Quotes about piety
A collection of quotes on the topic of piety, god, men, man.
Quotes about piety

Response to Parliament (October 1566).
Nahj al-Balagha

Source: Little Women (1868), Ch. 36 : Beth's Secret
Context: Simple, sincere people seldom speak much of their piety. It shows itself in acts rather than in words, and has more influence than homilies or protestations. Beth could not reason upon or explain the faith that gave her courage and patience to give up life, and cheerfully wait for death. Like a confiding child, she asked no questions, but left everything to God and nature, Father and Mother of us all, feeling sure that they, and they only, could teach and strengthen heart and spirit for this life and the life to come. She did not rebuke Jo with saintly speeches, only loved her better for her passionate affection, and clung more closely to the dear human love, from which our Father never means us to be weaned, but through which He draws us closer to Himself. She could not say, "I'm glad to go," for life was very sweet for her. She could only sob out, "I try to be willing," while she held fast to Jo, as the first bitter wave of this great sorrow broke over them together.

Source: Sir Syed A. Khan quoted in Jain, M. (2010). Parallel pathways: Essays on Hindu-Muslim relations, 1707-1857. quoting Ashraf 2007, also in 1857 in the Muslim Historiography, Muḥammad Ikrām Cug̲h̲tāʼī. also in Rebellion 1857 A Symposium (1957)" https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.52043/2015.52043.Rebellion-1857-A-Symposium-1957_djvu.txt

Muhammad Kulayni, Usūl al-Kāfī, vol.2, p. 84
Religious Wisdom
Theatrum Chemicum Volume 1 phil. med.

Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 204

“The ceremonial (hot or cold) as opposed to the haphazard (lukewarm) characterizes piety.”
Source: 1930s-1951, Philosophical Occasions 1912-1951 (1993), Ch. 7 : Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough, p. 127

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 544.

§ 11
2010s, 2015, Laudato si' : Care for Our Common Home

Source: 1950s, Portraits from Memory and Other Essays (1956), p. 9

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 320

Upon The Mother Of The Gods (c. 362-363)
Context: When the Sun touches the equinoctial circle, where that which is most definite is placed (for equality is definite, but inequality indefinite and inexplicable); at that very moment (according to the report), the Sacred Tree is cut down; then come the other rites in their order; whereof some are done in compliance with rules that be holy and not to be divulged; others for reasons allowable to be discussed. The "Cutting of the Tree;" this part refers to the legend about the Gallos, and has nothing to do with the rites which it accompanies; for the gods have thereby, I fancy, taught us symbolically that we ought to pluck what is most beautiful on earth, namely virtue joined with piety, and offer the same unto the goddess, for a token of good government here below. For the Tree springs up out of the earth and aspires upwards into the air; it is likewise beautiful to see and be seen, and to afford us shade in hot weather; and furthermore to produce, and regale us with its fruit; thus a large share of a generous nature resides in it. The rite, therefore, enjoins upon us who are celestial by our nature, but who have been carried down to earth, to reap virtue joined with piety from our conduct upon earth, and to aspire upwards unto the deity, the primal source of being and the fount of life.

On the conceits of pious theists and rationalistic atheists.
The Mike Wallace Interview (1958)

The Erasmus Reader (1990), p. 141.
Handbook of the Christian Soldier (1503)

“Here the old Bacchic piety endures,
Here the sweet legends of the world remain.”
"Tuscany" in The Best Poems of 1923 (1924) edited by Thomas Moult
Context: The dusk is heavy with the wine's warm load;
Here the long sense of classic measure cures
The spirit weary of its difficult pain;
Here the old Bacchic piety endures,
Here the sweet legends of the world remain.

Mr M.D. Gopalakrishnan, in” Rationalist /Social Reformer/”.
About Periyar

Source: The Aleph and Other Stories

"On My Friendly Critics"
Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies (1922)
Source: Soliloquies in England & Later Soliloquies

“The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.”
My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold, (1802)
The last three lines of this form the introductory lines of the long Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood begun the next day.
Context: My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

1920s, Authority and Religious Liberty (1924)
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 453.

