Quotes about miracle
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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
Of the eye
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), I Prolegomena and General Introduction to the Book on Painting
"The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences," Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics, February 1960, final sentence.
Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 50e
Part III, Ch. 3
To the Lighthouse (1927)
Context: "Like a work of art," she repeated, looking from her canvas to the drawing-room steps and back again. She must rest for a moment. And, resting, looking from one to the other vaguely, the old question which transversed the sky of the soul perpetually, the vast, the general question which was apt to particularise itself at such moments as these, when she released faculties that had been on the strain, stood over her, paused over her, darkened over her. What is the meaning of life? That was all — a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one. This, that, and the other; herself and Charles Tansley and the breaking wave; Mrs. Ramsay bringing them together; Mrs. Ramsay saying, "Life stand still here"; Mrs. Ramsay making of the moment something permanent (as in another sphere Lily herself tried to make of the moment something permanent) — this was of the nature of a revelation. In the midst of chaos there was shape; this eternal passing and flowing (she looked at the cloud going and the leaves shaking) was struck into stability. Life stand still here, Mrs. Ramsay said. "Mrs. Ramsay! Mrs. Ramsay!" she repeated. She owed it all to her.
“Many ingenious lovely things are gone
That seemed sheer miracle to the multitude,”
I, st. 1
The Tower (1928), Nineteen Hundred And Nineteen http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1547/
Context: Many ingenious lovely things are gone
That seemed sheer miracle to the multitude,
protected from the circle of the moon
That pitches common things about.
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985), First Inaugural address (1981)
Context: To a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion, and yet in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place, as it has for almost two centuries, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.
“Believe in miracles
and cures and healing wells.”
"Doubletake", from The Cure at Troy (1990)
Poetry Quotes, The Cure at Troy
Context: History says don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.
So hope for a great sea-change
on the far side of revenge.
Believe that a further shore
is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles
and cures and healing wells.
Of Atheism; in the original archaic English this read: I HAD rather beleeve all the Fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, then that this universall Frame, is without a Minde. And therefore, God never wrought Miracle, to convince Atheisme, because his Ordinary Works convince it. It is true, that a little Philosophy inclineth Mans Minde to Atheisme; But depth in Philosophy, bringeth Mens Mindes about to Religion.
Essays (1625)
Context: I had rather believe all the fables in the legends and the Talmud and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind. And therefore, God never wrought miracle, to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.
“We are alive within mystery, by miracle.”
Life Is A Miracle : An Essay Against Modern Superstition (2000)
Context: We are alive within mystery, by miracle. "Life," wrote Erwin Chargaff, "is the continual intervention of the inexplicable." We have more than we can know. We know more than we can say. The constructions of language (which is to say the constructions of thought) are formed within experience, not the other way around. Finally we live beyond words, as also we live beyond computation and beyond theory. There is no reason whatever to assume that the languages of science are less limited than other languages.
“The miracle of Jesus is himself, not what he said or did
about the future.”
Source: The Essential Rumi (1995), Ch. 19 : Jesus Poems, p. 205
Context: The miracle of Jesus is himself, not what he said or did
about the future. Forget the future.
I'd worship someone who could do that.
Congressional speech (1849)
Context: I affirm, in words as true and literal as any that belong to geometry, that the man who withholds knowledge from a child not only works diabolical miracles for the destruction of good, but for the creation of evil also. He who shuts out truth, by the same act opens the door to all the error that supplies its place. Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up all the vacuities of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge. He who dethrones the idea of law, bids chaos welcome in its stead. Superstition is the mathematical complement of religious truth; and just so much less as the life of a human being is reclaimed to good, just so much more is it delivered over to evil. The man or the institution, therefore, that withholds knowledge from a child, or from a race of children, exercises the awful power of changing the world in which they are to live, just as much as though he should annihilate all that is most lovely and grand in this planet of ours, or transport the victim of his cruelty to some dark and frigid zone of the universe, where the sweets of knowledge are unknown, and the terrors of ignorance hold their undisputed and remorseless reign.
Principles to Form the Basis of the Administration of the Republic (February 1794)
“Schopenhauer as educator” ("Schopenhauer als Erzieher"), § 3.1, R. Hollingdale, trans. (1983), p. 127
Untimely Meditations (1876)
On the notion of faith and how it might apply to Mexico and its peoples in “Q&A: Lila Downs, A Sin and A Miracle” https://remezcla.com/music/lila-downs-sin-miracle-pecados-milagros-interview/ in Remezcla (c. 2011)
Heritage and indigenous peoples
If we have more black men in prison than in our colleges and universities, then it's time to take the bullet out. If we have millions of people goin' to the emergency room for treatable illnesses like asthma, it's time to take the bullet out. If too many of our kids don't have health insurance, it's time to take that bullet out. If we keep sending our kids to crumblin' school buildings, we keep fighting this war in Iraq, a war that should've never been authorized and should've never been waged, a war that costing us 20 cents — $275 million a day, that could have been invested in rebuilding communities all across this country, then it's time to take that bullet out!
2007
Source: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential
“If there's someone you like and they like you back…It's close to a miracle…”
Source: Kitchen Princess, Vol. 04
“Life is a miracle, and being aware of simply this can already make us very happy.”
Source: Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life
“I have seen no more evident monstrosity and miracle in the world than myself.”
Book III, Ch. 11
Essais (1595), Book III
“i'm sorry she never got her miracle.
she did get her miracle, Landon, her miracle was you.”
Source: A Walk to Remember
“You're so brave, Eva. So strong and honest. You're a miracle. My miracle.”
“For all those who believe, expect a miracle.”
Source: Linda Goodman's Star Signs
Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People
Source: Love Is a Dog from Hell
Source: Things I Want My Daughters to Know
“God gave the Angels wings and humans chocolate.
Mrs. Miracle”
Source: Mrs. Miracle
Source: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
“A miracle, my friend, is an event which creates faith.”
Ch 36 Emmeline and Cassy
Source: Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
Source: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Source: The Martian Chronicles
Source: Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
“Some marriages are made in heaven, but they all have to be maintained on earth. Mrs Miracle”
Source: Mrs. Miracle
By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Context: You have to take risks … We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, God gives us the sun — and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven't perceived that moment, that it doesn't exist — that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. But that moment exists — a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles.
“The miracle of love comes to us in the presence of the uninterpreted moment.”
Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life (2002)
Source: The Darkest Evening of the Year
“This was love: a string of coincidences that gathered significance and became miracles.”
Source: Half of a Yellow Sun
“It's not just a miracle; it's a miracle with chocolate. Best kind.”
Source: Kiss of Death
Source: Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas
“Take time to see the quiet miracles that
seek no attention”
“Nothing good is a miracle, nothing lovely is a dream.”
Source: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
“It was at once a miracle and the most natural thing in the world.”
Source: Kitchen
“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.”
“So many miracles have not yet happened.”
Source: Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
