Quotes about sin
page 4

“I advise you to fear Allah alone, with no partner of associate. I advise you to treat the first Muhâjireen well and acknowledge their seniority. I advise you to treat the Ansār well, and show approval of those among them who do well, and forgive those among them who make mistakes. I advise you to treat the people of the outlying regions well, for they are a shield against the enemy and conduits of fay; do not take anything from them except that which is surplus to their needs. I advise you to treat the people of the desert well, for they are the original Arabs and the protectors of Islam. Take from the surplus of their wealth and give it to their poor. I advise you to treat ahl adh-dhīmmah well, to defend them against their enemies and not burden them with more than they can bear if they fulfill their duties towards the believers or pay the Jizyāh with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. I advise you to fear Allah and fear His wrath, lest you do anything wrong. I advise you to fear Allah with regard to the people, but do not fear the people with regard to Allah. I advise you to treat the people justly, and to devote yourself to looking after them and protecting them against their enemies. Do not show any favour to the rich over the poor. That will be better for your spiritual well being and will help to reduce your burden of sin, and it will be better for your Hereafter, until you meet the One Who knows what is in your heart. I instruct you to be strict with regard to the commands of Allah, His sacred limits and disobedience with all people, both relatives and others. Do not show any mercy to anyone until you have settled the score with him according to his offence. Treat all people as equal, and do not worry about who is as fault or fear the blame of the blamers. Beware of showing favouritism among the believers with regard to the fay that Allah has put you in charge of, lest that lead to injustice. Keep away from that. You are in a position between this world and the Hereafter. If you conduct your affairs justly in this world and refrain from indulgence, that will earn you faith and divine pleasure. I advise you not to let yourself or anyone else do wrong to ahl al-dhimmah. I advise you sincerely to seek thereby the Countenance of Allah and the Hereafter. I have chosen advice for you that I would offer to myself or my son. If you do as I have advised you and follow my instructions, you will have gained a great deal. If you don not accept it or pay attention to it, and do not handle your affairs in the way that pleases Allah, that will be a shortcoming on your part and you will have failed to be sincere, because whims and desires are the same and the cause of sin is Iblīs, who calls man to everything that will lead to his doom. He misguided the generations who came before you and led them to Hell, what a terrible abode. What a bad deal it is for a man to take the enemy of Allah as his friend, who calls him to disobey Allah. Adhere to the truth, strive hard to reach it and admonish yourself. I urge you by Allah to show mercy to the Muslims, honour their elderly, show compassion to their young ones and respect the knowledgeable ones among them. Do not harm them or humiliate them, and do not keep the fay for yourself lest you anger them. Do not deprive them of their stipends when they become due, thus making them poor. Do not keep them away on campaigns for so long that they end up having no children. Do not allow wealth to circulate only among the rich. Do not close your door to the people or allow the strong to oppress the weak. This is my advice to you, as Allah is my witness, and I greet you with peace.”

Umar (585–644) Second Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate and a companion of Muhammad

Umar ibn al-Khattab, Vol. 2, p. 389-390, also quoted in At-Tabqaat ul-Kabir, Vol. 3, p. 339
Last Advise

Bad luck, Children, People, Pleasure

“The sin is about our notion of what is right and what is wrong, and how we bend the truth based on we want and I think. In Catholicism, we tend to do this a lot, and I think it’s very interesting and very beautiful yet very disturbing at the same time. A miracle is about believing and having faith. I think that it these times, and in Mexico, we have been to the point where we have been loosing [sic] faith. It’s really important for me to remind myself that I must continue on having faith, in my people, in my nation, in the woman, and in all the beautiful things that my country represents.”

Lila Downs (1968) Mexican American singer-songwriter

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) <br class="br">Heritage and indigenous peoples

People, Truth, Faith, Beauty

“God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other. Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.”

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American protestant theologian

Full version of the original (ca. 1942)
The Serenity Prayer (c. 1942)

Life, Wisdom, God, Happiness

“Man's death by sins is more than his death by fate and his life by charity is more than his life by age.”

