Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object.

until the theologians and the ordained clergy begin to communicate with ordinary people in the vernacular, in a way that they can understand, I’m going to have to do this sort of thing.

Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.

Without sin, the universe is a Solemn Game: and there is no good game without rules.

Mere change is not growth. Growth is the synthesis of change and continuity, and where there is no continuity there is no growth.

I was driven to Whipsnade one sunny morning. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did. Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought. Nor in great emotion. “Emotional” is perhaps the last word we can apply to some of the most important events. It was more like when a man, after a long sleep, still lying motionless in bed, becomes aware that he is now awake.