Quotes about miracle
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Cyrano de Bergerac photo

“You will say, 'How can chance assemble in one place all the things necessary to produce an oak tree?' My answer is that it would be no miracle if the matter thus arranged had not formed an oak. But it would have been a very great miracle if, once the matter was thus arranged, an oak had not been formed.”

Cyrano de Bergerac (1619–1655) French novelist, dramatist, scientist and duelist

The Other World (1657)
Context: You will say, 'How can chance assemble in one place all the things necessary to produce an oak tree?' My answer is that it would be no miracle if the matter thus arranged had not formed an oak. But it would have been a very great miracle if, once the matter was thus arranged, an oak had not been formed. A few less of some shapes, and it would have been an elm, a poplar, a willow, an elder, heather or moss. A little more of some other shapes and it might have been a sensitive plant, an oyster in its shell, a worm, a fly, a frog, a sparrow, an ape or a man.

H.L. Mencken photo

“Thus the ideal of democracy is reached at last: it has become a psychic impossibility for a gentleman to hold office under the Federal Union, save by a combination of miracles that must tax the resourcefulness even of God. The fact has been rammed home by a constitutional amendment: every office-holder, when he takes oath to support the Constitution, must swear on his honour that, summoned to the death-bed of his grandmother, he will not take the old lady a bottle of wine.”

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer

1920s, Notes on Democracy (1926)
Context: Thus the ideal of democracy is reached at last: it has become a psychic impossibility for a gentleman to hold office under the Federal Union, save by a combination of miracles that must tax the resourcefulness even of God. The fact has been rammed home by a constitutional amendment: every office-holder, when he takes oath to support the Constitution, must swear on his honour that, summoned to the death-bed of his grandmother, he will not take the old lady a bottle of wine. He may say so and do it, which makes him a liar, or he may say so and not do it, which makes him a pig. But despite that grim dilemma there are still idealists, chiefly professional Liberals, who argue that it is the duty of a gentleman to go into politics—that there is a way out of the quagmire in that direction. The remedy, it seems to me, is quite as absurd as all the other sure cures that Liberals advocate. When they argue for it, they simply argue, in words but little changed, that the remedy for prostitution is to fill the bawdyhouses with virgins. My impression is that this last device would accomplish very little: either the virgins would leap out of the windows, or they would cease to be virgins.

John D. Barrow photo
Karl Pearson photo
Brian W. Aldiss photo

“There has always been a belief in miracles in the popular mind. As L. Sprague de Camp once said, the public would rather be bunked than debunked.”

Brian W. Aldiss (1925–2017) British science fiction author

Science Fiction on the Titanic, in Brian Aldiss and Harry Harrison (eds.) The Year's Best SF 9 (1976), ISBN 0-8600-7894-9, p. 205

Helena Roerich photo
Sultan Bahu photo
Elie Wiesel photo
E.E. Cummings photo
Francis Bacon photo
Patrick Henry photo

“Let Mr. Madison tell me when did liberty ever exist when the sword and the purse were given up from the people? Unless a miracle shall interpose, no nation ever did, nor ever can retain its liberty after the loss of the sword and the purse.”

Patrick Henry (1736–1799) attorney, planter, politician and Founding Father of the United States

As quoted in The Debates in the Several States Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution also known as Elliot's Debates, Jonathan Elliot, edit. (1941) J. B. Lippincott Co., pp. 168-169, originally published in 1836
1780s

Charles Babbage photo

“It has always occurred to my mind that many difficulties touching Miracles might be reconciled, if men would only take the trouble to agree upon the nature of the phenomenon which they call Miracle.”

That writers do not always mean the same thing when treating of miracles is perfectly clear; because what may appear a miracle to the unlearned is to the better instructed only an effect produced by some unknown law hitherto unobserved. So that the idea of miracle is in some respect dependent upon the opinion of man. Much of this confusion has arisen from the definition of Miracle given in Hume's celebrated Essay, namely, that it is the "violation of a law of nature." Now a miracle is not necessarily a violation of any law of nature, and it involves no physical absurdity. As Brown well observes, "the laws of nature surely are not violated when a new antecedent is followed by a new consequent ; they are violated only when the antecedent, being exactly the same, a different consequent is the result;" so that a miracle has nothing in its nature inconsistent with our belief of the uniformity of nature. All that we see in a miracle is an effect which is new to our observation, and whose cause is concealed. The cause may be beyond the sphere of our observation, and would be thus beyond the familiar sphere of nature; but this does not make the event a violation of any law of nature. The limits of man's observation lie within very narrow boundaries, and it would be arrogance to suppose that the reach of man's power is to form the limits of the natural world. The universe offers daily proof of the existence of power of which we know nothing, but whose mighty agency nevertheless manifestly appears in the most familiar works of creation. And shall we deny the existence of this mighty energy simply because it manifests itself in delegated and feeble subordination to God's omnipotence?
"Passages from the life of a philosopher", Appendix: Miracle. Note (A)
Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864)

