As a thirty-year-old reflecting on past quotes that have shaped the person I am today, I am pleased to share with you a few that have nurtured my own growth. It’s difficult deciding which exact ones to select, given that there are so many to choose from. As a bonus, I’ve included a short comment below each quote for your own reflection. However, I did not cite any of my sources, and for good reasons. I wanted you to find them yourselves. That way only the ones who seek will find.
While reading these quotes, understand that I am someone who’s still learning to align myself with them, or so I hope. I would encourage that if you find any of these to be beneficial, take the time to memorize them and make them your own. My belief is that there is no such thing as a self-made man or woman. Rather, we are always the product of someone else’s influence, someone else’s words. Even the Lord Jesus, who I believe is God incarnate, was a man who increased in knowledge and wisdom, meaning he had to learn from someone else other than himself.
Quotes are golden nuggets that exist to help us face the different seasons of life, the good and the bad; so take advantage of it. Just remember that the greatest words worth keeping usually are not the words often spoken from the heart but the ones that directly speak to one’s heart.
#1. “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the LORD who practices lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight.”
YHWH, God.
The knowledge of God is the highest and greatest pursuit of all. Frankly, because it is the most rewarding. What greater joy is there than to know the Creator of the universe and see his involvement in history, including your own life? Wisdom and strength and wealth are all good things. But they are only signposts that points our attention upward to a greater good, to the God who offers us an identity and security unmatched by any other. If God is our boast, if he is the center of all our pursuits, and everything else is simply a commodity attached to the blessing of knowing him, then no amount of wisdom or strength or wealth, or lack thereof, can lessen the confidence we have in God and the courage to face life.
#2. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Solomon, King of Israel.
Knowledge is very seductive. It can make you feel like you’re smarter than you actually are, and therefore, start relying on yourself. But that is not a knowledge problem, it is, rather, a heart condition that needs solving. Because the more knowledge we acquire, if we are at all wise, the more we realize as did the Greek philosopher Socrates who said, “I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” The more our knowledge increases, the more our pride ought to shrink, because we realize just how little we actually know.
Even King Solomon, after stating the above quote, warns that we not be wise in our own eyes, but to fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. Why would he say to fear the Lord and turn away from evil? Could it be because when knowledge is placed into the wrong hands, destruction awaits both the educated and the one who stands in their way? As said by the evangelist D. L. Moody that “If a man is stealing nuts and bolts from a railway track, and, in order to change him, you send him to college, at the end of his education, he will steal the whole railway track.” The enemy of knowledge isn’t a rational mind, it is an unchecked heart, a heart that fears no one but itself.
#3. “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Socrates, Philosopher.
Socrates saw that the people of his day not only were searching for meaning in all the wrong places, they were passing through life without ever asking why. They were as Saint Augustine described, “go[ing] abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, yet pass over the mystery of themselves without a thought.” So don’t enjoy yourself so much that you forget about yourself—why it is at all that you exist. Learn to search and ponder on what others have said concerning life’s four biggest questions: origin—where did I come from?, meaning—what is my purpose in life?, morality—how do I differentiate between right and wrong?, destiny—what happens after I die? I’ve discovered Christianity’s answers to all these questions to be the most consistent and coherent across the board.
#4. “For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.”
Plato, Philosopher.
Self control is a virtue we are all to strive for. For the Christian, it is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit we are to exercise. “He who is slow to anger is better than a warrior,” says King Solomon, “and he who rules his spirit than he who captures a city.” It would be a shame to have the authority and power to rule over everyone else but one’s self. Plato’s renown student Aristotle echoed similarity, “I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self.” If we fail to take control of our desires and let it run free, someone or something else will eventually take control of our destiny. And when we are under their rule, not only do we become less free, we become less human, unable to live out our full potential as a divine image bearer. There are plenty of battles to be fought, but one we must never forfeit is the battle against our self, our sinful desires that seeks to control us, in which it’s end leads to death.
#5. “Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”
Aristotle, Philosopher.
