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God: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
We rise in glory, as we sink in pride: Where boasting ends, there dignity begins.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night VIII. L. 508.
God's wisdom and God's goodness!-Ay, but fools Mis-define thee, till God knows them no more. Wisdom and goodness they are God!-what schools Have yet so much as heard this simpler lore. This no Saint preaches, and this no Church rules: 'Tis in the desert, now and heretofore.— MATTHEW ARNOLD — The Divinity. St. 3.
Let us think less of men and more of God.— BAILEY — Festus. Sc. Wood and Water.
Naught but God Can satisfy the soul.— BAILEY — Festus. Sc. Heaven.
He made little, too little of sacraments and priests, because God was so intensely real to him. What should he do with lenses who stood thus full in the torrent of the sunshine.— PHILLIPS BROOKS — Sermons. The
Seriousness of Life. It never frightened a Puritan when you bade him stand still and listen to the speech of God. His closet and his church were full of the reverberations of the awful, gracious, beautiful voice for which he listened.— PHILLIPS BROOKS — Sermons. The
Seriousness of Life. All service is the same with God, With God, whose puppets, best and worst, Are we: there is no last nor first. S.— ROBERT BROWNING — Pippa Passes. Pt. IV.
God is the perfect poet, Who in his person acts his own creations.— ROBERT BROWNING — Paracelsus. Pt. II
God's in His Heaven- All's right with the world! น.— ROBERT BROWNING — Pippa Passes. Pt. I.
Of what I call God, And fools call Nature.— ROBERT BROWNING — The Ring and the Book. The Pope. L. 1,073.
That we devote ourselves to God is seen In living just as though no God there were.— ROBERT BROWNING — Paracelsus. Pt. I.
"There is no god but God! -to prayer-lo! God is great!"— BYRON — Childe Harold. Canto II. St. 59.
God! sing, ye meadow-streams, with gladsome voice! Ye pine-groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds! And they too have a voice, yon piles of snow, And in their perilous fall shall thunder, God!— COLERIDGE — Hymn before Sunrise in the
Vale of Chamouni. Acquaint thyself with God, if thou would'st taste His works. Admitted once to his embrace, Thou shalt perceive that thou wast blind before: Thine eye shall be instructed; and thine heart Made pure shall relish with divine delight Till then unfelt, what hands divine have wrought.— COWPER — The Task. Bk. V. L. 782.
But who with filial confidence inspired, Can lift to Heaven an unpresumptuous eye, And smiling say, My Father made them all.— COWPER — The Task. Bk. V.
The Winter Morning Walk. L. 745. God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm.— COWPER — Hymn. Light Shining out of
Darkness. God never meant that man should scale the Heavens By strides of human wisdom. In his works, Though wondrous, he commands us in his word To seek him rather where his mercy shines.— COWPER — The Task. Bk. III. L. 217.
There is a God! the sky his presence shares, His hand upheaves the billows in their mirth, Destroys the mighty, yet the humble spares And with contentment crowns the thought of worth.— CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN — There is a God.
My God, my Father, and my Friend, Do not forsake me in the end.— WENTWORTH DILLON — Translation of
Dies Iræ. 'Twas much, that man was made like God before: But, that God should be made like man, much more.— DONNE — Holy Sonnets. Sonnet XXII.
By tracing Heaven his footsteps may be found: Behcld! how awfully he walks the round! God is abroad, and wondrous in his ways The rise of empires, and their fall surveys.— DRYDEN — Britannia Rediviva. L. 75.
He who loves God and his law must hate the foes of God.— GEORGE ELIOT — Spanish Gypsy. Bk. I.
God enters by a private door into every individual.— EMERSON — Essays. Of Intellect.
When the Master of the universe has points to carry in his government he impresses his will in the structure of minds.— EMERSON — Letters and Social Aims.
