John Calvin Quotes

I have not so great a struggle with my vices, great and numerous as they are, as I have with my impatience. My efforts are not absolutely useless; yet I have never been able to conquer this ferocious wild beast.

In vain people busy themselves with finding any good of man's own in his will. For any mixture of the power of freewill that men strive to mingle with God's grace is nothing but a corruption of grace. It is just as if one were to dilute wine with muddy, bitter water.

The happiness promised us in Christ does not consist in outward advantages-such as leading a joyous and peaceful life, having rich possessions, being safe from all harm, and abounding with delights such as the flesh commonly longs after. No, our happiness belongs to the heavenly life!

It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor.

When God designs to forgive us he changes our hearts and turns us to obedience by His Spirit.

God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us - as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray.

It is a most blessed thing to be subject to the sovereignty of God.

Our true and genuine wisdom can be summed up as the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves.

We must always speak of the efficacy of the ministry in such a manner that the entire praise of the work may be reserved for God alone.

Again I ask whence it happened that the fall of Adam involved, without remedy, in eternal death so many nations, together with their infant children, except because it so seemed good to God? A decree horrible, I confess, and yet true.

A man will be justified by faith when, excluded from righteousness of works, he by faith lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, and clothed in it, appears in the sight of God not as a sinner, but as righteous.

Though Satan instils his poison, and fans the flames of our corrupt desires within us,we are yet not carried by any external force to the commission of sin, but our own flesh entices us, and we willingly yield to its allurements.

The one condition for spiritual progress is that we remain sincere and humble.

The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life.

Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.

I don't need to compromise my principles, because they don't have the slightest bearing on what happens to me anyway.

At this day . . . the earth sustains on her bosom many monster minds, minds which are not afraid to employ the seed of Deity deposited in human nature as a means of suppressing the name of God. Can anything be more detestable than this madness in man, who, finding God a hundred times both in his body and his soul, makes his excellence in this respect a pretext for denying that there is a God? He will not say that chance has made him different from the brutes; . . . but, substituting Nature as the architect of the universe, he suppresses the name of God.

My heart I give you, Lord, eagerly and entirely.

In our good works nothing is our own.

For astronomy is not only pleasant, but also very useful to be known: it cannot be denied that this art unfolds the admirable wisdom of God.

There is no group or type of people anywhere in the world that is excluded from salvation, because God desires that the gospel be proclaimed to all without exception.

The door is closed to prayer unless it is opened with the key of trust.

Man with all his shrewdness is as stupid about understanding by himself the mysteries of God, as an ass is incapable of understanding musical harmony.

For what is idolatry if not this: to worship the gifts in place of the Giver himself?

Wherever we find the Word of God surely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, there, it is not to be doubted, is a church of God.

All our words ought to be filled with true sweetness and grace; and this will be so if we mingle the useful with the sweet.

Sometimes it seems things go by too quickly. We are so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take the time to enjoy where we are.

Faith and hope...are the wings by which our souls, rising above the world, are lifted up to God.

In knowing God, each of us also knows himself.

Tears that are shed in time of affliction are rarely tears of penitence, but more likely they are shed out of self pity and pain or sorrow.

Seeing that a Pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness.

They who prematurely put themselves forward to root out whatever is displeasing to them overthrow the judgment of God and rashly intrude upon the office of angels.

When pain and suffering strike, our faith is well founded if it is standing on the promises of God. For all of God's promises have strong confirmation in Christ.

There is no knowing that does not begin with knowing God.

Unless men establish their complete happiness in God, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him.

Is it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church?

In a way, the futile excuses many people use to cover their superstitions are demolished. They think it is enough to have some sort of religious fervor, however ridiculous, not realizing that true religion must be according to God's will as the perfect measure; that He can never deny Himself and is no mere spirit form to be changed around according to individual preference.

Let us fall before the majesty of our great God, acknowledging our faults, and praying that he will make us ever more conscious of them.

Assuredly there is but one way in which to achieve what is not merely difficult but utterly against human nature: to love those who hate us, to repay their evil deeds with benefits, to return blessings for reproaches. It is that we remember not to consider men's evil intention but to look upon the image of God in them, which cancels and effaces their transgressions, and with its beauty and dignity allures us to love and embrace them.

No Task will be so sordid and base, provided you obey your calling in it, that it will not shine and be reckoned very precious in God's sight.

Scripture is like a pair of spectacles which dispels the darkness and gives us a clear view of God.

To 'justify' means nothing else than to acquit of guilt him (her) who was accused as if his own innocence were confirmed.

The human heart is a factory of idols...Everyon e of us is, from his mother's womb, expert in inventing idols.

Only those who have learned well to be earnestly dissatisfied with themselves, and to be confounded with shame at their wretchedness truly understand the Christian gospel.

Integrity is the best of all protectors...we cannot be more secure than when fortified by a good conscience.

It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone.

Prayer unaccompanied by perseverance leads to no result.

Nothing, including human suffering, happens by chance.