Excellence is wired into human nature as an image of God. As the creation God designed and fashioned was “very good,” we, as his divine image bearers, are given a mandate to mirror his excellency in our calling as cultivators. Unlike the animal kingdom, humans are to not only create culture and establish civilizations across the globe, they are to do so with excellence and purpose. God is gracious; but his grace is meant to compel us toward a life of excellency and not as an excuse for mediocrity.
#6. “You are the light of the world…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah.
In Let the Nations Be Glad, pastor and theologian John Piper writes, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” Missions is the means; worship is the end. That’s because God is the goal and not man. Such is our goal as the light of the world. Christians are not to attract attention to themselves as being the object of affection and worship. They are not to be a stumbling block that stand in other people’s way, preventing them from seeing the truest and brighter light. Instead, the light Christians are to exhibit is the kind of light the stars give at night. Its existence is to be a sign for those in search of direction as well as causing onlookers to marvel, not only at its beauty, but for them to be all the more enchanted by the Creator who placed it there.
#7. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah.
The basic gospel message is that God loves the world. But not just any world. What makes his love so startling is that it was directed at a broken world, a self-destructive world, a people that at best deserves only judgement. The Father gave his Son. That means that God’s love wasn’t superficial, it was costly. He entered his own creation’s brokenness and took upon himself the judgement we’ve rightfully earned. Saint Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans that “God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He took our spot in hell so that we can have his place in heaven. For “Greater love has no one than this,” Jesus says, “that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
#8. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah.
With every evidence discovered for the resurrection of Jesus, my hope increases all the more, trusting that “when [Christ] appears,” as Saint John writes, “we shall be like him.” That the same glorified physical body Jesus received after his death, whom his disciples and many others witnessed, will also be given me. But my greatest joy awaits the day when “we shall see him as he is.” To glance upon Christ and see the face of God is a hope worth living for as well as to die for. It is the resurrection of Christ that I chase, because it is his life that I have. So even though death may taunt me with fear, my courage and confidence is evermore in knowing that my days with Christ draws near. And because he lives, I also shall live.
#9. “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
Paul of Tarsus, Apostle.
What is the value of a rock laying next to a diamond? Zero. What is the value of a diamond compare to your beloved’s “Yes”? Zilch. The Apostle’s Jewish heritage, his Greek education, and Roman citizenship were all things worth boasting in, and yet he told the Galatians that he will boast only in his weakness and in the cross of Christ. While to the Philippians, he considered it all as rubbish compare to knowing Christ. Do we likewise value Christ as such that all of our accomplishments are insignificant in comparison to having Christ as ours? Christ, who set aside his own glory and divine privileges so that we can be his.
#10. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Paul of Tarsus, Apostle.
It’s in the face of persecution where Jesus becomes more or less attractive. Will we, during trials and persecution, forsake the Lord to preserve our own lives or freedom? Or will we go to the grave confessing our allegiance to the Christ who sacrificed himself for our gain? For Saint Paul, Christ was everything. He was his life. Frankly, because he died his death. And if Christ would willingly suffer the judgment of God on our behalf in order to free us from the power of sin and death and transform us anew, what in our lives can we not willingly surrender to him? Is he not worthy of everything? He is.
If Christ truly has defeated the powers of darkness, what then is death but a speck on the face of eternity, a blink in time that awakens us to a world in which our eyes will never again shut to the tears of others. Thus, we, like the Apostle Paul, can rest assure that the mockery of death has been silenced, its sting has been removed because of him who suffered. So if we live, we will live for Christ; and if we die, we will be with Christ. There is no possible lost in this life other than to not wholeheartedly follow him.
#11. “To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.”
Augustine of Hippo, Theologian.
God is the greatest good. He is the end of all pursuits. The thrill is that even though Christians have reached him as their final destination, they will never have fully arrived. He is a mountain without a peak, an oceans without a shore, a sunset without a horizon, a dream without limits. He is the reason behind our very existence; for as Saint Paul reminded his Greek listeners of their own poem that “‘In him we live and move and have our being.’” That poem, of course, is in reference to the greek god Zeus. But if it’s true of a fictional deity like Zeus, how much more true would it apply to the true and living God YHWH?