Immortality. I know My God commands, whose power no power resists.— ROBERT GREENE — Looking-Glass for
London and England. Restore to God His due in tithe and time; A tithe purloin'd cankers the whole estate.— HERBERT — The Temple. The Church Porch. St. 65.
I askt the seas and all the deeps below My God to know, I askt the reptiles, and whatever is In the abyss; Even from the shrimps to the leviathan Enquiry ran; But in those deserts that no line can sound The God I sought for was not to be found.— THOS. HEYWOOD — Searching after God.
Forgetful youth! but know, the Power above With ease can save each object of his love; Wide as his will, extends his boundless grace.— HOMER — Odyssey. Bk. 3. L. 285.
Pope's trans. O thou, whose certain eye foresees The fix'd event of fate's remote decrees.— HOMER — Odyssey. Bk. IV. L. 627.
Pope's trans. From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend,- Path, motive, guide, original, and end.— S. SAM'L JOHNSON — Motto to The Rambler. No. 7.
The sun and every vassal star, All space, beyond the soar of angel's wings, Wait on His word: and yet He stays His car For every sigh a contrite suppliant brings.— KEBLE — The Christian Year. Ascension
Day. All but God is changing day by day.— CHARLES KINGSLEY — The Saints'
Tragedy. Prometheus. God! there is no God but he, the living, the self-subsisting. The Koran, Ch. II. Pt. III. God had sifted three kingdoms to find the wheat for this planting.— LONGFELLOW — The Courtship of Miles
Standish. IV. An' you've gut to git up airly Ef you want to take in God.— LOWELL — The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. 1. St. 5.
'Tis heaven alone that is given away, 'Tis only God may be had for the asking.— LOWELL — The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Pt. I. L. 29.
A voice is in the wind I do not know; A meaning on the face of the high hills Whose utterance I cannot comprehend. A something is behind them: that is God.— GEORGE MACDONALD — Within and Without. Pt. I. Sc. 1.
One sole God; One sole ruler,-his Law; One sole interpreter of that law-Humanity.— MAZZINI — Life and Writings. Young Europe. General Principles. No. 1.
And justify the ways of God to men.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. I. L. 26.
These are thy glorious works, Parent of good.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. V. L. 153.
Who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best: his state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without rest.— MILTON — Sonnet. On His Blindness.
One on God's side is a majority.— WENDELL PHILLIPS — Speech. Harper's
Ferry. Nov. 1, 1859. God is truth and light his shadow.— PLATO
He mounts the storm, and walks upon the wind.— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. II. L. 110.
Laugh where we must, be candid where we can, But vindicate the ways of God to man.— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. I. L. 15.
Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutored mind Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind.— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. I. L. 99.
Thou Great First Cause, least understood.— POPE — Universal Prayer.
To Him no high, no low, no great, no small; He fills, He bounds, connects and equals all!— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. I. L. 277.
Give us a God-a living God, One to wake the sleeping soul, One to cleanse the tainted blood Whose pulses in our bosoms roll.— C. G. ROSENBERG — The Winged Horn. St. 7.
God is our fortress, in whose conquering name Let us resolve to scale their flinty bulwarks.— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. I. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 26.
God shall be my hope, My stay, my guide and lantern to my feet. S.— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. II. Act II. Sc. 3. L. 24.
The divine essence itself is love and wisdom.— SWEDENBORG — Divine Love and
Wisdom. Par. 28. At last I heard a voice upon the slope Cry to the summit, "Is there any hope?" To which an answer pealed from that high land, But in a tongue no man could understand; And on the glimmering limit far withdrawn, God made himself an awful rose of dawn. и. TENNYSON-Vision of Sin. V. But I lose Myself in Him, in Light ineffable! Come then, expressive Silence, muse His praise. These, as they change, Almighty Father, these Are but the varied God. The rolling Year Is full of Thee.— THOMSON — Hymn. L. 116.
