Quotes by British Authors - Page 574

We must let God be Himself in us. This means that we must let Him be Himself in others too. We ought not to judge the style of another person’s worship.But worship that is elitist or is reduced to the level of popular entertainment, worship that is emotional or aesthetic is worship in name only. It has the external form without the reality. What we long for is living worship. But how does this come about?Our churches should not be places where the unregenerate come on Sundays because they “like the worship.” Our churches ought to be places where the unregenerate feel uncomfortable because it is the Spirit who is important and who comes first. Our controlling principle must be obedience to the Spirit—no matter where He leads us.Psalm 37:4 is true for all of us, whomever we are or whatever we want. But when we delight ourselves in the Lord, some of our desires may wither away and be replaced by new ambitions. So it will not do to envisage a definite goal concerning the form our worship must take. We must first of all be sure that we are delighting ourselves in the Lord and then see what God does.
R.T. Kendall
I'm a Buddhist. You might have a Christian obligation to catch pneumonia while you sit for two and a half hours listening to some twerp in a dress drone on about the virtue of wedded life but, dear as you are to me, I don't.
Natasha Pulley
Allegorical stories of saints battling with giants, monsters and demons may be interpreted as symbolizing the Christian's fight against paganism. At Bwlch Rhiwfelen (Denbigh) St Collen fought and killed a cannibal giantess, afterwards washing away the blood-stains in a well later known as Ffynnon Gollen. In Ireland, the tales of saints slaying giant serpents may have the same meaning; alternatively they (or some of them) may refer to early sightings of genuine water monsters. St Barry banished a serpent from a mountain into Lough Lagan (Roscommon), and a holy well sprang up where the saint's knee touched the ground.
Colin Bord
When the Church tries to embody the rule of God in the forms of earthly power it may achieve that power, but it is no longer a sign of the kingdom.
Lesslie Newbigin
It's just because I have picked a little about mystics that I have no use for mystagogues. Real mystics don't hide mysteries, they reveal them. They set a thing up in broad daylight, and when you've seen it it's still a mystery. But the mystagogues hide a thing in darkness and secrecy, and when you find it, it's a platitude.
G.K. Chesterton
I think He made one law of that kind in order that there might be obedience. In all these other matters what you call obeying Him is but doing what seems good in your own eyes also. Is love content with that?
C.S. Lewis
I have given Him my faith, and sworn my allegiance to Him; how, then, can I go back from this, and not be hanged as a traitor?
John Bunyan
To me there is no more tragic sight than the average missionary. …We have given so much, yet not the one thing that counts; we aspire so high, and fall so low; we suffer so much, but so seldom with Christ; we have done so much and so little will remain; we have known Christ in part, and have so effectively barricaded our hearts against His mighty love, which surely He must yearn to give His disciples above all people.
Amy Carmichael
Work as if everything depended upon work and pray as if everything depended upon prayer.
William Booth
And so a pattern develops: wake, work cry. sleep. I can't even escape him in my dreams. Gray burning eyes, his lost look, his hair burnished and bright and bright all haunt me. And the music... so much music-I cannot bear to hear any music. I am careful to avoid it at all costs. Even the jingles in commercials make me shudder.
E.L. James
Goodbye, Christian," I murmur."Ana, goodbye," he says softly, and he looks utterly, utterly broken,a man in agonizing pain, reflecting how I feel inside. I tear my gaze away from him before I can change my mind and try to comfort him.The elevator doors close close and it whisks me down to the bowels of the basement and to my own personal hell.
