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Religion: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
Children of men! the unseen Power, whose eye Forever doth accompany mankind, Hath look'd on no religion scornfully That men did ever find.— MATTHEW ARNOLD — Progress. St. 10.
When I am here (Milan) I do not fast on Saturday. When at Rome I do fast on Saturday.— ST. AUGUSTINE — Ep. XXXVI. To
Casulanus. The greatest vicissitude of things amongst men, is the vicissitude of sects and religions.— BACON — Of Vicissitude of Things.
There was never law, or sect, or opinion did so much magnify goodness, as the Christian religion doth.— BACON — Essays. Of Goodness, and
Goodness of Nature. It [Calvinism] established a religion without a prelate, a government without a king.— GEORGE BANCROFT — History of the United States. Vol. III. Ch. VI. Ch. VI.
Persecution is a bad and indirect way to plant religion.— SIR THOMAS BROWNE — Religio Medici.
Pity! Religion has so seldom found A skilful guide into poetic ground! The flowers would spring where'er she deign'd to stray, And every muse attend her in her way.— COWPER — Table Talk. L. 688.
Religion does not censure or exclude Unnumbered pleasures, harmlessly pursued.— COWPER — Retirement. L. 782.
Religion, if in heavenly truths attired, Needs only to be seen to be admired.— COWPER — Expostulation. L. 492.
The Cross! There, and there only (though the deist rave, And atheist, if Earth bears so base a slave); There and there only, is the power to save.— COWPER — The Progress of Error. L. 613.
Sacred religion! Mother of Form and Fear!— SAM'L DANIEL — Musophilus. St. 47.
I do not find that the age or country makes the least difference; no, nor the language the actors spoke, nor the religion which they professed, whether Arab in the desert or Frenchman in the Academy, I see that sensible men and conscientious men all over the world were of one religion.— EMERSON — Lectures and Biographical
Sketches. The Preacher. P. 215. Sacrifice is the first element of religion, and resolves itself in theological language into the love of God. S.— FROUDE — Short Stories on Great
Subjects. Sea Studies. There are at bottom but two possible religions-that which rises in the moral nature of man, and which takes shape in moral commandments, and that which grows out of the observation of the material energies which operate in the external universe.— FROUDE — Short Studies on Great
Subjects. Calvinism. P. 20. But our captain counts the image of God, nevertheless, his image-cut in ebony as if done in ivory; and in the blackest Moors he sees the representation of the King of heaven.— FULLER — Holy and Profane States.
The Good Sea-Captain. Maxim 5. Indeed, a little skill in antiquity inclines a man to Popery; but depth in that study brings him about again to our religion.— FULLER — Holy and Profane States.
The True Church Antiquary. Maxim 1. We do ourselves wrong, and too meanly estimate the holiness above us, when we deem that any act or enjoyment good in itself, is not good to do religiously.— NATH. HAWTHORNE — Marble Faun. Bk. II. Ch. VII.
Dresse and undresse thy soul: mark the decay And growth of it: if, with thy watch, that too Be down, then winde up both: since we shall be Most surely judged, make thy accounts agree.— HERBERT — Temple. Church Porch. St. 76.
Religion stands on tiptoe in our land, Ready to pass to the American strand.— HERBERT — The Church Militant. L. 235.
My Fathers and Brethren, this is never to be forgotten that New England is originally a plantation of religion, not a plantation of trade.— JOHN HIGGINSON — Election Sermon.
The Cause of God and His People in New England. May 27, 1663. No solemn, sanctimonious face I pull, Nor think I'm pious when I'm only bilious- Nor study in my sanctum supercilious To frame a Sabbath Bill or forge a Bull.— HOOD — Ode to Rae Wilson.
To be of no Church is dangerous.— SAM'L JOHNSON — Life of Milton.
Other hope had she none, nor wish in life, but to follow Meekly, with reverent steps, the sacred feet of her Saviour.— LONGFELLOW — Evangeline. Pt. II. V. L. 35.
But he turned up his nose at their murmuring and shamming, And cared (shall I say?) not a d-n for their damning; So they first read him out of their church and next minute Turned round and declared he had never been in it.— LOWELL — A Fable for Critics. L. 876.
God is not dumb, that he should speak no more; If thou hast wanderings in the wilderness And find'st not Sinai, 'tis thy soul is poor.— LOWELL — Bibliolatres.
Puritanism, believing itself quick with the seed of religious liberty, laid, without knowing it, the egg of democracy.— LOWELL — Among My Books. New
England Two Centuries Ago. Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the way of the Sacramentarians, nor sat in the seat of the Zwinglians, nor followed the Council of the Zurichers.— MARTIN LUTHER — Parody of First
Psalm. The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.— MACAULAY — History of England. Vol. I. Ch. II.