What, but God? Inspiring God! who boundless Spirit all, And unremitting Energy, pervades, Adjusts, sustains, and agitates the whole.— THOMSON — The Seasons. Spring. L. 849.
God, from a beautiful necessity, is Love.— TUPPER — Of Immortality.
If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.— VOLTAIRE — Epitre à l'Auteur du Livre
des Trois Imposteurs. CXI. The Somewhat which we name but cannot know. Ev'n as we name a star and only see Its quenchless flashings forth, which ever show And ever hide him, and which are not he.— WILLIAM WATSON — Wordsworth's Grave. I. St. 6.
I know not where His islands lift Their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care.— WHITTIER — The Eternal Goodness. St. 20.
A Deity believed, is joy begun; A Deity adored, is joy advanced; A Deity beloved, is joy matured. Each branch of piety delight inspires. YOUNG. Night Thoughts. Night VIII. L. 720. A God all mercy is a God unjust. C.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night IV. L. 234.
A God alone can comprehend a God.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night IX. L. 835.
By night an atheist half believes a God.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night V. L. 177.
Though man sits still, and takes his ease, God is at work on man; No means, no moment unemploy'd, To bless him, if he can.— YOUNG — Resignation. Pt. I. St. 119.
Thou, my all! My theme! my inspiration! and my crown! My strength in age! my rise in low estate! My soul's ambition, pleasure, wealth!-my world! My light in darkness! and my life in death! My boast through time! bliss through eternity! Eternity, too short to speak thy praise! Or fathom thy profound of love to man!— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night IV. L. 586.
GODS (THE). Speak of the gods as they are.
Nihil est quod deus efficere non possit. There is nothing which God cannot do.— CICERO — De Divinatione. II. 41.
Valet ima summis Mutare, et insignem attenuat deus, Obscura promens. God can change the lowest to the highest, abase the proud, and raise the humble.— HORACE — Carmina. I. 34. 12.
Estne dei sedes nisi terra et pontus et aër Et cœlum et virtus? Superos quid quærimus ultra? Jupiter est quodcumque vides, quodcumque moveris. Is there any other seat of the Divinity than the earth, sea, air, the heavens, and virtuous minds? why do we seek God elsewhere? He is whatever you see; he is wherever you move.— LUCAN — Pharsalia. IX. 578.
Exemplumque dei quisque est in imagine parvâ. Every one is in a small way the image of God.— MANILIUS — Astronomica. IV. 895.
Quis cœlum possit nisi cœli munera nosse? Et reperire deum nisi qui pars ipse deorum est? Who can know heaven except by its gifts? and who can find out God, unless the man who is himself an emanation from God?— MANILIUS — Astronomica. II. 115.
Est deus in nobis. There is a God within us.— OVID — Fasti. VI. 5.
Nihil ita sublime est, supraque pericula tendit Non sit ut inferius suppositumque deo. Nothing is so high and above all danger that is not below and in the power of God.— OVID — Tristium. IV. 8. 47.
GODS (THE). Sed tamen ut fuso taurorum sanguine centum, Sic capitur minimo thuris honore deus. As God is propitiated by the blood of a hundred bulls, so also is he by the smallest offering of incense.— OVID — Tristium. II. 75.
Est profecto deus, qui, quæ nos gerimus, auditque et videt. There is indeed a God that hears and sees whate'er we do.— PLAUTUS — Captivi. II. 2. 63.
Deum non immolationibus et sanguine multo colendum: quæ enim ex trucidatione immerentium voluptas est? sed mente pura, bono honestoque proposito. Non templa illi, congestis in altitudinem saxis, struenda sunt; in suo cuique consecrandus est pectore. God is not to be worshiped with sacrifices and blood; for what pleasure can He have in the slaughter of the innocent? but with a pure mind, a good and honest purpose. Temples are not to be built for Him with stones piled on high; God is to be consecrated in the breast of each.— SENECA — Fragment. V. 204.