#12. “Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.”
William Shakespeare, Poet.
There are three kinds of deaths: (1) cowardliness, (2) self-denial, and (3) physical death. Cowardliness is the denial of courage, the death of one’s character, while self-denial is putting to death one’s pleasure and safety, usually to fulfill a cause or mission. Choose the honorable latter. Sometimes going against the flow isn’t just the best thing to do, it is the only right thing to do. “A dead thing can go with the stream,” says G. K. Chesterton, “but only a living thing can go against it.” The world needs living things. It needs salmon samurais, those who are willing to travel against the current and engage the enemy, to stand for truth and justice.
Silent individuals who do nothing is as valuable to others as the corpse they’ve become. As T. S. Elliot noted that cowards are “Men [who] dislike being awakened from their death in life.” We were made, according to Jesus, to have life and have it abundantly, to be valiant in doing justice, in loving mercy, and walking humbly before our God. And if we do so, we will only know death once.
#13. “Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.”
Jonathan Edwards, Theologian.
The quote above is resolution number seventeen from Jonathan Edwards’ seventy resolutions he wrote as a young man. These were the things he wanted his life to be measured by. As one of America’s finest theologian and philosopher, Jonathan Edwards was a key figure in the revivals that occurred all across the American colonies in the 1700s known as the Great Awakening. He was a man of great disciplined, a man driven with a passion for God and for his glory.
Edwards refused to waste his life. He was time conscious; perhaps because he was eternity minded. There was no time for him to waste. He said in a prayer, “Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs.” This is a person who knew not only how he wanted to live—for God’s glory, he knew how he wanted to die—with no regrets.
#14. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President.
Living life to the fullest is what matters, even if it was cut short. Abraham Lincoln was the first U. S. President to have been assassinated. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the last. His years came to an irrupt end just shortly after the end of the American Civil War, a battle he led to abolish slavery once and for all in the United States. We owe it to Lincoln and the brave souls that fought alongside him to outlaw the practice of slavery. But we owe it as well to ourselves to not waste the years, however many, that God has given us. Remember that a life well lived will always outlive a life that is simply long but not full.
Also, as the poet Maya Angelou beautifully stated that “Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away.” Life is filled with all kinds of breathtaking moments. So learn to live in the moment, and treasure all the gems you are given.
#15. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke, Politician
An evil person’s worst enemy is a good person who’s willing to stop them, while a good person’s greatest enemy is their own passivity in the presence of evil. We can’t have “Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty,” as Thomas Jefferson said. Loving our neighbor means to equally flight for their freedom as we would ours. It is to seek for their well being in a time when their rights are being infringed. The last thing Jesus means by turning the other cheek is to look the other way, to be indifferent towards other people’s sufferings while it is still within our control.
#16. “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
Mark Twain, Author.
I’d like to insert that there is actually three most important days in your life: (1) The day you are born, (2) the day you are born again, and (3) the day you find out why. Nevertheless, Mark Twain’s point is well made. Discovering the reason behind your own existence is almost, if not equally, as important as to exist at all. Purpose is what drives a person, day to day, to overcome the obstacles that challenges their future happiness.
#17. “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”
Abraham Kuyper, N.L. Prime Minister.
All of Christ for all of life. That has become my life’s motto, to surrender every aspect of my life and that of society’s to the lordship of Jesus Christ. That is because his ownership extends to every corner and sphere of human existence: areas of family, education, science, business, politics, sports, entertainment, the arts, and so on. They are all to be redeemed because Christ died for them all. Image a world where everything was done for the glory of God. Where the earth is as the prophet Habakkuk had envisioned—filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. If that is your vision, as it is mine, then there’s work to do.