Life and religion are one, or neither is anything: I will not say neither is growing to be anything. Religion is no way of life, no show of life, no observance of any sort. It is neither the food nor the medicine of being. It is life essential.— GEORGE MACDONALD — The Marquis of Lossie. Ch. LXI.
The solitary monk who shook the world From pagan slumber, when the gospel trump Thunder'd its challenge from his dauntless lips In peals of truth.— ROB'T MONTGOMERY — Luther.
Man's Need and God's Supply. Near, so very near to God, Nearer I cannot be; For in the person of his Son I am as near as he.— CATESBY PAGET — Hymn.
Remote from man, with God he passed the days, Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise. PARNELL The Hermit. L. 5. The Puritan did not stop to think; he recognized God in his soul, and acted.— WENDELL PHILLIPS — Speech. Dec. 18,
1859. We have a Calvinistic creed, a Popish liturgy, and an Arminian clergy. WILLIAM PITT (Earl of Chatham)-See Prior's Life of Burke. Ch. X. 1790. For virtue's self may too much zeal be had; The worst of madmen is a saint run mad.— POPE — To Murray. Ep. VI. of Horace. L. 26.
Religion, blushing, veils her sacred fires, And unawares Morality expires.— POPE — The Dunciad. Bk. IV. L. 649.
So upright Quakers please both man and God.— POPE — The Dunciad. Bk. IV. L. 208.
I think while zealots fast and frown, And fight for two or seven, That there are fifty roads to town, And rather more to Heaven. น.— PRAED — Chant of Brazen Head. St. 8.
No one is so much alone in the universe as a denier of God. With an orphaned heart, which has lost the greatest of fathers, he stands mourning by the immeasurable corpse of nature, no longer moved or sustained by the Spirit of the universe, but growing in its grave; and he mourns, until he himself crumbles away from the dead body.— RICHTER — Flower, Fruit and Thorn
Pieces. First Flower Piece. Humanity and Immortality consist neither in reason, nor in love; not in the body, nor in the animation of the heart of it, nor in the thoughts and stirrings of the brain of it;-but in the dedication of them all to Him who will raise them up at the last day.— RUSKIN — Stones of Venice. Vol. I. Ch. II.
I always thought It was both impious and unnatural That such immanity and bloody strife Should reign among professors of one faith.— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. I. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 11.
In religion, What damned error, but some sober brow Will bless it and approve it with a text. C.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 77.
The moon of Mahomet Arose, and it shall set: While, blazoned as on heaven's immortal noon, The cross leads generations on.— SHELLEY — Hellas. L. 237.
A religious life is a struggle and not a hymn.— MADAME DE STAËL — Corinne. Bk. X. Ch. V.
Religion has nothing more to fear than not being sufficiently understood. STANISLAUS (King of Poland)- Maxims. No. 36. The third essential of God's love, to make others happy from itself, is recognized in the gift of eternal life, which is blessedness, satisfaction, and happiness without end.— SWEDENBORG — True Christian Religion.
Par. 43. He made it a part of his religion, never to say grace to his meat.— SWIFT — Tale of a Tub. Sec. XI.
We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.— SWIFT — Thoughts on Various Subjects.
Moral and Diverting. What religion is he of? Why, he is an Anythingarian.— SWIFT — Polite Conversation. Dialogue I.
None but God can satisfy the longings of an immortal soul; that as the heart was made for Him, so He only can fill it.— RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH — Notes on
the Parables. Prodigal Son. Once I journeyed far from home To the gate of holy Rome; There the Pope, for my offence, Bade me straight, in penance, thence Wandering onward, to attain The wondrous land that height Cokaigne.— ROBERT WACE — The Land of Cokaigne.
Deos placatos pietas efficiet et sanctitas. Piety and holiness of life will propitiate the gods.— CICERO — De Officiis. II. 3.
Res sacros non modo manibus attingi, sed ne cogitatione quidem violari fas fuit. Things sacred should not only not be touched with the hands, but not violated in thought.— CICERO — Orationes in Verrem. II.
4. 45. Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. Nothing is more deceitful in appearance than false religion.— LIVY — Annales. XXXIX. 16.
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum! How many evils has religion caused!— LUCRETIUS — De Rerum Natura. I. 102.
Scilicet adversis probitas exercita rebus Tristi materiam tempore laudis habet. Righteousness tried by adversity has good grounds for glorying in its sorrow.— OVID — Tristium. V. 5. 49.
Animus hoc habet argumentum divinitatis suæ, quod illum divina delectant. The soul has this proof of its divinity: that divine things delight it.— SENECA — Quæstionum Naturalium.
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Dem tauben Grimm, der keinen Führer hört. L'institut des Jesuites est une épée dont la poignée est à Rome et la pointe partout. The Order of Jesuits is a sword whose handle is at Rome and whose point is every where.— M. DUPIN — Proces de tendance. 1825.