GODS (THE). Omnia fanda, nefanda, malo permista furore, Justificam nobis mentem avertere deorum. The confounding of all right and wrong, in wild fury, has averted from us the gracious favor of the gods.— CATULLUS — Carmina. LXIV. 406.
Quid datur â divis felici optatius horâ ? What is there given by the gods more desirable than a happy hour?— CATULLUS — Carmina. LXII. 30.
O dii immortales! ubinam gentium sumus? Ye immortal gods! where in the world are we?— CICERO — In Catilinam. I. 4.
Di me tuentur. The gods my protectors.— HORACE — Carmina. I. 17. 13.
Nec deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus. Nor let a god come in, unless the difficulty be worthy of such an intervention.— HORACE — Ars Poetica. CXCI.
Quanto quisque sibi plura negaverit, A dis plura feret. The more we deny ourselves, the more the gods supply our wants. S.— HORACE — Carmina. III. 16. 21
Scire, deos quoniam propius contingis, oportet. Thou oughtest to know, since thou livest near the gods.— HORACE — Satiræ. XXI. 6. 52.
GODS (THE). Nam pro jucundis aptissima quæque dabunt Carior est illis homo quam sibi. For the gods, instead of what is most pleasing, will give what is most proper. Man is dearer to them than he is to himself.— JUVENAL — Satiræ. X. 349.
Apparet divom numen, sedesque quietæ; Quas neque concutiunt ventei, nec nubila nimbeis. Aspergunt, neque nix acri concreta pruina Cana cadens violat; semper sine nubibus æther Integer, et large diffuso lumine ridet. The gods and their tranquil abodes appear, which no winds disturb, nor clouds bedew with showers, nor does the white snow, hardened by frost, annoy them; the heaven, always pure, is without clouds, and smiles with pleasant light diffused.— LUCRETIUS — De Rerum Natura. III. 18.
Cui homini dii propitii sunt aliquid objiciunt lucri. The gods give that man some profit to whom they are propitious.— PLAUTUS — Persa. IV. 3. 1.
Dî nos quasi pilas homines habent. The gods play games with men as balls.— PLAUTUS — Captivi Prologue. XXII.
Dum homo est infirmus, tunc deos, tunc hominem esse se meminit: invidet nemini, neminem miratur, neminem despicit, ac ne sermonibus quidem malignis aut attendit, aut alitur. When a man is laboring under the pain of any distemper, it is then that he recollects there are gods, and that he himself is but a man; no mortal is then the object of his envy, his admiration, or his contempt, and having no malice to gratify, the tales of slander excite not his attention. PLINY the Younger-Epistolæ. VII. 26. Mundus est ingens deorum omnium templum. The world is the mighty temple of the gods.— SENECA — Epistolæ Ad Lucilium. X.
Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando. Cease to think that the decrees of the gods can be changed by prayers.— VIRGIL — Eneid. VI. 376.
Jamque dies, ni fallor adest quem semper acerbum Semper honoratum (sic dii voluistis) habeo. That day I shall always recollect with grief; with reverence also, for the gods so willed it.— VIRGIL — Eneid. V. 49.
L'impossibilité où je suis de prouver que Dieu n'est pas, me decouvre son existence. The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discloses to me his existence.— LA BRUYÈRE — Les Caractères. XVI.
Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer. If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.— VOLTAIRE — Epitre à l'Auteur des Trois
Imposteurs. Es lebt ein Gott zu strafen und zu rächen. There is a God to punish and avenge.— SCHILLER — Wilhelm Tell. IV. 3. 37.
Wie einer ist, so ist sein Gott, Darum ward Gott so oft zu Spott. As a man is, so is his God; therefore God was so often an object of mockery.— GOETHE — Gedichte.
Ha sotto i piedi il Fato e la Natura. Ministri umili; e'l moto e chi'l misura. Under whose feet (subjected to His grace), Sit nature, fortune, motion, time, and place.— TASSO — Gerusalemme. IX. 56.