John Bunyan Quotes

Men, even the elect, have too many infirmities to come to Christ without help from heaven; inviting will not do.

A tender heart is a wakeful, watchful heart. It watches against sin in the soul, sin in the family, sin in the calling, sin in spiritual duties and performances.

The kingdom of heaven is for the heirs - and if children, then heirs; if born again, then heirs. Wherefore it is said expressly, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. By this one word, down goes all carnal privilege of being born of flesh and blood, and of the will of man. Canst thou produce the birthright?

Great grace and small gifts are better than great gifts and no grace.

Our sins, when laid upon Christ, were yet personally ours, not his; so his righteousness, when put upon us, is yet personally his, not ours.

Fear, lest, by forgetting what you are by nature, you also forget the need that you have of continual pardon, support, and supplies from the Spirit of grace, and so grow proud of your own abilities, or of what you have received from God.

And, indeed, this is one of the greatest mysteries in the world; namely, that a righteousness that resides in heaven should justify me, a sinner on earth!

God, as I may say, is forced to break men's hearts, before he can make them willing to cry to him, or be willing that he should have any concerns with them; the rest shut their eyes, stop their ears, withdraw their hearts, or say unto God, Be gone.

He hath given me rest by His sorrow, and life by His death.

It is not the mouth that is the main thing to be looked at in prayer, but whether the heart is so full of affection and earnestness in prayer with God, that it is impossible to express their sense and desire; for then a man desires indeed, when his desires are so strong, many, and mighty, that all the words, tears, and groans that can come from the heart, cannot utter them.

I was never out of my Bible.

Yet my great-grandfather was but a water-man, looking one way and rowing another: and I got most of my estate by the same occupation.

Run when I can, walk when I cannot run, and creep when I cannot walk.

What a fool, quoth he, am I, thus to lie in a stinking dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a key in my bosom, called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle.

It is said that in some countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit because there is no winter there.

To seek yourself in this world is to be lost; and to be humble is to be exalted.

Hope is never ill when faith is well.

He that comes to Christ cannot, it is true, always get on as fast as he would. Poor coming soul, thou art like the man that would ride full gallop whose horse will hardly trot. Now the desire of his mind is not to be judged of by the slow pace of the dull jade he rides on, but by the hitching and kicking and spurring as he sits on his back. Thy flesh is like this dull jade, it will not gallop after Christ, it will be backward though thy soul and heaven lie at stake.

He that is down needs fear no fall. He that is low, no pride; He that is humble, ever shall have God to be his Guide.

An idle man's brain is the devil's workshop.

Nae man can tether time nor tide.

It is profitable for Christians to be often calling to mind the very beginnings of grace with their souls.

Pray and read, read and pray; for a little from God is better than a great deal from men.

I am content with what I have, little be it, or much.

No child of God sins to that degree as to make himself incapable of forgiveness.

If you release me today, I'll preach tomorrow.

All that the Father giveth me SHALL COME... Here, therefore, the Lord Jesus positively determineth to put forth such a sufficiency of all grace as shall effectually perform this promise. They shall come; that is, he will CAUSE them to come, by infusing of an effectual blessing into all the means that shall be used to that end.

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and they that lack the beginning have neither middle nor end

[Mr. Gifford] made it much his business to deliver the people of God from all those false and unsound rests that by nature we are prone to make and take to our souls. He pressed us to take special heed that we took not up any truth upon trust - as from this or that, or any other man or men - but to cry mightily to God that He would convince us of the reality thereof, and set us down therein by his own Spirit in the holy word.

Take heed of driving so hard after this world, as to hinder thyself and family from those duties towards God, which thou art by grace obliged to; as private prayer, reading the scriptures, and Christian conference. It is a base thing for men so to spend themselves and families after this world, as that they disengage their heart to God's worship.

God speaks once, yea twice, yet Man perceiveth it not, in a Dream, in a Vision of the night, when deep Sleep falleth upon men, in slumbering upon the bed. We need not, when abed, to lie awake to talk with God, he can visit us while we sleep, and cause us then to hear his Voice. Our heart oft-times wakes when we sleep, and God can speak to that, either by words, by proverbs, by signs and similitudes, as well as if one was awake

Sleep is sweet to the labouring man.

If thou hast sinned, lie not down without repentance; for the want of repentance, after one has sinned, makes the heart yet harder and harder.

Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.

There is a warning here for true pilgrims. Beware of the talker, but also be careful not to judge too quickly those whom God has blessed with both genuine grace and a fluency to speak of divine mercy in ways more eloquent than others. The proof is in the life-not a perfect life, but a life that both delights in divine truth and magnifies God, the only giver of the sovereign grace that always produces the truly fruitful, fragrant life.

Look how fears have presented themselves, so have supports and encouragements; yea, when I have started, even as it were at nothing else but my shadow, yet God, as being very tender of me, hath suffered me to be molested, but would with one Scripture or another, strengthen me against all; insomuch that I have often said, Were it awful, I could pray for greater trouble, for the greater comfort's sake.

Sincerity carries the soul in all simplicity to open its heart to God.

In times of affliction we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God.

I could not be satisfied unless some fruits did appear in my work.

There can be but one will the master in our salvation, but that shall never be the will of man, but of God; therefore man must be saved by grace.

Thou art beaten that thou mayest be better.

He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day.

There is no way to kill a man's righteousness but by his own consent.

He who bestows his goods upon the poor shall have as much again, and ten times more.

The life blood streaming thro' my heart, Or my more dear immortal part, Is not more fondly dear.

The name of the Slough was Despond.

Christians are like the several flowers in a garden that have each of them the dew of heaven, which, being shaken with the wind, they let fall at each other's roots, whereby they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other.

Some said, "John, print it"; others said "Not so." Some said, "It might do good"; others said, "No."