Quotes on Wisdom & Understanding

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

A drop of love is worth more than an ocean of reason.

Blaise Pascal

Love keeps no record of wrongs, but bitterness keeps detailed accounts.

Craig Groeschel

The devil is a better theologian than any of us, and he is still a devil.

A.W. Tozer

Discipline is choosing what you want most over what you want now.

Craig Groeschel

Humility is so shy. If you begin talking about it, it leaves.

Tim Keller

Man is unhappy because he doesn't know he's happy. It's only that.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it but because, by it, I see everything else.

C.S. Lewis

Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided, but because we cannot prevent the birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them nest in our hair

Martin Luther

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

Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it.

Tim Keller

The ways of God are like a Hebrew book that can only be read from the back.

Martin Luther

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

Corrie ten Boom

Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength… It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The providence of God is like a Hebrew word – it can only be read backwards.

John Flavel

There are only two kinds of men: the righteous, who believe themselves sinners; the rest, sinners who believe themselves righteous.

Blaise Pascal

A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.

D. Elton Trueblood

All of human unhappiness comes from not being able to stay quietly in a room.

Blaise Pascal

Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature; but he is a thinking reed.

Blaise Pascal

Our sexuality is not our soul, marriage is not heaven, and singleness is not hell.

Jackie Hill Perry

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

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.

Charles Dickens

God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.

T.S. Eliot

One way to express the spiritual crisis of our time is to say that most of us have an address but cannot be found there.

Henri Nouwen

Language has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.

Paul Tillich

The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image.

Thomas Merton

To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to the violence of our times.

Thomas Merton

Lord, grant me a weak eye for things that do not matter, and a strong eye for all your truth.

Søren Kierkegaard

The past should be a rudder to guide us, not an anchor to hold us back.

Warren Wiersbe

Faith is only as valid as its object. You could have tremendous faith in very thin ice and drown... You could have very little faith in very thick ice and be perfectly secure.

D. Stuart Briscoe

[People] need their best theology in their darkest moments.

Carolyn Mahaney

I have learned that faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse.

Philip Yancey

I have read Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, but none of them said: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Augustine of Hippo

The human heart is like a millstone that turns incessantly; if you throw nothing in to grind, it risks grinding itself down.

Martin Luther

Indeed, who can be good to others if he is bad to himself? Remember then: grant yourself to yourself. I do not say: do this always. I do not say: do this often. But I say: do it from time to time. Be there for yourself, as you are for everyone else.

Bernard of Clairvaux

People quoted here

Blaise Pascal, Craig Groeschel, A.W. Tozer, Tim Keller, Fyodor Dostoevsky, C.S. Lewis, Martin Luther, Reinhold Niebuhr, Corrie ten Boom, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, John Flavel, D. Elton Trueblood

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, Freedom & Truth, Love, Relationships & Family, Guilt & Forgiveness, Service & Love of Neighbour, Justice & Commitment, Ethical Questions, Church & Congregation, Witness & Mission, Prayer & Silence, Discipleship, Growth & Character, Temptation & Struggle, Guidance & God's Will

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