Quotes on Prayer & Silence

Christian quotes on Prayer & Silence — with author, dates and source, from two millennia of Christian thought.

When we pray, the circumstances often remain the same, but we become different.

Oswald Chambers

Prayer does not change God, but the one who prays.

Søren Kierkegaard

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.

Corrie ten Boom

To pray is to draw breath from God.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you can never do more than pray before you have prayed!

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Prayer does not equip us for greater works – prayer is the greater work.

Oswald Chambers

God has his ear at your heart.

Augustine of Hippo

Prayers are tools not for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.

Eugene Peterson

In a sense, learning to follow Jesus is simply learning to pray the Lord’s Prayer.

N.T. Wright

The soul is the inner place where man touches the Divine.

Anselm Grün

And when this cup of silence now spreads deep around us, let us hear that full sound of the world, which invisibly widens around us, the exalted song of praise of all Your children.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Niebuhr

If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.

Robert Murray McCheyne

In me it is dark, but with you there is light; I am lonely, but you do not leave me.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Prayer, in my view, is nothing other than a conversation with a friend, with whom we often and gladly come together alone, to speak with him, because he loves us.

Teresa of Ávila

A saint on his knees can see further than a philosopher on his tiptoes.

Corrie ten Boom

God is the friend of silence. See how trees, flowers and grass grow in silence! See how the stars, the moon and the sun move in silence!

Mother Teresa

Prayers do not change the world. But prayers change people, and people change the world.

Albert Schweitzer

But when you pray, let your heart be without words rather than your words be without heart.

Martin Luther

Jesus, I entrust my past to your mercy — my present to your love, and my future to your providence.

Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were on my knees.

Brother Lawrence

Pray, and let God worry.

Martin Luther

And Satan trembles when he sees, the weakest saint upon his knees.

William Cowper

I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him. I ended up by asking Him to do His work through me.

Hudson Taylor

If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.

E. Stanley Jones

Longing desire prayeth always, though the tongue be silent. If thou art ever longing, thou art ever praying.

Augustine of Hippo

We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be within us.

C.S. Lewis

True prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fullness of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience; I do not understand your ways, but you know the right path for me.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Prayer is the place where one jumps further than one can jump.

Fulbert Steffensky

When no one listens to me anymore, God still listens to me.

Pope Benedict XVI

God will either give us what we ask for in prayer, or give us what we would have asked for if we knew everything he knows.

Tim Keller

Groanings which cannot be uttered are often prayers which cannot be refused.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Prayer is a refusal to live as an outsider to my God and my own soul.

Eugene Peterson

We do not want to be beginners [at prayer]. but let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything but beginners, all our life!

Thomas Merton

Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and the heart has turned to stone.

Thomas Merton

There is a really deep well inside me. And in it dwells God. Sometimes I am there, too. But more often stones and grit block the well, and God is buried beneath. Then He must be dug out again.

Etty Hillesum

Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.

Hudson Taylor

Wordless prayers are not silent before God.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

How merciful the Lord is, that he remains faithful even when we do not believe! He answers our prayer even when we torment ourselves with doubts and dishonor his name.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

People quoted here

Oswald Chambers, Søren Kierkegaard, Corrie ten Boom, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Augustine of Hippo, Eugene Peterson, N.T. Wright, Anselm Grün, Reinhold Niebuhr, Robert Murray McCheyne, Teresa of Ávila

Related

God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit, Grace & Redemption, The Bible & the Word of God, Doubt & Hard Questions, Suffering & the Question of God, Eternity & Hope Beyond Death, Fear & Anxiety, Grief & Comfort, Illness & Weakness, Loneliness & Abandonment, Meaning & Identity, Time & Transience, Work & Vocation, Money & Possessions, Faith & Trust, Hope & Confidence, Joy & Gratitude, Peace & Rest, Humility & Pride, Patience & Waiting, Courage & Strength, Wisdom & Understanding, Freedom & Truth, Love, Relationships & Family, Guilt & Forgiveness, Service & Love of Neighbour, Justice & Commitment, Ethical Questions, Church & Congregation, Witness & Mission, Discipleship, Growth & Character, Temptation & Struggle, Guidance & God's Will

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