Muhammad al-Taqi (811–835) ninth of the Twelve Imams of Twelver Shi'ism

[Baqir Sharīf al-Qurashi, The life of Imam Muhammad al-Jawad, Wonderful Maxims and Arts, 2005]

Life, Death, Fate, Age

“Your past, present and future sins will be placed upon your shoulders and not on the shoulders of the man who left us long ago.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Past, Future

“To fear God is first of all to see, on the level of action, consequences in causes, sanction in sin, suffering in error; to love God is first to choose God, that is to say, to prefer what brings one nearer Him over what estranges from Him.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2005, Stations of Wisdom, World Wisdom, 102, 978-0-94153218-1]
God, Reverential fear and love

Love, God, Fear, Error

“No one has committed so much sin in his life that he deserves to die twice.”

José Saramago book The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

Original: (pt) Ninguém na vida teve tantos pecados que mereça morrer duas vezes.
Source: The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (1991), p. 362

Life

“Gentleman, I have had men watching you for a long time, and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the bread-stuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to route you out!”

Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) American general and politician, 7th president of the United States

Source: 1832. See The Minds of Men: An American Intelligence Brief https://books.google.com.br/books?id=u2I6AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 by Eric Sanders. AuthorHouse, 2014. pp. 27-28

Men, Family, Time, Country

“Put your hands to the constellations
The way you look should be a sin, you're my sensation.”

Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter

Devil in a New Dress
Lyrics, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)

Way

“When we sin and mess up our lives, we find that God doesn't go off and leave us- he enters into our trouble and saves us.”

Eugene H. Peterson (1932–2018) American translator

God

“The point is, Sin is now going to try to overthrow me again and take my place. Do you know what that means? (Artemis)
There will be much rejoicing? (Kat)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Devil May Cry

“Indian believes they ain't but two sins… bein a coward… and turnin agin yer own kind.”

Forrest Carter (1925–1979) Political speechwriter, politician, novelist, memoirist

Source: The Outlaw Josey Wales

“Our debts (sins) are cancelled.”

Peter Scazzero (1956) American psychotherapist, author and theologian

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It's Impossible to Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Immature

“Lust," she said. "Lust is a deadly sin."
"And spanking."
"I think that falls under lust."
"I think it should have its own category." said Jace”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Thinking

“… I have always lived on contrasts! To me the only death is monotony. Beware of monotony; it's the mother of all the deadly sins.”

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American novelist, short story writer, designer

Death

“Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction.”

Simone Weil book Waiting for God

Source: Waiting for God

“Primarily, God is not bound to punish sin; he is bound to destroy sin.
The only vengeance worth having on sin
is to make the sinner himself its executioner.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

From ‘’Justice’’ in Unspoken Sermons Series III (1889)
Context: If sin must be kept alive, then hell must be kept alive; but while I regard the smallest sin as infinitely loathsome, I do not believe that any being, never good enough to see the essential ugliness of sin, could sin so as to deserve such punishment. I am not now, however, dealing with the question of the duration of punishment, but with the idea of punishment itself; and would only say in passing, that the notion that a creature born imperfect, nay, born with impulses to evil not of his own generating, and which he could not help having, a creature to whom the true face of God was never presented, and by whom it never could have been seen, should be thus condemned, is as loathsome a lie against God as could find place in heart too undeveloped to understand what justice is, and too low to look up into the face of Jesus.

God

“There is only one sin god will not forgive Boss, and that is to deny a woman who is in wanting ~ Zorba”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek

God, Forgiveness

“Her lips touched his brain as they touched his lips, as though they were a vehicle of some vague speech and between them he felt an unknown and timid preasure, darker than the swoon of sin, softer than sound or odor.”

James Joyce book A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Source: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

“She had eyes like strange sins.”

Raymond Chandler book The High Window

Source: The High Window

“I have really sinned. I am going to pause now, and sit here on the mound repenting in deepest shame…”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

“Loneliness becomes a lover, solitude a darling sin.”

Ian Fleming book The Spy Who Loved Me

Source: The Spy Who Loved Me

Lovers, Solitude, Loneliness

“Writing saved me from the sin and inconvenience of violence.”

Alice Walker (1944) American author and activist

“I am not a fan of people who abuse service staff. In fact, I find it intolerable. It’s an unpardonable sin as far as I’m concerned, taking out personal business or some other kind of dissatisfaction on a waiter or busboy.”

