Discovered Gems

Myth is an attempt to narrate a whole human experience,
of which the purpose is too deep, going too deep in the blood and soul,
for mental explanation or description.
- DH Lawrence (1885-1930)

Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much;
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
-William Cowper (1731-1800)

Behold, I stand at the door and knock:
if any man hear my voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me.
- Revelations 3:30

"To the pure all things are pure;" not only meats and drinks,
but all kinds of knowledge whether of good or evil;
the knowledge cannot defile, nor consequently the books,
if the will and conscience be not defiled.
- John Milton (1608-1674)

The most solid comfort one can fall back upon
is the thought that the business of one's life is
to help in small way to reduce the sum of ignorance,
degradation and misery on the face of this beautiful earth.
- George Eliot (1819-1880)

To believe in God for me is to feel that there is a God,
not a dead one, or a stuffed one, but a Living one,
who with irresistible force urges us toward more loving.
- Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much;
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
- William Cowper (1731-1800)

It is one of my favorite thoughts,
that God manifests Himself to mankind in all
wise, good, humble, generous, great and magnanimous men.
- JK Lavater (1741-1801)

Glorious indeed is the world of God around us,
but more glorious the world of God within us.
There lies the land of song; there lies the poet's native land.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord,
and in the power of His might.
Put on the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places.
-Ephesians 6:10-12

For myself, I fully and conscientiously believe,
that it is the will of the Almighty,
that there should be a diversity of religious opinion among us;
it affords a larger field for our Christian kindness. .
I look to the various denominations among us to be like
children of the same family,
differing only in what is called their Christian names.
- Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

God has made many doors opening into Truth
which He opens to all who knock upon them with hands of Faith.
- Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)

Is not Prayer a study of truth,
a sally of the Soul into the Unfound Infinite?
No man ever prayed heartily without learning something.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Forge thy tongue on an anvil of truth
And what flies up, though it be but a spark,
Shall have weight.
- Pindar (c518-438 BC)

...A person who is religiously enlightened
appears to me to be one who has...liberated himself from the fetters of
his selfish desires and is preoccupied with thoughts, feelings and aspirations
to which he clings because of their superpersonal value.
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

For the Great Spirit is everywhere:
He hears whatever is in our minds and hearts, and
it is not necessary to speak to him in a loud voice.
- Black Elk (1863-1950)

Miracles are not contrary to Nature,
but only contrary to what we know about Nature.
- St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by Mystery
than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.
- Harry E. Fosdick (1878-1969)

Youth ends where manhood begins, it is said.
A phrase without meaning, since from the beginning of history
man has never enjoyed the full measure of youth or
known the limitless possibilities of adulthood.
How can one know the splendor and fullness of youth
if one's energies are consumed in combating
errors and falsities of parents and ancestors?
- Henry Miller (1891-1980)

But as many as received him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on His name.
- John 1:12

To get into the core of God at His greatest,
one must first get into the core of himself at his least,
for no one can know God who has not first known himself.
- Johannes Eckhard (1260-1327)

The wonderful thing about saints is that they were human.
They lost their tempers, scolded God,
were egotistical or testy or impatient in their turns,
made mistakes and regretted them.
Still they went on doggedly blundering toward Heaven.
- Phyllis McGinley (1915-1978)

God is a verb, not a noun.
- R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)

People see God everyday, they just don't recognize him.
- Pearl Bailey (1918-1990)

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth is come,
He will guide you into all truth:
for He shall not speak of himself;
but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak:
and he will shew you things to come.
He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine,
and shall shew it unto you.
- John 16:13-14

[Infinite Love] is a weapon of matchless potency.
It is the Summum Bonum of life.
It is an attribute of the brave, in fact it is their all.
It does not come within the reach of the coward.
It is no wooden or lifeless dogma but a living and life-giving force.
It is the special attribute of the heart.
- Mohandes Gandhi (1869-1948)

Art thou lonely, O my brother? Shy thy little with another!
Stretch a hand to one unfriended, and thy loneliness is ended.
-John Oxenham

Everything Happening,
Great and Small,
is a Parable where by
God speaks to us, and
the Art of Life is to get the Message.
- Malcom Muggeridge (1903-1990)

Never think that God's delays are God's denials.
Hold on; Hold fast; Hold out. Patience is Genius.
- Comte Georges Louis LeCleric de Buffon (1707-1788)

God has given each of you some special abilities;
be sure to use them to help each other,
passing on to others
God's many kinds of blessings.
-1 Peter 4:10

The Son of God became a man,
thus enabling men to become sons of God
-C S Lewis (1898-1963)

It is necessary to the happiness of man
that he be mentally faithful to himself.
Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving;
it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.
-Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

There are only two kinds of immoral conduct.
The first is due to indifference, thoughtlessness,
failure to reflect upon what is for the common good.
The second type of immorality is represented by
"the unpardonable sin" of which Jesus spoke,
deliberate refusal, after reflection,
to follow the light when seen.
-Robert Millikan (1868-1953)

There are three ideas which seem to me
to stand out above all others in the influence
they have exerted and are destined to exert
upon the development of the human race.
The first of these and the most important of the three,
was the gift of religion to the race;
the other two sprang from the womb of science.
They are the following:
The idea of the Golden Rule
The idea of natural law
The idea of age-long growth or evolution
- Robert Millikan (1868-1953)