#18. “Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
G. K. Chesterton, Journalist.
G. K. Chesterton also said that “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” A story is one of reality’s most powerful weapon. It dares us to believe what we would have naturally been inclined to question—that it’s impossible to conquer the dragons in our lives and overcome the struggles that seem so overpowering, burdening us with fear. Thus, the belief in dragons is not reserved to children alone. Many times it is adults who need it most. Stories help cultivate within us adults a childlike faith, to believe against the odds. It challenges us to doubt our own doubts and to not live by perception alone, but see reality through our mind’s eye, through the lens of faith.
Fairy stories have taught me that even though dragons are real and dangerous, so is my royal identity in Christ as his knight. Thus, it’s not so much that I have to face the dragon as it is that it has to face me. But the confidence I have in winning is only because of the Dragon-Slayer, Jesus Christ, who lives inside of me. His Spirit is the one fighting in and through me to sanctify me and the world he’s placed around me. So don’t let down your guard. Know who you are up against, but know with even greater confidence who you are in Christ and who it is that resides within you.
#19. “The sin of our times is the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.”
Dorothy L. Sayers, Author.
Dorothy L. Sayers is making reference to the sin of sloth or acedia. Living in apathy is destructive because it removes any reason to move forward in life. It is a direct assault on the image of God. Because our calling is to reflect the character of God to the ends of the earth, being slothful is, as it is with every sin we commit, to say that God too is a sloth. Never mind the fact that God has called us to a life of productivity as oppose to wasting the time he’s given us. The reality is that in a state of apathy, your every thought and action can never be done to the glory of God. What’s troubling as a sloth isn’t that your offering is unacceptable, it’s that you have no sacrifice to offer.
#20. “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
C. S. Lewis, Professor.
The strength of our desires was never meant to hold us captive. Instead, its purpose was always to redirect our attention and further our affections elsewhere, to show that what we were created for wasn’t quite what we had imagined. And that is that we were made for God, to know and enjoy him forever, and everything else exist to promote that end. The theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas says, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the creator, made known through Jesus.” That’s because as Saint Augustine prayerfully expressed in his Confessions, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” He is the end, and everything else is merely the means by which to promote that end.
#21. “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
C. S. Lewis, Professor.
The sun may not always be seen in everything that is observed, but it must necessarily exist for anything at all to be seen. So it is with the existence of God and the truthfulness of Christianity. Christianity makes not only reasonable sense because of its explanatory power, its ability to address the dire condition and deepest longings of human nature is unparalleled. This faith isn’t simply a belief system, a body of doctrines that are detached from human experience; it is a world view, a set of lens by which we look through to make sense of reality. And time after time, the Christian worldview has proven itself to be sustainable and fruitful in the face of opposition.
#22. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
J. R. R. Tolkien, Professor.
In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf, in response to Frodo’s distress, “I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” Life doesn’t always go as plan. Sometimes when the unexpected comes true and it places you in an undesirable circumstance, you may very well be the one called upon to take a stance and make a difference. The situation may be out of your control, but not how you handle it.
Let the words of Gandalf the Wise awaken our hearts to the calling given us. It may just be your time, your moment to do what is right even though reason perhaps says otherwise. Let us in good faith spur one another on to fight the good fight, as Gandalf did Frodo, knowing that at the end, because of Christ, victory is ours.
#23. “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.”
Martin Luther King Jr., Minister.
The two most powerful forces in life is truth and love. Unarmed truth and unconditional love will win the day. It is a double edged sword that pierces through to other people’s conscience, letting them know that not only are you correct but that you care. Take this sword with you to every conversation.
#24. “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston Churchill, U.K. Prime Minister.
There is a difference between being content and settling. Content means to be happy with where you are currently, while settling means to remain where you presently are. Be content, but never settle. You will never know just how far you will go, just who you will become if in the name of contentment you settle for less than what’s possible, what is within your reach.
Failure is inevitable; quitting is optional. Never allow your future self to say, “Had I risen to the occasion rather than shying from the opposition, my life would be different.” It’s when time gets tough that you start questioning if something is still worth pursuing, if the late nights and early mornings still count for anything, and if moving forward is even a viable option. Unlike failure, however, quitting can neither redeem your mistakes nor your time. Quitting removes every part of you except the mouthpiece by which to spout excuses. So fail, and fail hard, but don’t quit. Not now. Not ever.