Source: The Works of the Right Reverend George Horne, 1809, p. 64; As quoted in Allibone (1880)

“Again that smile of exquisite and self-congratulatory piety.”
Source: The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981), Chapter 8 (p. 98)

"The Artist of the Beautiful" (1844)

1850s, Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850), Model Prisons (March 1, 1850)
Hindu Temples – What Happened to Them, Volume II (1993)

Allí en Rangoon comprendí que los dioses
eran tan enemigos como Dios
del pobre ser humano.
Dioses
de alabastro tendidos
como ballenas blancas,
dioses dorados como las espigas,
dioses serpientes enroscados
al crimen de nacer,
budhas desnudos y elegantes
sonriendo en el coktail
de la vacía eternidad
como Cristo en su cruz horrible,
todos dispuestos a todo,
a imponernos su cielo,
todos con llagas o pistola
para comprar piedad o quemarnos la sangre,
dioses feroces del hombre
para esconder la cobardía,
y allí todo era así,
toda la tierra olía a cielo,
a mercadería celeste.
Religión en el Este (Religion in the East) from Memorial of Isla Negra [Memorial de Isla Negra] (1964), trans. by Anthony Kerrigan in Selected Poems by Pablo Neruda [Houghton Mifflin, 1990, ISBN 0-395-54418-1] (p. 463).
The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks (1947)
Source: Break-Out from the Crystal Palace (1974), p. 174

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 103.

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 453.
"Evelyn Waugh: Club and Country", p. 95
The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980)

The Hireling Ministry, None of Christ's (1652)

Epitaph for John Adams (1829), inscribed on one of the portals of the United First Parish Church Unitarian (Church of the Presidents), Quincy

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 321.

Letter to Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, 1146-47
"James Taylor Marked for Death" (1971), p. 67
Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung (1988)
An all-purpose phony translation for Latin inscriptions.
Latin for All Occasions (1990)

The Renaissance in India (1918)
Source: Jesus Before Christianity: The Gospel of Liberation (1976), p. 23.

Source: Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Ch.2 The Social Aims of Jesus, p. 49-50

Vol. 1, p. 23
The Foundations of a Creed (1874-5)
“The cynic suffers the form of faith without love. Incredulity is his piety.”
#16
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten Second Essays (2001)

Source: The Limits of Atheism: Or, Why Should Sceptics be Outlaws? 1874, p. 13
On Politics: A History of Political Thought: From Herodotus to the Present (2012), Ch. 4 : Roman Insights: Polybius and Cicero

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 452.

C. Rajagopalachari (1900) Hinduism, doctrine and way of life https://archive.org/stream/cu31924091600688#page/n37/mode/2up, p. 31; As quoted in [Rao, K.L. Seshagiri, Mahatma Gandhi And Comparative Religion, http://books.google.com/books?id=HSGWZ9mpNl4C&pg=PA110, 1 January 1990, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 978-81-208-0767-9, 110–]

“Ah, Postumus! they fleet away,
Our years, nor piety one hour
Can win from wrinkles and decay,
And Death's indomitable power.”
Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume,
labuntur anni nec pietas moram
rugis et instanti senectae
adferet indomitaeque morti.
Book II, ode xiv, line 1 (trans. John Conington)
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)

Horvendile, in Ch. 13 : What a Boy Thought
The Way of Ecben (1929)

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 273.
Nahj al-Balagha
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 585.

But if one of those serpents even is willing to repent, and follows the Word, he becomes a man of God.
Exhortation to the Heathen

XVI, 19
The Kitáb-I-Asmá
“Why should thinkers mock the simple pieties of the people?”
Source: Think (1999), Chapter Five, God, p. 190

1850s, An Upbuilding Discourse December 20, 1850

“The weaker sex, to piety more prone”
Doomsday, Hour v, lv https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=e8DnAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR45&lpg=PR45&dq=William+Alexander+doomsday&source=bl&ots=taUqo5dShA&sig=CcMyo0Y7DxR7VknOu4J0xdRyQao&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAGoVChMI8OLI24nKxwIVi-0UCh3i1QtP#v=onepage&q=The%20weaker%20sexe&f=false.
Broken Lights (Letters 1951-59).

