated in The Hippocratic Oath : Text, Translation, and Interpretation (1943) , by Ludwig Edelstein.
Oath of Hippocrates (c. 400 BC)

“It's easy to believe in something when you win all the time… The losses are what define a man's faith.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Well of Ascension

“When you examine your conscience (attention to what I am going to tell you) do not go too far; look at it as we look at the seashore from the top of the Alps or the Pyrenees, lightly, without going into details. If you do not see anything clearly and certainly wrong, go ahead and be at peace with your God. Mind this, I repeat, and do tell me how you are faring, because the devil could trick you and do you serious hard with his false doctrine and suggestions. This union produces peace of mind; then search for peace. Let nothing disturb you, be it good or bad.”

Francisco Palau (1811–1872) Beatified Spanish Discalced Carmelite friar and priest

Letter to Juana Gratia (1857)

“It’s always wonderful to get to know women, with the mystery and the joy and the depth. If you can make a woman laugh, you’re seeing the most beautiful thing on God’s Earth.”

Keanu Reeves (1964) Canadian actor, director, producer and musician

“I looked and looked but I didn't see God.”

Yuri Gagarin (1934–1968) Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, the first human in space

As quoted in To Rise from Earth (1996) by Wayne Lee; some websites quote him as saying "I looked and looked and looked but I didn't see God." on 14 April 1961, a couple days after his historic flight, but the authenticity of such statements have been disputed; Colonel Valentin Petrov stated in 2006 http://www.interfax-religion.ru/orthodoxy/?act=interview&div=73&domain=1 that the cosmonaut never said such words, and that the quote originated from Nikita Khrushchev's speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU about the state's anti-religion campaign, saying "Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any god there." Gagarin himself was a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. <br class="br">As quoted in What's Missing Inside You? (2006) by Paul Schlieker, p. 17 <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Variant: No I didn't see God. I looked and looked but I didn't see God.

“I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.”

Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Chilean poet

Variant: I love you as one loves certain dark things, secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
Source: 100 Love Sonnets

“Only in the longing for a world of economic and sexual justice together, and not subordinated to one another, can the encounter with the divine take place. But this is an encounter to be found at the crossroads of desire, when one dares to leave the ideological order of the heterosexual pervasive normative. This is an encounter with indecency, and with the indecency of God and Christianity.”

Marcella Althaus-Reid (1952–2009) Argentine theologian

Indecent Theology, (Routledge, 2002) p. 200

“If anyone could prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did exclude Christ, I should prefer to stay with Christ and not with truth.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) Russian author

Letter To Mme. N. D. Fonvisin (1854), as published in Letters of Fyodor Michailovitch Dostoevsky to his Family and Friends (1914), translated by Ethel Golburn Mayne, Letter XXI, p. 71 
Context: I want to say to you, about myself, that I am a child of this age, a child of unfaith and scepticism, and probably (indeed I know it) shall remain so to the end of my life. How dreadfully has it tormented me (and torments me even now) this longing for faith, which is all the stronger for the proofs I have against it. And yet God gives me sometimes moments of perfect peace; in such moments I love and believe that I am loved; in such moments I have formulated my creed, wherein all is clear and holy to me. This creed is extremely simple; here it is: I believe that there is nothing lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic, more rational, more manly, and more perfect than the Saviour; I say to myself with jealous love that not only is there no one else like Him, but that there could be no one. I would even say more: If anyone could prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did exclude Christ, I should prefer to stay with Christ and not with truth.

“If a poem hasn't ripped apart your soul; you haven't experienced poetry.”

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

“A work of art should express only that which elevates the soul and pleases it in a noble manner. The feeling of the artist should not overstep these limits; it is wrong to venture beyond.”

Bettina von Arnim (1785–1859) German writer

Quoted in Albert Jay Nock, Memoirs of a Superfluous Man (1943), p. 175.
Attributed

“The true nature of the gods is that of magical images shaped out of the astral plane by mankind's thought, and influenced by the mind.”

Dion Fortune (1890–1946) British occultist and author

Dion Fortune, The Mystical Qabalah

“If you ever leave me again,’ she said, her eyes stinging, ‘I swear to all the gods-‘
Percy had the nerve to laugh. Suddenly the lump of heated emotions melted inside Annabeth.
‘Consider me warned,’ Percy said. ‘I missed you, too.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

“Nothing is more tragic than loving someone to the depths of your soul and knowing they cannot and will not ever love you back.”

Rick Riordan book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

“The people think of wealth and power as the greatest fate,
But in this world a spell of health is the best state.
What men call sovereignty is a worldly strife and constant war;
Worship of God is the highest throne, the happiest of all estates.”

Suleiman (1494–1566) Sultan of the Ottoman Empire

Mansel, Philip, Constantinople: city of the world's desire 1453-1924 (1995), p. 84
Poetry

“All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you.”

Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer

“Salvation lies in the soul experiencing its intrinsic joy.”

Madhvacharya (1199–1278) Hindu philosopher who founded Dvaita Vedanta school

Beginner’s Guide to Sri MadhvAchArya’s Life and Philosophy

“The five-fold difference between God, living and non-living beings is an eternal fact”

Madhvacharya (1199–1278) Hindu philosopher who founded Dvaita Vedanta school

Ya, Hindu Online

“Salvation can be attained only through pure and unsullied love of God (combined with knowledge of His greatness).”

Madhvacharya (1199–1278) Hindu philosopher who founded Dvaita Vedanta school

Beginner’s Guide to Sri MadhvAchArya’s Life and Philosophy

“God Vishnu has complete power over souls and matter and that Vishnu saves souls entirely by his grace which is granted to those who live pure and moral lives. Evil souls are predestined to eternal damnation and should of mediocre quality will transmigrate eternally.”

Madhvacharya (1199–1278) Hindu philosopher who founded Dvaita Vedanta school

Quoted from [Martha Bush Ashton, Martha Bush Ashton-Sikora, Bruce Christie, Yakṣagāna, a Dance Drama of India, 23, http://books.google.com/books?id=ug3DNI-1xwUC&pg=PA23, 1977, Abhinav Publications, 23–].