The Pilgrim's Progress Quotes

“Christian nodded. “Now I see that Patience has superior wisdom in many ways. First of all, because he waits for the best things. Second, because he will also have the glory of his inheritance, when the other has nothing but rags.”
― John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress

“Your heart may tell you one thing, but it is the Word of God that must bear witness in this matter; any other testimony is of no value.”
― John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress

“I certainly admire your attitude,” Talkative said. “For you speak with conviction; and I might add, what else is so pleasant and so profitable as to talk about the things of God? For instance, if a man delights in such wonderful things as that, what could be more pleasurable to talk about than the history or mystery of such things? Or if a man loves to talk about miracles, wonders, or signs, where else will he find such things so delightfully recorded and so sweetly penned as in the Holy Scripture?”
― John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress

“If you continue in this direction you are likely to experience wearisomeness, painfulness, hunger, perils, nakedness, sword, lions, dragons, darkness, and, in a word, death, and who knows what else.”
― John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress

“There’ll be no more crying, or sorrow; for the owner of the place will wipe all tears from our eyes.”
― John Bunyan, Pilgrim

“These troubles and distresses that you go through in these waters are no sign that God has forsaken you. They are sent to call to your mind that which you have received of His goodness, that you may trust Him in your distress.”
― James Thomas, Pilgrim's Progress in Today's English

“The man with whom you are so impressed will beguile with that tongue of his twenty who do not know him."2
"Do”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come

“The highway is walled on both sides to indicate that for Christian, the way forward is secure and certain. After experiencing all the uncertainties and spiritual upheaval surrounding his conversion, the path ahead is well-defined and clear. Christian is about to experience deliverance and relief from the burden that has so grieved his soul. Christian fixes his eyes on the cross of Christ, and his burden falls off his back.
2.”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come

“{369} HOPE. I do believe, as you say, that fear tends much to men's good, and to make them right, at their beginning to go on pilgrimage.”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress

“The book the man is reading is the Word of God, the Bible. It has become both the focus of and the reason for his current state of perplexity and distress. The heavy burden on his back is his awakened knowledge and sense of his own sin. The man discovers the frightful condition of his heart, which provokes genuine and constant fears of damnation. These fears are an ever-present weight upon his entire person.
4.”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come

“Aquele que já está no chão não precisa de cair; Aquele que desceu ao mais baixo não precisa de ter orgulho.”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress

“This parlor, said the Interpreter, is the heart of a man who was never sanctified by the sweet grace of the gospel. The dust is his original sin and inward corruptions that have defiled the whole man. He that began to sweep at first, is the law. But she that brought water and sprinkled it is the gospel. Now you saw that as soon as the first began to sweep the dust flew about the room so that it could not be cleaned, and you were almost choked with it. This is to show you that the law, instead of cleansing the heart by its working, from sin, does revive, strengthen and increase sin in the soul even as it does discover and forbid it. For the law does not give power to subdue sin. Again, you saw the young woman sprinkle the room with water, upon which it was cleansed with pleasure. This is to show you that when the sweet and precious influence of the gospel comes into the heart then sin is vanquished and subdued and the soul made clean and, consequently, fit for the king of glory to inhabit.”
― Max McLean, The Pilgrim's Progress

“A true work of grace in the heart is easily recognized by the person that has it or by others that are observing him. For the person that has it, he finds himself under conviction for his sin, especially concerning the defilement of his own body. He’s also convicted for the sin of unbelief, for which he is sure to be damned unless he finds mercy at God’s hand through faith in Jesus Christ. The knowledge of sin and his inward convictions cause him to feel sorrow and shame.116 “But then he finds Jesus Christ as his Savior and the absolute necessity of living for and with Him for the rest of his life. And when he does, he experiences a hunger and thirst for Him based on the promise, ‘blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and they will be filled.”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: A Readable Modern-Day Version of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress

“Obstinate was curious and asked, “What are the things you are searching for that can’t be found in this world?” “I’m searching for a joy that does not fade,” replied Christian, “a secure inheritance in Heaven that cannot be corrupted and will be given at the appointed time to those who earnestly search for it.” He held out the book in his hand. “Don’t take my word for it. Read it in my book.”11”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: A Readable Modern-Day Version of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress

“I have taken these needless steps even in the same manner as Israel was required to do. It was for their sin that they were sent back again to wander in the wilderness by way of the Red Sea. In the same way, I am forced to walk this way again with sorrow, a way which should have only been walked with delight had it not been for this sinful sleep. How much farther along I might have been on my way by this time! Instead, I am forced to walk these steps three times instead of once. And now the night is about to overtake me since the day is almost spent. Oh, if only I had not slept!”
― John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress

“¿Dónde estoy ahora? ¡Es el amor y el cuidado
De Jesús, por los hombres que peregrinos son!
Para así proveerles el perdón.
Y que puedan ya gustar del cielo el esplendor.”
― John Bunyan, El Progreso del Peregrino

“CHR. Then I perceive it is not best to covet things that are now, but to wait for things to come.

