Discernment Quotes

…what have you accumulated from the past—what are you in the process of accumulating that will be passed on, if not deliberately, then accidentally? Is this accumulation the best of what has been and the best of what is currently being written, sung, and created? Is it wise? And if not, what will be the next generation’s inheritance, your children’s legacy?

Rosalie De Rosset

The infant New York Times boasted that no newspaper printing what was really worth reading ever perished for lack of readers.

If you wish to see God; look people in the eye, listen to them, and see how they treat other people.

stacy snapp killian: StacyK

It is a good rule of thumb for spiritual directors to ask themselves, What truly constitutes our spiritual concern here? Am I really being attentive to the Lord in this? What things are getting in the way of our simple, humble intention towards the working of the Holy Spirit in this person's life? All human experience can be said to be spiritual in the largest sense, but spiritual direction should deal primarily with those qualities that seem most clearly and specifically spiritual, those that reveal the presence or leadings of God, or evidence of grace, working most directly in a person's life. This becomes increasingly important as spiritual direction progresses over time with any given individual. In the course of spiritual maturation, concern with superficial psychological experience must give way to a much more basic concern for the discernment of good and evil.

In the divine Scriptures, there are shallows and there are deeps; shallows where the lamb may wade, and deeps where the elephant may swim.

John Owen

Discernment is the son of good judgment and the father of self-control. When mixed with an already clear conscience, the ability to read the true motives of a critic keeps one's conscience both clear and at ease.

When focusing only on one's credentials one boasts his own incompetence in his capacity for discernment of the individual.

And, to be true, an enemy's lair is an enemy's lair, no matter how comfortable or fancy it might appear.

Steven J. Carroll

The wisdom to be on the throne of one’s life must surpass the wisdom of the one being ruled, otherwise I will squander the whole of my life in the most appalling ways. By virtue of that reality, I would be wise to get out of the chair and invite God to have a seat.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

St. John's eyes, though clear enough in a literal sense, in a figurative one were difficult to fathom. He seemed to use them rather as instruments to search other people's thoughts, than as agents to reveal his own: the which combination of keenness and reserve was considerably more calculated to embarrass than to encourage.

Charlotte Brontë

My wisdom absent of God’s wisdom is nothing more than a best-guess.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

A leader should accurately discern deceit.

To discern profits only when it is within the ken of the market herd is not the acme of investing excellence

Real life applications get tricky when we think about them.

It's remarkable how very many things there are that a king may not do.

Geraldine Brooks

He was the perfect soldier: he went where you sent him, and stayed where you put him, and had no idea of his own to keep him from doing exactly what you told him.

Dashiell Hammett

Let me be on my guard when the world puts on a loving face, for it will, if possible, betray me as it did my Master, with a kiss.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

I appreciate a book intended to be judged by its cover. The insincere readers are often weeded out while the sincere readers remain curious.

Sometimes you feel as though you've slandered yourself, but the joke's on them.

Discernment is a light of protection and direction in a world that grows increasingly dark.

Elder David A. Bednar

A truly honorable person, would never convince another to stray, from their personal pursuit of honor. No, only one lacking this noble quality would try to justify and market, an existence without it.

Justin K. McFarlane Beau

The English philosopher Michael Oakeshott notes that one of the signs of being cold today is that one knows what one doesn't have to know.

Knowing that one thing you want is a great step. Sure, whether you prefer or not, you'll get offers, and many will seem just like that one thing you want.

The temptations that use the raw material of good for evil can continue unrecognized for a long time without awareness.

Eugene H. Peterson

Each day hands me a clean sheet of paper upon which to write. Therefore, I would be wise to write without ever having the need to erase.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

Language consists in equal parts of speaking and silence.

Eugene H. Peterson

When I look at a person, I see a person - not a rank, not a class, not a title.

The Luddite impulse is strong among Christians, and our first reaction is to rage against the machine.

He realized suddenly that it was one thing to see the past occupying the present, but the true test of prescience was to see the past in the future. Things persisted in not being what they seemed.

It often seems as though the silent, humble servant is secretly wiser and more discerning than the haughty master; yet through dutiful (and sometimes insecure) surrender he continues to serve and carry out petty orders in loyal acquiescence.

Starting over begins when I develop a reawakened appreciation for what I already have, a renewed recognition of what I’ve recklessly forsaken, a rehabilitated understanding that I foolishly do both of those things, and a revitalized commitment to live the rest of my life never doing either of them again.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

Although it pains me to admit it, I am quite familiar with the holes in life. And this familiarity is due to the fact that I spend far more time in these holes than I spend on the paths that brought me to them.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

My life is a series of invitations accepted and invitations rejected, and the place I now find myself is often a result of accepting the wrong invitations and rejecting the right ones.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

More times than I’m willing to admit I am my own worst enemy, which suggests that more times than I’m willing to admit I should allow God to be my own best friend.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

Ladies: There are some men who will listen to all of your desires simply to use them to control you. #LearnToDiscernListen to what he does, Watch what he says and avoid the heartbreak.

A.H. Carlisle III

Life is worth more than man will ever know. Each of our choices open up the possibility of a different world. Every time we wake up, the universe puts itself in our hands. So many paths. So many choices. Our discernment is the only way to tell which one leads to happiness.

God gives His deepest discernment and sharpest marksmanship to men who aim to expose His truth before an enemy's lies.

Vigilance of the wisest kind is to incessantly remain open to the reality that what I ‘see’ is but a single thread and solitary shard of what ‘is’, for to assume otherwise is to surrender the wisdom of vigilance to the decay of ignorance.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

Maturity is when you're able to say, 'It's not just them. It's me.

We need to get acquainted with mediocrity to notice greatness.

It's not doing what is right that's hard for a President. It's knowing what is right.

Ignorance is not bliss. Rather, ignorance is blistering.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

Intelligent people, as some say, in their openness, are indeed slow to criticize, but conversely, in their openness to the concerns of others, the genuine are slow to fret about being criticized.

Wisdom teaches you when to use your discretion- with whom, what, and when to share your feelings and discernments...

Assegid Habtewold

Feelings could override facts, as facts could alter feelings. Choose the truth first, rather than following after feelings.

Anthony Liccione

It may be that the voice of the people is the voice of God 51 times out of 100. But the remaining 49 times, it is the voice of the devil, or worse, the voice of a fool. Theodore Roosevelt

General literature without the humbug," was the New Yorker's original mission.

Tolerance never exists without negative judgment. It is the sentiment of having a negative opinion about something yet still putting up with it.

On the inside, the copycats of the ruffians are more delicate than the copycats of prudes.

One of the bigger mistakes of our time, I suppose, was preaching the demonization of all judgment without teaching how to judge righteously. We now live in an age where, apart from the inability to bear even good judgment when it so passes by, still everyone, inevitably, has a viral opinion (judgment) about everything and everyone, but little skill in good judgment as its verification or harness.

One must find rhythms others’ ears don’t hear.

David Anthony Durham

Don't condemn what you can't comprehend

Bernard Kelvin Clive

Goodness is sparked by a caution for the sake of what is good, not a fear of what is bad.

Misguided good men are more dangerous than honest bad men. It is because they are seen as good that, in and by good conscience, the mob will always, stubbornly back them without question.

They call good evil and evil good. There are those who are so easily offended that they lose their ability to ever discern any truth, and this is often derived from a sort of frenzy by way of their own masked prejudice.

How shall a man judge what to do in such times?''As he ever has judged,' said Aragorn. 'Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear...It is a man's part to discern them, as much in th Golden Wood as in his own house.

It is neither just the religious, the spiritual, the power-hungry, the evil, the ignorant, the corrupt, the Christian, the Muslim, the Hindu, the Buddhist, the Jew, nor the atheist that makes a hypocrite, but being a human being. Any man who thinks himself to be free of hypocrisy while committed to cherry-picking others for such, I am confident, the Almighty can prove to him a great deal of his own hypocrisy even beyond his earthly comprehension.

What we fail to realize is we often become like Pharisees in our ruthless attempts to identify Pharisees (and impostors). While indeed some people use the old laws of religious pride to tear down men of God, others use the new laws of anti-religious anger to tear down men of God.

The Christian should never have to put others down in order to feel good about himself. Instead, he can simply check out the media's insistent portrayal of Christianity and feel grateful that he isn't as deceived as the masses who really swallow the garbage. Ignorance is ultimately how people put themselves down, and the mere Christian who knows what entails the mere Christian is ultimately free from such.

If we experience any failures or setbacks, we do not forget them because they offend our self-esteem. Instead we reflect on them deeply, trying to figure out what went wrong and discern whether there are any patterns to our mistakes.

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