Joan > Joan's Quotes

“When our Lord said to the disciples, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19), His reference was not to the skilled angler, but to those who use the drag-net--something which requires practically no skill; the point being that you do not have to watch your "fish," but you have to do the simple thing and God will do the rest. The pseudo-evangelical line is that you must be on the watch all the time and lose no oportunity of speaking to people, and this attitude is apt to produce the superior person. It may be a noble enough point of view, but it produces the wrong kind of character. It does not produce a disciple of Jesus, but too often it produces the kind of person who smells of gunpowder and people are afraid of meeting him. According to Jesus Christ, what we have to do is to watch the source and He will look after the outflow: "He that believeth on me,...out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38).”
― Oswald Chambers, Our Ultimate Refuge: Job and the Problem of Suffering

“The sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold. 69 L”
― Oswald Chambers, Baffled to Fight Better: Job and the Problem of Suffering

“All the way to heaven is heaven, because Jesus said, "I am the way.”
― St. Catherine of Siena

“Out of clutter, find simplicity.”
― Albert Einstein

“(a statement someone makes to Maisie regarding attitudes prior to WWII):
"...the corridors of power are littered with Fascist leanings; anything to save the upper classes through disenfranchisement of the common man while allowing the common man to think you're on his side.”
― Jacqueline Winspear, A Lesson in Secrets

“[Maisie] Tell me, Dr. Dene, if you were to name one thing that made the difference between those who get well quickly and those who don't, what would it be?

[Dr. Dene] ...In my opinion, acceptance has to come first. Some people don't accept what has happened. They think, 'Oh, if only I hadn't...' or... 'If only I'd known...' They are stuck at the point that caused the injury.

...I would say that it's threefold: One is accepting what has happened. Three is having a picture, an idea of what they will do when they are better or improved. Then in the middle, number two is a path to follow.”
― Jacqueline Winspear, Birds of a Feather

“You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.”
― Albert Einstein

“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”
― Albert Einstein

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”
― Albert Einstein

“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.”
― Albert Einstein

“Student: Dr. Einstein, Aren't these the same questions as last year's [physics] final exam?

Dr. Einstein: Yes; But this year the answers are different.”
― Albert Einstein

“There is a certain ‘niceness’ to a friendship where I can be, as they say, myself. But what I really need are relationships in which I will be encouraged to become better than myself. Myself needs to grow a little each day. I don’t want to be the myself I was yesterday. I want to be the myself that is developing each day to be more of a Christlike person.3”
― Vaughan Roberts, True Friendship

“[W]e live in interwoven networks of terminally casual relationships. We live with the delusion that we know one another, but we really don’t. We call our easygoing, self-protective, and often theologically platitudinous conversations ‘fellowship,’ but they seldom ever reach the threshold of true fellowship. We know cold demographic details about one another (married or single, type of job, number of kids, general location of housing, etc.), but we know little about the struggle of faith that is waged every day behind well-maintained personal boundaries. One of the things that still shocks me in counselling, even after all these years, is how little I often know about people I have counted as true friends. I can’t tell you how many times, in talking with friends who have come to me for help, that I have been hit with details of difficulty and struggle far beyond anything I would have predicted. Privatism is not just practiced by the lonely unbeliever; it is rampant in the church as well.1”
― Vaughan Roberts, True Friendship

“What, then, is marriage for? It is for helping each other to become our future glory-selves, the new creations that God will eventually make us. The common horizon husband and wife look toward is the Throne, and the holy, spotless and blameless nature we will have. I can think of no more powerful common horizon than that, and that is why putting a Christian friendship at the heart of a marriage relationship can lift it to a level that no other vision of marriage approaches … We think of a prospective spouse as primarily a lover (or a provider), and if he or she can be a friend on top of that, well isn’t that nice! We should be going at it the other way around. Screen first for friendship. Look for someone who understands you better than you do yourself, who makes you a better person just by being around them. And then explore whether that friendship could become a romance and a marriage. So many people go about their dating starting from the wrong end, and they end up in marriages that aren’t really about anything and aren’t going anywhere.4”
― Vaughan Roberts, True Friendship

