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Self-Denial: Quotations from Burning Words

There never did, and there never will exist any thing permanently noble and excellent in the character which is a stranger to the exercise of resolute self-denial.— SIR WALTER SCOTT

One never knows a man till he has refused him something, and studied the effect of the refusal; one never knows himself till he has denied himself. The altar of sacrifice is the touchstone of character. The cross compels a choice for or against Christ.— O. P. GIFFORD

Self-denial must reach beyond gross and undoubted sins.— ALEXANDER MACLAREN

Sacrifice alone, bare and unrelieved, is ghastly, unnatural, and dead; but self-sacrifice, illuminated by love, is warmth and life; it is the death of Christ, the life of God, the blessedness and only proper life of man.— F. W. ROBERTSON

Contempt of all outward things, which come in competition with duty, fulfills the ideal of human greatness. This conviction, that readiness to sacrifice life's highest material good and life itself, is essential to the elevation of human nature, is no illusion of ardent youth, nor outburst of blind enthusiasm. It does not yield to growing wisdom. It is confirmed by all experience. It is sanctioned by conscience - that universal and eternal lawgiver whose chief dictate is, that every thing must be yielded up for the right.— W. E. CHANNING

In heaven, we shall never regret any sacrifice however painful, or labor however protracted, made or performed here for the cause of Christ.— MARY LYON

Nothing is really lost by a life of sacrifice; every thing is lost by failure to obey God's call.— H. P. LIDDON

They that deny themselves for Christ shall enjoy themselves in Christ.— J. M. MASON

The sweetest life is to be ever making sacrifices for Christ ; the hardest life a man can lead on earth, the most full of misery, is to be always doing his own will and seeking to please himself.— EDWARD H. BICKERSTETH

Take thy self-denials gaily and cheerfully, and let the sunshine of thy gladness fall on dark things and bright alike, like the sunshine of the Almighty.— J. F. CLARKE

Whoever will labor to get rid of self, to deny himself, according to the instructions of Christ, strikes at once at the root of every evil, and finds the germ of every good.— FENELON

That which especially distinguishes a high order of man from a low order of man, that which constitutes human goodness, human nobleness, is surely not the degree of enlightenment with which men pursue their own advantage; but it is self-forgetfulness; it is self-sacrifice; it is the disregard of personal pleasure, personal indulgence, personal advantage, remote or present, because some other line of conduct is more right.— J. A. FROUDE

Which do you think of most, your interest or your duty? Can you sell all for the pearl of great price? Are these the natural breathings of your heart: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done?" Is the cause of Christ your concern, the dishonor of Christ your affliction, the cross of Christ your glory ? If so, you are not strangers to the spirit of self-denial.— GARDINER SPRING

Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow me. This is war, not peace. It is battle declared against the world, the flesh, and the devil. In me said Christ, "ye have peace," - not in the world; there is no promise of it there.— ANNA SHIPTON

The secret belief that the Lord of conscience loves and accepts each faithful sacrifice is the ultimate and sufficient support of all goodness; dispensing with the chorus of approving voices; replacing all vain self-reliance with a Divine strength; and with the peace of a reconciled nature consoling the inevitable sorrows of a devoted life. -— JAMES MARTINEAU

The very act of faith by which we receive Christ is an act of the utter renunciation of self, and all its works, as a ground of salvation. It is really a denial of self, and a grounding of its arms in the last citadel into which it can be driven, and is, in its principle, inclusive of every subsequent act of self-denial by which sin is forsaken or overcome.— MARK HOPKINS

Self-denial is the result of a calm, deliberate, invincible attachment to the highest good, flowing forth in the voluntary renunciation of every thing that is inconsistent with the glory of God or the good of our fellow men. -— GARDINER SPRING

The first lesson in Christ's school is self-denial.— MATTHEW HENRY