#25. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
Jim Elliot, Missionary.
How far are you willing to go to take hold of what you believe to be true or best? Is there anything you possess that you would consider more valuable than your own breath? On January 8, 1956, Jim Elliot and four others, in an attempt to evangelize the Huaorani people of Ecuador with the message of Christ, paid with their lives as they were murdered by the very ones they desired to reach. Following Jesus is not an easy path. It’s a road in which Jesus himself warned death as being the inevitable fate of those who choose to follow him. But the Christian understands, as did Jim Elliot and his wife, Elizabeth, who said, “There is nothing worth living for, unless it is worth dying for,” that Jesus’ promise of eternal bliss is a future worth well beyond a million deaths. The reward they see awaiting them in the new heaven and new earth outweigh the risk of their own mortal life.
#26. “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.”
Mother Teresa, Missionary.
None of us are big enough to create the change we want to see; we are only big enough to help change what is within our reach. So if we all did cast our own individual stone across the water, as Mother Teresa suggests, the ripples we create, I believe, will cause a tsunami effect that will flood the world with change. But that requires that we be faithful in doing our part in bringing change to our own circles. I believe, however, that true change requires divine intervention, where God transforms a person from within. God has entrusted the means of how that change happens to the faithful proclamation of his kingdom and his church’s involvement in culture.
#27. “God is the light; happiness and prosperity is the shadow. If you walk towards the light, the shadow will follow. But if you turn your back on the light and chase the shadow, you will never catch up to it.”
Ravi Zacharias, Apologist.
Jesus Christ directs our attention where it needs to rightfully be. He said to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” God is not some kind of magical genie or vending machine, but he is the source of all joy and happiness, of prosperity and comfort. C. S. Lewis rightfully stated that “If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.” Comfort is a byproduct of truth, and so is everything else in possessing God.
#28. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”
John Piper, Minister.
Being satisfied in God is what glorifies him the most. But to glorify God, John Piper once pointed out, is not like looking at a germ through a microscope, trying to make what is small big. Rather, it is like glancing through the lens of a telescope to see the vastness of the stars, to condense what is beyond our reach. God wants us to worship him alone, not because of a need he has but because he has designed us to settle for nothing less than what is best, and nothing in creation is great enough to satisfy that longing. The reason God is jealous for our joy is because he loves us and seeks our best interest.
#29. “Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else.”
Dave Ramsey, Entrepreneur.
Comfort may be the greatest obstacle to someone’s future success. We’re too comfortable to want to change. We dislike our current situation and are dissatisfied with our life but then fear leaving it behind because we’ve grown attached to it. So rather than giving something up or setting it aside to pave the road to our success, we try to either drag it alongside or refuse to move forward at all.
The number one thing the rich has over the poor isn’t money, it’s mindset. It’s a willingness and drive to not care what others think and use their resources to build something capable of sustaining their aspirations and dreams. Learn to let go of your comfort so that you can take hold of your future. That way you can say, “You’re welcome,” to your future self who will in return thank you.
#30. “Never be satisfied walking on shallow waters when you were made for the deep end. If you settle only on what your feet can touch and are anxious to step into the unknown because of fear, you will never discover what lies beyond the shore of mediocrity. For the greatest treasures are often found not where it’s visible and safe, but in the darkest and deepest waters.”
Li Zi
Above is an example of how I motivate myself to strive for success, to be more than what I currently am. If you’re someone who needs plenty of pep talk in your own life, I would highly encourage you to do the same. Personalize a quote for yourself, and read it regularity. Allow it to change your life for the better for the glory of God.
L’Edel ArVegil is a Christian born and raised in North Central Wisconsin. He serves his local church and school district by day, and works as an entrepreneur by night. His interest is in the theological study of philosophy, politics, and economics, as well as the integration of faith and work.
logoschole.com 