“Your life is a Book; it may be a volume of larger or smaller size; and conversion is but the title-page or the preface. The Book itself remains to be written; and your years and weeks and days are its chapters and leaves and lines. It is a Book written for eternity; see that it be written well. It is a Book for the inspection of enemies as well as friends; be careful of every word. It is a Book written under the eye of God; let it be done reverently; without levity, yet without constraint or terror. Let”
― Horatius Bonar, Follow the Lamb

“Let your light shine. Do not obstruct it, or hide it, or mingle darkness with it. 'Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee' (Isa. 60:1). It is the light of love that you have received; let it shine. It is the light of truth; let it shine. It is the light of holiness; let it shine. And if you ask, How am I to get the light, and to maintain it in fulness? I answer, 'Christ shall give you light' (Eph. 5:14). There is light enough in Him who is the light of the world. 'The Lamb is the light thereof' (Rev. 21:23). There is no light for man but from the Lamb. It is the cross, the cross alone, that lights up a dark soul and keeps it shining, so that we walk in light as He is in the light; 'for God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”
― Horatius Bonar, Follow The Lamb

“Be Strong In The Grace That Is In Christ Jesus It was this grace or free love which first began with you, and with which you began. It was this which you at first 'apprehended,' or rather, which 'apprehended' you; and your special character is that of men who 'know the grace of God' (Col. 1:6); who have 'tasted that the Lord is gracious' (1 Pet. 2:3); men on whom God has had compassion (Rom. 9:15); men to whom He has shown His forgiving love. Such is your name.”
― Horatius Bonar, Follow The Lamb

“It is likely I will die next to a pile of things I was meaning to read.”
― Lemony Snicket

“Patriotism, red hot, is compatible with the existence of a neglect of national interests, a dishonesty, a cold indifference to the suffering of millions. Patriotism is largely pride, and very largely combativeness. Patriotism generally has a chip on its shoulder.”
― Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland

“love a reunion,” Rebecca reflected. “It’s neither a beginning nor an ending, but a touchstone between the past and the future.”
― Judith Redline Coopey, Redfield Farm: A Novel of the Underground Railroad

“You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked ‘female’.”
― Erin McKean

“Once you have read a book you care about, some part of it is always with you.”
― Louis L'Amour, Matagorda/The First Fast Draw: Two Novels in One Volume

“Other people cherish another thought. They conclude that life is power. To have the Lord as our life means to be given power by Him to do good. Nevertheless, God shows us that our power is not a thing; it is simply Christ. Our power is not the strength to do things; rather, it is a Person. Life to us is not only power but also a Person. It is Christ who manifests himself in us, instead of our using Christ to display our good works.”
― Watchman Nee, Christ the Sum of All Spiritual Things

“Jesus did not have the time nor the desire to scatter himself on those who wanted to make their own terms of discipleship.”
― Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism

“Everywhere God is, prayer is. Since God is everywhere and infinitely great, prayer must be all-pervasive in our lives.”
― Timothy J. Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”
― Jeremiah Burroughs

“when the heart of a man has nothing to do, but to be busy about creature-comforts, every little thing troubles him; but when the heart is taken up with the weighty things of eternity, with the great things of eternal life, the things of here below that disquieted it before are things now of no consequence to him in comparison with the other-how things fall out here is not much regarded by him, if the one thing that is necessary is provided for.”
― Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

“It is not too much to say that all real growth in the spiritual life–all victory over temptation, all confidence and peace in the presence of difficulties and dangers, all repose of spirit in times of great disappointment or loss, all habitual communion with God–depend upon the practice of secret prayer.”
― Unknown Christian, The Kneeling Christian

“The highest result of prayer is not deliverance from evil, or the securing of some coveted thing, but knowledge of God.”
― Unknown Christian, The Kneeling Christian

“We cannot be wrong with man and right with God. The spirit of prayer is essentially the spirit of love. Intercession is simply love at prayer.”
― Unknown Christian, The Kneeling Christian