Source: Evolution and Theology (1900), pp. 10-11.

1980s
Source: Bois,Yve-Alain, Douglas Crimp, and Rosalind Krauss. " A Conversation with Hans Haacke http://www.kim-cohen.com/artmusictheoryassets/artmusictheorytexts/Haacke_Interview.PDF." in: October : The First Decade 30 (fall 1984): 23-48

"France's censorship demands to Twitter are more dangerous than 'hate speech'" in The Guardian, 2 January 2013. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/02/free-speech-twitter-france

"To the Cynic Heracleios" in The Works of the Emperor Julian (1913) edited by W. Heinemann, Vol II, p. 93
General sources

Source: Natural Theology (1802), Ch. 26 : The Goodness of the Deity.

Kunnumpuram, K. (ed) (2006) Life in Abundance: Indian Christian Reflections on Spirituality. Mumbai: St Pauls
On Spirituality

Futuhat-i-Firoz Shahi quoted from Lal, K. S. (1992). The legacy of Muslim rule in India. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. Chapter 4
Quotes from the Futuhat-i-Firuz Shahi

Io vi conforto di convertirvi a Dio, vivere come è obbligato ogni buon cristiano, dolervi del passato e ridurvi alla pietà. Altrimenti, io vi annunzio che è sopra di voi imminente un gran flagello, e sarete flagellato nella roba, nella persona e nella casa vostra.
Vi annunzio ancora, che della vostra vita ce n' è per poco; che, se non farete quel che vi dico, anderete nell'inferno; e questa lettera vi sarà presentata innanzi al tribunale di Dio, nè vi potrete scusare.
To the prince of Mirandola, Count Galeotto Pico, brother of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (26 March 1496), as quoted in Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola (1888) http://books.google.com/books?id=7qgTAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA442&dq=%22if+you+obey+not+my+words+you+will+go+to+hell%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=rlP2TvvdIoeC2wW1mcWtAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22if%20you%20obey%20not%20my%20words%20you%20will%20go%20to%20hell%22&f=false by Pasquale Villari, translated by Linda Villari, p. 442; also in Le lettere di Girolamo Savonarola (The letters of Jerome Savonarola), 1933, Roberto Ridolfi, L. S. Olschki, p. 107. http://books.google.com/books?ei=1dclT43LF5GnsALZybGMAg&id=NCs8AAAAMAAJ&dq=%22potrete+scusare%22+savonarola+1496&q=%22potrete+scusare%22+#search_anchor

“Religious persecution may shield itself under the guise of a mistaken and over-zealous piety.”
15 February 1788
On the Impeachment of Warren Hastings (1788-1794)

Source: The Priestly Kingdom (1984), p. 175

"What We Owe Our Parasites", speech (June 1968); Free Speech magazine (October and November 1995)
1960s

The Rubaiyat (1120)

1960s, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)

This very admonition may, as intended, most severely wound the callous secular mentality, which as a rule cannot be wounded very easily or disconcerted.
Judge for Yourself, p. 96-97 1851
1850s, Judge For Yourselves! 1851 (1876)

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Omega (2003), Chapter 45 (p. 439)

2000s, 2003, Hope and Conscience Will Not Be Silenced (July 2003)

“Zeal to do all that is in one's power is, in truth, a proof of piety.”
As quoted in The Works of the Emperor Julian (1923) by Wilmer Cave France Wright, p. 311; also in The Paganism Reader (2004) edited by Chas S. Clifton, Graham Harvey, p. 26
General sources

“Piety is the tinfoil of pretense.”
The Philistine http://books.google.com/books?id=Y4lHAAAAYAAJ&q="Piety+is+the+tin-foil+of+pretense"&pg=RA1-PA115#v=onepage (September 1908).

Source: The Existential Pleasures of Engineering (1976), p. 27