Anthony Bourdain book Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

Medium Raw (2010)
Source: Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

People, Business, Personality

“I was the Sumerian god of fertility. You know what that means, don’t you? (Sin)
You have a lot of penis envy over the other fertility gods? Don’t worry. I won’t tell the other gods about your small penis problem. (Kat)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Devil May Cry

God, Problem, Envy

“There is no sin so great as ignorance. Remember this.”

Rudyard Kipling Kim

Source: Kim

“What are friends for, if not to help bear our sins?”

Nella Larsen (1891–1964) Novelist, librarian, nurse

Source: The Complete Fiction of Nella Larsen: Passing, Quicksand, and the Stories

Help

“The ragamuffin gospel reveals that Jesus forgives sins, including the sins of the flesh; that He is comfortable with sinners who remember how to show compassion; but that He cannot and will not have a relationship with pretenders in the Spirit.”

Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine

Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

Forgiveness

“Sometimes the sins you haven't committed are all you have left to hold onto.”

David Sedaris When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Source: When You Are Engulfed in Flames

“Consolation

Calm down. Both your sins and your good deeds will be lost in oblivion.”

Czeslaw Milosz (1911–2004) Polish, poet, diplomat, prosaist, writer, and translator

Source: New and Collected Poems: 1931-2001

“Suicide, is a persons privilege. I don't believe it's a sin or a crime it's your right if you do. Though it doesn't get you anywhere.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

Suicide, Personality

“Wow, that was fun. Any place else you want to take me while we’re here? Maybe there’s a darker corner of hell than that hall of flesh-hungry demons, huh? (Sin)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Devil May Cry

Hell

“If we say that we have no sin,
We deceive ourselves, and there's no truth in us.
Why then belike we must sin,
And so consequently die.
Ay, we must die an everlasting death.”

Christopher Marlowe The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

Source: Dr. Faustus

Death, Truth

“For me, to remember friendship is to recall those conversations that it seemed a sin to break off: the ones that made the sacrifice of the following day a trivial one.”

Christopher Hitchens Mortality

Source: Mortality

Friendship

“When you think about it, most of the good ideas came along to make sin a whole lot easier.”

Joe Hill (1879–1915) Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World

Source: Horns

Idea, Thinking

“Hysterical optimism will prevail until the world again admits the existence of tragedy, and it cannot admit the existence of tragedy until it again distinguishes between good and evil… Hysterical optimism as a sin against knowledge.”

Richard M. Weaver book Ideas Have Consequences

Source: Ideas Have Consequences

World, Optimism, Knowledge, Evil

“Sin is the result of deep and unmet needs.”

Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“Empathy lies at the heart of Gatsby, like so many other great novels — the biggest sin is to be blind to others' problems and pains. Not seeing them means denying their existence.”

Azar Nafisi book Reading Lolita in Tehran

Source: Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)

Pain, Problem, Heart

“In this world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely and without a passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers.”

Herman Melville (1818–1891) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet

Source: Moby-Dick or, The Whale

World, Way, Travel

“Men are punished by their sins, not for them.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

Variant: We are punished by our sins not for them.
Source: Love, Life and Work
Source: The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927), p. 12
in The Note Book, Kessinger Publishing (reprint 1998)
Context: If you err it is not for me to punish you. We are punished by our sins not for them.

Men, For Men

“Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.”

John Bunyan (1628–1688) English Christian writer and preacher

“To Homer, libraries were holy places like churches, and the priestly librarians a blessed race, a saving remnant in a world of sin. Whenever God grew impatient and decided to destroy the world he remembered the librarians and stayed his hand.”

Jane Langton (1922–2018) Novelist, children's writer

God, World

“Every life I start with her, my original sin. I know myself through her.”

Ann Brashares book My Name is Memory

Source: My Name Is Memory

Life

“Marble, I perceive, covers a multitude of sins.”

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English writer

“Catch me, as if I have surely been out committing a violation against you, my sin of insisting on existing without you.”

Ana Castillo (1953) novelist, poet, essayist, short story writer

Source: Loverboys

“I wonder sometimes if I'm the only one spending my life making the same mistake over and over again or if that's simply human. Do we all tend toward a single besetting sin?”

