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Faith quotes

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“Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.” Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in America” - 1835

“Nobody can always have devout feelings: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about.” C. S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity” - 1952

“Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” C. S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity” - 1952

“Faith does not, in the realist, spring from the miracle but the miracle from faith.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” - 1880

“It is in itself a kind of religion; it does not reason, but it acts from the impulse of faith and of sentiment.” Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in America” - 1835

“You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it.” Samuel Butler, “The Note-Books of Samuel Butler” - 1912

“FAITH, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.” Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil's Dictionary” - 1911

“Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.” Ronald Reagan, “State of the Union Address” - 25 January 1984

“I was an Agnostic. Agnostics didn't have much to argue about.” Charles Bukowski, “Ham on Rye” - 1982

“Faith creates nothing; it simply reckons upon that which is already there.” A. W. Tozer, “The Pursuit of God” - 1948

“Faith indeed tells what the senses do not tell, but not the contrary of what they see.” Blaise Pascal, “Pensées” - 1670

“Faith is believing what you know ain't so.” Mark Twain, “Following the Equator” - 1897

“believe in a love that is being stored up for you like and inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.” Rainer Maria Rilke, “Letters to a Young Poet” - 1929

“Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all.” G. K. Chesterton, “Orthodoxy” - 1908

“There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lay defeat and death.” Nelson Mandela, “Long Walk to Freedom” - 1995

“Man in his hunger for faith will feed his mind with the nearest and most convenient food.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, “This Side of Paradise” - 1920

“Unthread the rude eye of rebellion, and welcome home again discarded faith.” William Shakespeare, “King John” - 1623

“Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope.” Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick” - 1851

“Mere reason is insufficient to convince us of its veracity: And whoever is moved by Faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a...” David Hume, “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding” - 1748

“Paul makes it clear enough that it takes more than an Abrahamic pedigree to be a child of God. To be a child of God requires faith in Christ.” Martin Luther, “Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians” - 1535

“I find every sect, as far as reason will help them, make use of it gladly: and where it fails them, they cry out, It is matter of faith, and above reason.” John Locke, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” - 1689

“SCRIPTURES, n. The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.” Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil's Dictionary” - 1911

“For just as faith teaches us that the supreme felicity of the other life consists only in this contemplation of the Divine Majesty, so we continue to learn by experience that a similar meditation, though incomparably less perfect, causes us to...” René Descartes, “Meditations on First Philosophy” - 1641

“As Buddhists, while we practice our own teaching, we must respect other faiths, Christianity, Judaism, and so forth. We must recognize and appreciate their contributions over many past centuries to human society, and at this time we must strive...” 14th Dalai Lama, “Kindness, Clarity, and Insight” - 1984

“At your age we have faith in life; it is the privilege of youth to believe and hope, but old men see death more clearly.” Alexandre Dumas, “The Count of Monte Cristo” - 1845

“I believe that faith is a precursor of all our ideas. Without faith, there never could have evolved hypothesis, theory, science or mathematics. I believe that faith is an extension of the mind. It is the key that negates the impossible. To deny...” Charlie Chaplin, “My Autobiography” - 1964

“Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope.” Margaret Thatcher, “The Downing Street Years” - 1993

“Since faith rests upon infallible truth, and since the contrary of a truth can never be demonstrated, it is clear that the arguments brought against faith cannot be demonstrations, but are difficulties that can be answered.” Thomas Aquinas, “Summa Theologica” - 1274

“Faith is a miracle, and yet no man is excluded from it; for that in which all human life is unified is passion, and faith is a passion.” Søren Kierkegaard, “Fear and Trembling” - 1843

“Faith is the highest passion in a man. There are perhaps many in every generation who do not even reach it, but no one gets further.” Søren Kierkegaard, “Fear and Trembling” - 1843

“Philosophy cannot and should not give faith, but it should understand itself and know what it has to offer and take nothing away, and least of all should fool people out of something as if it were nothing.” Søren Kierkegaard, “Fear and Trembling” - 1843

“If this had not been the case with Abraham, then perhaps he might have loved God but not believed; for he who loves God without faith reflects upon himself, he who loves God believingly reflects upon God.” Søren Kierkegaard, “Fear and Trembling” - 1843

“The true knight of faith is a witness, never a teacher, and therein lies his deep humanity, which is worth a good deal more than this silly participation in others' weal and woe which is honored by the name of sympathy, whereas in fact it is...” Søren Kierkegaard, “Fear and Trembling” - 1843

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Fellowship of the Ring” - 1954

“Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of Heaven as a short cut to the nearest chemist's shop.” C. S. Lewis, “The Screwtape Letters” - 1942

“Supplication, worship, prayer are no superstition; they are acts more real than the acts of eating, drinking, sitting or walking. It is no exaggeration to say that they alone are real, all else is unreal.” Mahatma Gandhi, “The Story of my Experiments with Truth” - 1929

“A person who's happy will make others happy; a person who has courage and faith will never die in misery!” Anne Frank, “The Diary of a Young Girl” - 1947

“It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth looking at.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., “The Poet at the Breakfast-Table” - 1872

“reason is the greatest enemy that faith has” Martin Luther, “Table Talk” - 1566

“Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. . . . If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.” Blaise Pascal, “Pensées” - 1670

“I envy thee not thy faith, which is ever in thy mouth, but never in thy heart nor in thy practice.” Walter Scott, “Ivanhoe” - 1820

“unbelief is an accident, and faith is the only permanent state of mankind.” Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in America” - 1835

“It’s not God that I don’t accept, Alyosha, only I most respectfully return Him the ticket.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” - 1880

“Results aside, the ability to have complete faith in another human being is one of the finest qualities a person can possess.” Haruki Murakami, “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” - 1997

“Believe to the end, even if all men went astray and you were left the only one faithful; bring your offering even then and praise God in your loneliness.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” - 1880

“I must confess that I lost faith in the sanity of the world when I saw it suffering the painful disorder of this island.” H. G. Wells, “The Island of Doctor Moreau” - 1896

“He would have to learn the reality of a thing before he could put his faith into it.” Jack London, “White Fang” - 1906

“They said that I should lose my ideals and begin to believe in the methods of practical politicians. Now, I have not lost my ideals in the least; my faith in fundamentals is exactly what it always was. What I have lost is my old childlike faith...” G. K. Chesterton, “Orthodoxy” - 1908

“this is one of the most decisive definitions for all Christianity—that the opposite of sin is not virtue but faith.” Søren Kierkegaard, “The Sickness Unto Death” - 1849

Related topics

reason God reality hope religion love passion truth understanding belief miracle strength men death life food youth courage mind knowledge

Related authors

Søren Kierkegaard (6)
C. S. Lewis (3)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (3)
Alexis de Tocqueville (3)
G. K. Chesterton (2)
Martin Luther (2)
Ambrose Bierce (2)
Blaise Pascal (2)
William Shakespeare (1)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1)
Mark Twain (1)
Herman Melville (1)
Nelson Mandela (1)
H. G. Wells (1)
Jack London (1)
David Hume (1)
Mahatma Gandhi (1)
Walter Scott (1)
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1)
Samuel Butler (1)

Related sources

Fear and Trembling (5)
The Brothers Karamazov (3)
Democracy in America (3)
Mere Christianity (2)
The Devil's Dictionary (2)
Pensées (2)
Orthodoxy (2)
This Side of Paradise (1)
King John (1)
Moby-Dick (1)
Long Walk to Freedom (1)
State of the Union Address (1)
White Fang (1)
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1)
The Story of my Experiments with Truth (1)
Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (1)
Ivanhoe (1)
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1)
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1)
Meditations on First Philosophy (1)