E.L. James
That is the idea -- that we should all be wicked if we did not hold to the Christian religion. It seems to me that the people who have held to it have been for the most part extremely wicked. You find this curious fact, that the more intense has been the religion of any period and the more profound has been the dogmatic belief, the greater has been the cruelty and the worse has been the state of affairs. In the so-called ages of faith, when men really did believe the Christian religion in all its completeness, there was the Inquisition, with all its tortures; there were millions of unfortunate women burned as witches; and there was every kind of cruelty practiced upon all sorts of people in the name of religion.You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world. I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world.You may think that I am going too far when I say that that is still so. I do not think that I am. Take one fact. You will bear with me if I mention it. It is not a pleasant fact, but the churches compel one to mention facts that are not pleasant. Supposing that in this world that we live in today an inexperienced girl is married to a syphilitic man; in that case the Catholic Church says, 'This is an indissoluble sacrament. You must endure celibacy or stay together. And if you stay together, you must not use birth control to prevent the birth of syphilitic children.' Nobody whose natural sympathies have not been warped by dogma, or whose moral nature was not absolutely dead to all sense of suffering, could maintain that it is right and proper that that state of things should continue.That is only an example. There are a great many ways in which, at the present moment, the church, by its insistence upon what it chooses to call morality, inflicts upon all sorts of people undeserved and unnecessary suffering. And of course, as we know, it is in its major part an opponent still of progress and improvement in all the ways that diminish suffering in the world, because it has chosen to label as morality a certain narrow set of rules of conduct which have nothing to do with human happiness; and when you say that this or that ought to be done because it would make for human happiness, they think that has nothing to do with the matter at all. 'What has human happiness to do with morals? The object of morals is not to make people happy.
Bertrand Russell
No. No!” he says.“I . . .” He looks wildly around the room. For inspiration? For divine intervention? I don’t know.“You can’t go. Ana, I love you!”“I love you, too, Christian, it’s just—”“No . . . no!” he says in desperation and puts both hands on his head. “Christian .
E.L. James
Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you're not saved yourself, be sure of that!
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
The most important thing you can do in a relationship is sit down and talk to each other, not with the TV on, or at the cinema, or over a meal, but just you and the other person where you can truly be heard and truly listen to each other
Steven Aitchison
Think about it for a second:Babies are not born prejudice, they are not racist,they don’t hate, they don’t judge, and are not born believing in christianity, buddhism, sikhism, hinduism, judaism or any other ism.We, as adults, teach them all these things.
Steven Aitchison
Sometimes the truth hurts because it uncovers the lies people are living
Steven Aitchison
It’s better to stand alone and feel strongthan standing with people who make you feel weak
Steven Aitchison
Maybe it’s not good trying to answer the question ‘What is my purpose in life?’ Maybe the better question is: ‘How can I make someone’s life better TODAY?
Steven Aitchison
[D]oing nothing meant leaving things exactly the way they were, and that was unacceptable.
Caroline Goode
Failure wasn't an option for those who have success today!
Mary Rodwell
It's essential to keep moving, learning and evolving for as long as you're here and this world keeps spinning
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Authenticity is hard to fake
Rasheed Ogunlaru
The human mind and what we've achieved with it is remarkable. But it does not come close to what we can do, be, see and heal with our hearts
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Success is secondary to impact. Success is a list of what you win, gain and attain - it may pass it may remain. Impact is the test; the hearts, minds and lives you touch, enhance and forever change...
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Don't expect others to hand success to you. Create it - with heart, energy and enterprise - and you'll make it come true
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Good fortune often occurs when you stop expecting life to present opportunities to you and you start presenting opportunities to life.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
I am not sure that you can be taught how to love. In many ways it is innate - just watch and see what small child effortlessly does. But you can be reminded of it and invited to it and reminded of it.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Gratitude is the best food and fuel to start anything that you need to do - it will nourish and sustain you...and others too. Hankering will leave you hungry - or with with heart, head or belly ache - and tends to have or leave a sour or bitter taste too.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Gratitude is the best food to start and sustain you. Hankering creates hunger, unhappiness, bellyache, headache and heartache - and often leaves a bitter taste
Rasheed Ogunlaru
They'll come a time - in fact many times - when all the tools & techniques will fail you or desert you. Then - at last - is the moment to trust, use & follow your heart
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Every great athlete, artist and aspiring being has a great team to help them flourish and succeed - personally and professionally. Even the so-called 'solo star' has a strong supporting cast helping them shine, thrive and take flight.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Thought for the day: we have far too many of them. And we prize them too highly; more so than we do the power of silence, mindfulness and pure kindness.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Shifting perspective(s) and being proactive are essential to your our life paths, progress and possibilities: "Just because a door appears closed it does not mean that it is locked - nor that it will not open with the right heart, call or touch
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Until you are clear nothing will be. The moment you are clear everything will be.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Always let your talent do the talking. Never your tantrums.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
The best way to look back at life fondly is to meet it - and those along your journey - warmly, kindly and mindfully
Rasheed Ogunlaru
How to get back on the right track can be quite simple if you know what you want.