Karen Joy Fowler book We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Source: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Life

“The greatest sin is to think yourself weak”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Source: Pearls of Wisdom

Thinking

“Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God; such alone will shake the gates of hell.”

John Wesley (1703–1791) Christian theologian

God, Fear, Hell

“An ounce of sauce covers a multitude of sins.”

Anthony Bourdain book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Kitchen Confidential (2000)
Source: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

“Sin, he reflected, is not what it is usually thought to be; it is not to steal and tell lies. Sin is for one man to walk brutally over the life of another and to be quite oblivious of the wounds he has left behind.”

Shūsaku Endō book Silence

Source: Silence

Life

“Be sure thy sin will find thee out.”

Agatha Christie And Then There Were None

Source: And Then There Were None

“Keyholes are the occasions of more sin and wickedness, than all other holes in this world put together.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Source: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

World

“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Idea

“And we are magic talking to itself,
noisy and alone. I am queen of all my sins
forgotten. Am I still lost?
Once I was beautiful. Now I am myself”

Anne Sexton (1928–1974) poet from the United States

Source: To Bedlam and Part Way Back

Beauty

“There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.”

Richard Sibbes (1577–1635) English theologian

Christ

“And I add this part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a true Sense of things, they will find Deliverance from Sin a much greater Blessing than Deliverance from Affliction.”

Daniel Defoe La vie et les aventures de Robinson Crusoe

Source: Robinson Crusoe (1719), Ch. 6, Ill and Conscience-stricken.

Sense, Affliction, Reading, Parting

“If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness. (Monseigneur Bienvenu in _Les Miserables_)”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Soul

“When I am dead, I hope it may be said:
'His sins were scarlet, But his books were read.”

Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) writer

"On His Books"
Hilaire Belloc (1925)
Variant: When I am dead, I hope it may be said, 'His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.

Books, Hope, Reading, Dead

“Let’s just say I understand betrayal. And having been where he is, I know the explosion to come. Trust me. ‘Duck’ won’t quite cover it. (Sin)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Devil May Cry

Understanding, Betrayal

“Love covers a multitude of sins…”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Women

Source: Little Women

Love

“If pride is a sin… moral pride is the greatest sin.”

John Irving book The Cider House Rules

Source: The Cider House Rules

“But I'm no hero. I had to keep my dirty little secret. The worst sin I committed was holding it in; letting the secret blacken me.”

Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer

Source: By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

Secret

“For I realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek

Law, Confidence, Nature

“Knowledge forbidden?
Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord
Envy them that? Can it be a sin to know?
Can it be death?”

John Milton book Paradise Lost

Source: Paradise Lost

Death, Knowledge, Envy

“Sin happens whenever we refuse to keep growing.”

Richard Rohr (1943) American spiritual writer, speaker, teacher, Catholic Franciscan priest

Source: Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

“One day I was talking to Cora. She prayed for me because she believed I was blind to sin, wanting me to kneel and pray too, because people to whom sin is just a matter of words, to them salvation is just words too.”

William Faulkner book As I Lay Dying

Source: As I Lay Dying

People

“The Vedanta recognizes no sin it only recognizes error. And the greatest error, says the Vedanta is to say that you are weak, that you are a sinner, a miserable creature, and that you have no power and you cannot do this and that.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Pearls of Wisdom

Error

“I often think of death.
True.
Suicide is a reasonable option.
True.
My sins are unpardonable.
I stare at the question.
My sins are unpardonable.
I stare at the question.
My sins are unpardonable.
I leave it blank.”

James Frey book A Million Little Pieces

Source: A Million Little Pieces

Death, Question, Thinking, Suicide

“America was different. America was a river, roarng along, unmindful of the past. I could wade into this river, let my sins drown to the bottom, let the waters carry me someplace far. Someplace with no ghosts, no memories, and no sins.”

Khaled Hosseini book The Kite Runner

Source: The Kite Runner

Water, Memory, Past

“Everyone has their first date and the object is to hide your flaws. And then you're in a relationship, and it's all about hiding your disappointment. And then, once you're married, it's about hiding your sins.”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

Disappointment

“Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the world's original sin. If cavemen had known how to laugh, history would have been different.”

Chuck Klosterman (1972) Author, Columnist

World, History

“In self-defense and in defense of the innocent, cowardice is the only sin.”

Dean Koontz (1945) American author

“Redemption from sin is greater then redemption from affliction.”

Daniel Defoe La vie et les aventures de Robinson Crusoe

Source: Robinson Crusoe

Affliction

“What bothered me most was their lack of style. I learned early that class is universally admired. Almost any fault, sin or crime is considered more leniently if there's a touch of class involved.”

Frank W. Abagnale (1948) American security consultant, former confidence trickster, check forger, impostor, and escape artist

Source: Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake

Learning, Universe

“The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

“The greatest temptations are not those that solicit our consent to obvious sin, but those that offer us great evils masking as the greatest goods.”

Thomas Merton book No Man Is an Island

Source: No Man Is an Island

Evil

“When you're surrounded by stupidity, self-preservation isn't a sin.”

Meljean Brook (1977)

Source: Riveted

Stupidity

“We bear the consequences for what we have done to ourselves, and for the sin that rules this world. Jesus forgave the thief, but he didn't take him down off the cross.”

Francine Rivers book A Voice in the Wind

Source: A Voice in the Wind

World

“Mom told us we would have to go shoplifting.
Isn't that a sin?" I asked Mom.
Not exactly," Mom said. "God doesn't mind you bending the rules a little if you have a good reason. It's sort of like justifiable homicide. This is justifiable pilfering.”

Jeannette Walls book The Glass Castle

Source: The Glass Castle

God, Moms

“What do we find God 'doing about' this business of sin and evil?…God did not abolish the fact of evil; He transformed it. He did not stop the Crucifixion; He rose from the dead.”

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) English crime writer, playwright, essayist and Christian writer

Essays, The Triumph of Easter (1938)
Source: The Whimsical Christian: 18 Essays

God, Business, Evil, Dead

“Slavery is a sin when whites were put to the yoke, but not the African. All men are created equal, unless we decide you are not a man.”

Colson Whitehead book The Underground Railroad

Source: The Underground Railroad

Men

“God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.”

John Calvin (1509–1564) French Protestant reformer

God, Justice, Parting

“I believe in me, in my view of the world. I believe in my responsibility for my own destiny, guilt for my own sins, merit for my own good deeds, determination of my own life. I don't believe in miracles, I believe in hard work.”

Philippa Gregory (1954) English novelist

Life, World

“Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.”

Matthew Henry (1662–1714) Theologician from Wales

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 9.
Source: Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible

Affliction

“Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin, or sin will choke prayer.”

J.C. Ryle (1816–1900) Anglican bishop

Source: A Call to Prayer

Heart

“If it was a sin for you to choose me… then I would go to the Devil himself and bless him for tempting ye to it.”

Diana Gabaldon book Dragonfly in Amber

Source: Dragonfly in Amber

“It behoved that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Julian of Norwich (1342–1416) English theologian and anchoress

The Thirteenth Revelation, Chapter 27
Context: In my folly, afore this time often I wondered why by the great foreseeing wisdom of God the beginning of sin was not letted: for then, methought, all should have been well. This stirring was much to be forsaken, but nevertheless mourning and sorrow I made therefor, without reason and discretion.
But Jesus, who in this Vision informed me of all that is needful to me, answered by this word and said: It behoved that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

“No human being, when you understand his desires, is worthless. No one's life is nothing. Even the most evil of men and women, if you understand their hearts, had some generous act that redeems them, at least a little, from their sins.”

Orson Scott Card book Speaker for the Dead

Source: Speaker for the Dead

Life, Women, Men, Understanding

“It cast an unholy glow all around him - which was entirely appropriate, because Julian was as seductive as mortal sin and as haughty as the devil.”

L.J. Smith The Forbidden Game

Source: The Forbidden Game

“A God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.”

H. Richard Niebuhr (1894–1962) American theologian

Source: The Kingdom of God in America

Men, God, Christ

“Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Variant: We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.

People, Silence

“You ask a lot of questions, don't you?"
"My brother always says curiosity is my besetting sin.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

Question