INTER. You say the truth: "For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." [2 Cor. 4:18] But though this be so, yet since things present and our fleshly appetite are such near neighbours one to another; and again, because things to come, and carnal sense, are such strangers one to another; therefore it is, that the first of these so suddenly fall into amity, and that distance is so continued between the second.”
― Bunyan John, The Pilgrim's Progress with Original Illustrations and Reader's Guide

“Well, if nobody will have me..." Mercy shrugged. "I will die unmarried and my moral convictions will be to me like a husband. For I cannot change my nature, and for as long as I live I do not intend to marry someone who disagrees with me in this.”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress

“My name at the first was Graceless.”
― John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress

“Blessed Cross! Blessed grave! Blessed rather be    The Man who there was put to shame for me.”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress

“What a fool I have been to lie in a stinking dungeon like this, when I could just as well walk free! I have a key in my pocket next to my heart called Promise that will, I am sure, open any lock in Doubting Castle.”
― John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress

“for strait is the gate that leads to life, and few are those who find it.”
― John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress

“As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where there was a Den: and I laid me down in that place to sleep: and as I slept I dreamed a dream.”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress

“Esta sala es el corazón del hombre que nunca fue santificado por la dulce gracia del evangelio; el polvo es su pecado original, y corrupciones interiores que han contaminado al hombre completo. Quien comenzó a barrer al principio es la Ley, pero quien trajo agua, y la roció, es el evangelio.”
― John Bunyan, El Progreso del Peregrino

“For if we freely let our lusts reign, it is sin. While it seems bad to hold back such feeling based on our opinions, yet not to do so is worse. When a person stumbles accidentally it is bad enough, but allowing your lusts to go unbridled leads into the snare.”
― John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress

“The conversation between Faithful and Talkative ends when Faithful challenges Talkative to show in his life the fruits of the truths he so easily talks about. This conversation exposes the matter, and the false pilgrim is soon separated from the true pilgrim.
To cry out against sin but to tolerate it comfortably in the heart is an equation that sums up the false pretense of Talkative. The work of grace in the heart offers proofs that cannot be denied. The eloquent Talkative simply lacks the experiential work of grace in his heart.
Again, Christians should be warned not to judge too quickly, since many Christians struggle with sin and surrender in the battlefield of life and often fail. The important thing to understand is that God will always produce a fruitful life in those He has conquered and occupies. The same Lord will disqualify those whose religion is only talk by ordaining that their life lacks the abundance of genuine good fruit while bad fruit abounds.
5.”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come

“The man in this picture represents one of a thousand: he can conceive children,t travail in birth with children,-' and nurse them himself when they are born. You see him with his eyes lifted up to Heaven, the best of books in his hand and the law of truth written on his lips. All this is to show you that his work is to know and unfold dark things to sinners. You see him pleading with men, the world cast behind him, and a crown hanging over his head to show you that by rejecting and despising the things of this present world for the love that he has for his Master's service, he is sure to have glory as his reward in the world to come. I have shown you this picture first because the man whom it represents is the only man authorized by the Lord of the place where you are going to be your guide in all the difficult places you will encounter on the way. So pay attention to what I have shown you, and keep this picture foremost in your mind, so that if you meet with someone who doesn't resemble this picture's likeness but who pretends to lead you in the right way, you will not follow him down to destruction."
Then”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come

“When the desire to get rid of the sensory symptoms of sin so that one can live a life of peace and safety is the only goal, and that goal is achieved by a work other than the work of Christ, the end may be peace in this life but God's certain wrath in the world to come. Mr. Worldly-Wiseman is a friend to sinners who want to lose their sense of sin, but the sworn enemy to all who desire lasting peace and eternal life.
7.”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come

“freely. PLI. Well, my good companion, glad”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan illustrated edition

“Hopeful thought for a moment. “Well, in my opinion, there are four reasons for backsliding. “First, even though the consciences of such people have been temporarily awakened spiritually, their minds are not yet changed. Therefore, when the power of guilt wears off so does their desire to pursue holiness, and then they return to their former sinful ways. We see this illustrated in a sick dog that vomits what he has eaten. He does not vomit because he has a free mind, if it can be said that a dog has a free mind, but rather because his stomach is upset. But once he is no longer sick and his stomach feels better, the desire for what he has vomited returns, and he licks it all up. And so that which is written is true: ‘The dog returns to his own vomit.’210 “This is like the person who initially is enthusiastic for Heaven but only because their fear and shame were strong and they sensed the torments of Hell. But as their fear and shame diminish, so does their desire to pursue holiness. Then, over time, when their fear and shame are gone, and their desires for Heaven and happiness die, they return to their former sinful way of life.”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: A Readable Modern-Day Version of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress