John Henry Newman Quotes

Satan is inconsistent. He persuades a man not to go to a synagogue on a cold morning; yet when the man does go, he follows him into it.

Christ is already in that place of peace, which is all in all. He is on the right hand of God. He is hidden in the brightness of the radiance which issues from the everlasting throne. He is in the very abyss of peace, where there is no voice of tumult or distress, but a deep stillness--stillness, that greatest and most awful of all goods which we can fancy; that most perfect of joys, the utter profound, ineffable tranquillity of the Divine Essence. He has entered into His rest. That is our home; here we are on a pilgrimage, and Christ calls us to His many mansions which He has prepared.

It is seldom we have the heart to throw ourselves, if I may so speak, on the Divine Arm; we dare not trust ourselves on the waters, though Christ bids us. We have not St. Peter's love to ask leave to come to him upon the sea. When we once are filled with that heavenly charity, we can do all things, because we attempt all things - for to attempt is to do.

To be deep in history, is to cease to be Protestant.

Living Nature, not dull art Shall plan my ways and rule my Heart.

I shall drink to the Pope, if you please, still, to conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.

I wonder what day I shall die on - one passes year by year over one's death day, as one might pass over one's grave.

Regarding Christianity: Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.

Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not... We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.

Great things are done by devotion to one idea.

Religion indeed enlightens, terrifies, subdues; it gives faith, it inflicts remorse, it inspires resolutions, it draws tears, it inflames devotion, but only for the occasion.

There is a knowledge which is desirable, though nothing come of it, as being of itself a treasure, and a sufficient remuneration of years of labor.

True religion is slow in growth, and, when once planted, is difficult of dislodgement; but its intellectual counterfeit has no root in itself: it springs up suddenly, it suddenly withers.

There is such a thing as legitimate warfare: war has its laws; there are things which may fairly be done, and things which may not be done.

Reason is one thing and faith is another and reason can as little be made a substitute for faith, as faith can be made a substitute for reason.

With Christians, a poetical view of things is a duty. We are bid to color all things with hues of faith, to see a divine meaning in every event.

An academical system without the personal influence of teachers on pupils, is an arctic winter; it will create an icebound, petrified, cast-iron University, and nothing else.

When you feel in need of a compliment, give one to someone else.

By a garden is meant mystically a place of spiritual repose, stillness, peace, refreshment, delight.

The ears of the common people are holier than the hearts of the priests.

To discover and to teach are distinct functions; they are also distinct gifts, and are not commonly found united in the same person.

It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment but not in matters of conscience.

You must be patient, you must wait for the eye of the soul to be formed in you. Religious truth is reached, not by reasoning, but by an inward perception. Anyone can reason; only disciplined, educated, formed minds can perceive.

Prayer is to the spiritual life what the beating of the pulse and the drawing of the breath are to the life of the body.

A great memory does not make a mind, any more than a dictionary is a piece of literature.

A cloud of incense was rising on high; the people suddenly all bowed low; what could it mean? The truth flashed on him, fearfully yet sweetly; it was the Blessed Sacrament - it was the Lord Incarnate who was on the altar, who had come to visit and bless his people. It was the Great Presence, which makes a Catholic Church different from every other place in the world; which makes it, as no other place can be - holy.

All men have a reason, but not all men can give a reason.

Reason is God's gift, but so are the passions. Reason is as guilty as passion.