Steven Redhead
When everyone is hungry and waiting – when things need doing urgently and the clock is ticking - it’s often wiser to get cooking and present a ready-made dish they’ll find tasty to eat rather than getting everyone involved in deciding on the recipe.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
You've got to know what your magic is. How else will you fully share your gifts with others and enrich the world for these precious years that you live?
Rasheed Ogunlaru
If you have a big ego put it to wide and wise use so that it benefits and enriches everyone not just you
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Money and material things may well sustain you physically. But it is only living life from/with love & compassion - and the hearts and lives that you touch - that will truly nourish you emotionally and in spirit.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Don't get too lost in consumerism or materialism. As for ownership, the ultimate test of it is were you born with it and can you take it with you when you leave?
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Sometimes a step back or away from an idea, task or project brings even more perspective, insight and clarity.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
The secret of winning any prize is knowing that your own treasure and potential is equal to it... and worthy of it.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
In leadership, life and all things it’s far wiser to judge people by their deeds than their speech - their track record rather than their talk” – Rasheed Ogunlaru
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Is your life story the truth? Yes, the chronological events are true. Is it the whole truth? No, you see and judge it through your conditioned eyes and mind - not of all involved - nor do you see the entire overview. Is it nothing but the truth? No, you select, share, delete, distort, subtract, assume and add what you want, need and choose to.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Don't spend your life believing a story about yourself that you didn't write that's been fed to you - that simply you've accepted, embedded and added to. Let the story go and there beneath is the real you...and your unique gifts, heart and path that await you.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
It was a world that most fans never saw. One that many dreamed of.
Louise Mensch
There's a difference between disclosing that which is only your business and hiding away from the world and not seeing, shining and sharing your magic.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
It takes two men to make one brother.
Israel Zangwill
How you look at it is pretty much how you'll see it
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Jamal stared at the dog in his arms. "Why I am I holding a dog full of angels?
Diana Wynne Jones
Oftentimes lies are found in those closest to you and truth in perfect strangers
Katrina Sisowath
I think people should take mythology much more seriously, because it tells us an awful lot about the history of the human race. We tend to dismiss it as 'fairy tales,' when it isn't. Fairy tales in themselves are about fundamentals of human nature. And they keep being reinvented in different ways. Fantasy acknowledges that, whereas a lot of modern literature is trying to distance itself from 'story,' never mind anything else. Which is why a lot of books are read by the critics, then people buy them, put them on their shelves, and don't really read them much, because they're not very interesting!
Jan Siegel
He wondered fleetingly how many people who sat alone for hours as they scribbled their stories practiced talking about their work during their coffee breaks....
Robert Galbraith
CHORONZON "I am anti-life, the beast of judgement. I am the dark at the end of everything. The end of universes, Gods, worlds... of everything. And what will you be then, Dreamlord?"MORPHEUS "I am hope.
Neil Gaiman
The course of the Rhine below Mainz becomes much more picturesque. The river descends rapidly and winds between hills, not high, but steep, and of beautiful forms. We saw many ruined castles standing on the edges of precipices, surrounded by black woods, high and inaccessible. This part of the Rhine, indeed, presents a singularly variegated landscape. In one spot you view rugged hills, ruined castles overlooking tremendous precipices, with the dark Rhine rushing beneath; and on the sudden turn of a promontory, flourishing vineyards with green sloping banks and a meandering river and populous towns occupy the scene.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
He takes my face in his hands and presses his lips against mine – a tender, beautiful kiss – the kiss I’ve waited for forever. He quickly pulls his shirt over his head and my breath catches in my throat at the sight of his muscular body and smooth skin. He pushes Ordinary gently to the bottom of the bunk and climbs in next to me. Wrapping his arms around me, he lays his head next to mine. At last, we sleep.' ...from Notes on a Rebellion
Valentina Hepburn
The abbot cleared his throat. "You are all very stupid people," he told them graciously, "and you do not know anything at all.
Neil Gaiman