Nobody Quotes

“No one can obey the Ten Commandments. They’re designed to show us what sinners we are. Once we realize that, we understand we need help beyond ourselves. That’s where Jesus comes in.”
― Creston Mapes, Nobody

“I stand by the door I neither go too far in nor stay too far out The door is the most important door in the world. It is the door through which men walk when they find God. There's no use in my going way inside and staying there ​ When so many are still outside and they, as much as I, crave to know where the door is And all that so many ever find is only the wall where a door ought to be. They creep along the wall like blind men with outstretched, groping hands Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door, yet they never find it. So I stand by the door. The most tremendous thing in the world is for men to find that door - The door to God. The most important thing any man can do Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands and put it on the latch - The latch that only clicks and opens to the man's own touch. Men die outside that door As starving beggars die on cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter Die for want of what is within their grasp They live on the other side of it, live because they have found it Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it And open it and walk in and find Him. So I stand by the door. Go in great saints, go all the way in Go way down in the cavernous cellars and way into the spacious attics It is a vast roomy house, this house where God is. Go into the deepest of hidden casements of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood Some must inhabit those inner rooms, And know the depths and heights of God And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is Sometimes I take a deeper look in, sometimes venture in a little farther But my place seems close to the opening So I stand by the door… I admire the people who go way in, But I wish they would not forget how it was before they got in Then they would be able to help the people who have not yet even found the door Or the people who want to run away from God again You can go in too deeply and stay in too long and forget the people outside the door As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place Near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there But not far from men as to not hear them and remember that they are there too. Where? Outside the door. Thousands of them, millions of them But more important for me, one of them, two of them, ten of them Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch So I shall stand by the door and wait for those who seek it. I had rather be a doorkeeper, so I stand by the door. — Samuel Shoemaker”
― Creston Mapes, Nobody