Clive Staples Lewis photo
Samuel R. Delany photo
J. Howard Moore photo
J. Howard Moore photo

“I see life as an inspirational miracle; as having lot of mystery.”

Jakub Tencl (1978) Czech clinical hypnotherapist and writer

Source: The mystery of life : you are the light, and that's indestructible truth, Tencl, Jakub,, 9781512399882, [United Kingdom? https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/914353319,, 914353319]

Yuval Noah Harari photo
Alex Salmond photo

“David Mundell MP said it would take a miracle to save Glasgow University participation in the Crichton campus. It is now official - miracles happen in an SNP run Scotland!”

Alex Salmond (1954) Scottish National Party politician and former First Minister of Scotland

Principles and Priorities : Programme for Government (September 5, 2007)

Verghese Kurien photo

“Amongst the management leaders in India, Kurien is not only an icon, he is a miracle.”

Verghese Kurien (1921–2012) Indian founder of dairy-cooperative Amul

By Dr.Raghunath Mashlekar, Director General of CSIR quoted in "Thought Leaders" in p. 170.

Sai Baba of Shirdi photo

“More over, Sai Baba was a celibate, remaining in one place, performing miracles, admonishing his disciples, and keeping a fire perpetually burning at Shirdi. The functions of a Guru, ascetic and saint, Sai Baba adds that of Avatar as many of his devotees and followers consider him as major incarnation of this age.”

Sai Baba of Shirdi (1836–1918) Hindu and muslim saint

Stated by Charles S.J.White.[Sinha, K.N., Sai Baba: A Ray from the Supreme, http://books.google.com/books?id=o7A_TxQzx8kC&pg=PA80, 1 January 1997, Abhinav Publications, 978-81-7017-349-6, 80–]

Brett Favre photo

“You can call it a miracle or a legend or whatever you want to. I just know that on that day, Brett Favre was larger than life.”

Brett Favre (1969) former American football quarterback

Alabama coach Gene Stallings
Brett Favre Timeline, Traina, Jimmy, Sports Illustrated, 5 October 2002, 2007-02-08 http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/features/favre/timeline,
About Favre

Lydia Maria Child photo

“The cure for all the ills and wrongs, the cares, the sorrows, and crimes of humanity, all lie in that one word LOVE. It is the divine vitality that produces and restores life. To each and every one of us it gives the power of working miracles, if we will.”

Lydia Maria Child (1802–1880) American abolitionist, author and women's rights activist

Letters from New York https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=dcYDAAAAQAAJ&rdid=book-dcYDAAAAQAAJ&rdot=1 (1841-1843), p. 206, Letter XXVIII, 29 Sep 1842
1840s, Letters from New York (1843)

Anne Bancroft photo

“I am quite surprised, that with all my work, and some of it is very, very good, that nobody talks about The Miracle Worker.”

Anne Bancroft (1931–2005) American actress

We're talking about Mrs. Robinson. I understand the world... I'm just a little dismayed that people aren't beyond it yet.
Interview (2003).

Robert G. Ingersoll photo
Will Durant photo

“See him, the newborn, dirty but marvelous, ridiculous in actuality, infinite in possibility, capable of that ultimate miracle, growth.”

Will Durant (1885–1981) American historian, philosopher and writer

Source: Fallen Leaves (2014), Ch. 1 : Our life begins

Richard Dawkins photo

“Don’t ever be lazy enough, defeatist enough, cowardly enough to say “I don't understand it so it must be a miracle - it must be supernatural - God did it”. Say instead, that it’s a puzzle, it’s strange, it’s a challenge that we should rise to. Whether we rise to the challenge by questioning the truth of the observation, or by expanding our science in new and exciting directions - the proper and brave response to any such challenge is to tackle it head-on. And until we've found a proper answer to the mystery, it's perfectly ok simply to say “this is something we don't yet understand - but we're working on it.””

It's the only honest thing to do. Miracles, magic and myths, they can be fun. Everybody likes a good story. Myths are fun, as long as you don't confuse them with the truth. The real truth has a magic of its own. The truth is more magical, in the best and most exciting sense of the word, than any myth or made-up mystery or miracle. Science has its own magic - the magic of reality.
Duke University, 01/03/2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYcOoqxuroI&t=54m51s
The Magic Of Reality (2012)

Donald J. Trump photo

“It's going to disappear. One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear. And from our shores, we — you know, it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We'll see what happens. Nobody really knows.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Regarding coronavirus

African American History Month reception, White House, , quoted in * 2020-02-29

Inside Trump’s frantic attempts to minimize the coronavirus crisis

Yasmeen Abutaleb, Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey

Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trumps-frantic-attempts-to-minimize-the-coronavirus-crisis/2020/02/29/7ebc882a-5b25-11ea-9b35-def5a027d470_story.html
2020s, 2020, February

John Allen Paulos photo

“The whole weight of science is the prima facie evidence against a miracle having occurred.”

John Allen Paulos (1945) American mathematician

Part 2 “Four Subjective Arguments”, Chapter 5 “The Argument from Interventions (and Miracles, Prayers, and Witnesses)” (p. 88)
Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don’t Add Up (2008)

Victor Hugo photo
Wendell Berry photo
Jair Bolsonaro photo

“So what? I'm sorry. What do you want me to do? My name's Messiah, but I can't work miracles.”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

In Brasília, on 28 April 2020, after being told by reporters that Brazil had achieved a record 474 COVID-19-related deaths in a day. 'So what?': Bolsonaro shrugs off Brazil's rising coronavirus death toll https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/29/so-what-bolsonaro-shrugs-off-brazil-rising-coronavirus-death-toll. The Guardian (29 April 2020).

Paulo Coelho photo
Mary Church Terrell photo
Helena Roerich photo
Stephen Vincent Benét photo
E.E. Cummings photo
William Faulkner photo

“At least wasn't nobody, no outsider, there to hear it so maybe even before next January he was able to believe hadn't none of it even been said, like miracle: what aint believed aint seen.”

Miracle, pure miracle anyhow, how little a man needs to outlast jest [just] about anything.
V. K. Ratliff about Gavin Stevens in Ch. 6
The Mansion (1959)

Fabien Cousteau photo
Thomas Carlyle photo
Gautama Buddha photo
Wayne W. Dyer photo

“Miracles of inner healing are everyday occurrences.”

Richard Bergland neuroscientist

The Fabric of Mind (1985)

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Frithjof Schuon photo
Shobha Rao photo

“My fingers are turning red, my nose is turning red, and that kind of cold, I was, of course, also unfamiliar with. And snow has always had an awe for me. The silence that takes over the world, and just. . . the absolute miracle of snow. I’ve never gotten over it, I have to confess.”

On her first exposure to winter in the United States in "Shobha Rao on Moving Between Cultures and Loving Little House on the Prairie" https://lithub.com/shobha-rao-on-moving-between-cultures-and-loving-little-house-on-the-prairie/ in LitHub (2018 Nov 19)

Jerry Seinfeld photo

“A joke is a miracle.”

Jerry Seinfeld (1954) American comedian and actor

"What a Joke" Radio Show (2019)

Kuruvilla Pandikattu photo

“Time is both a mystery and a miracle. A marvel and magic! We live in time and time lives in us.”

Kuruvilla Pandikattu (1957) Indian philosopher

Source: The Wisest of All Times is Now! p. 7. (2021)

Zoran Milanović photo

“To defend the constitution, I will fight against thieves and all that I have said in the campaign. I haven’t promise miracles. I’ll do what I promised.”

Zoran Milanović (1966) Croatian politician

Source: "Croatian President Elect Zoran Milanović Gives First TV Interview" in Total Croatia News https://www.total-croatia-news.com/politics/40884-croatian-president-milanovic (17 January 2020)

Michel Henry photo
Michael Pollan photo
Ramakrishna photo
Neale Donald Walsch photo