If nothing is self-evident, nothing can be proved. Similarly if nothing is obligatory for its own sake, nothing is obligatory at all.
Think of me as a fellow patient in the same hospital who, having been admitted a little earlier could give some advice.
If we only have the will to walk, then God is pleased with our stumbles.
There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.’
How could an idiotic universe have produced creatures whose mere dreams are so much stronger, better, subtler than itself?
It is not enough to want to get rid of one’s sins, we also need to believe in the One who saves us from our sins.
If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means that you are very conceited indeed.
Prayer does not change God; it changes me.
Forgive us as we forgive- we are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it is to refuse Gods mercy for ourselves.
God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself.
Many things, such as loving, going to sleep, or behaving unaffectedly – are done worst when we try hardest to do them.
The fact that our heart yearns for something Earth can’t supply is proof that Heaven must be our home.
If our deepest desires cannot be satisfied in this world, then we must have been made for another world.
You will not find the warrior, the poet, the philosopher or the Christian by staring into his eyes as if he were your mistress: better fight beside him, read with him, argue with him, pray with him.
I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.
Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.
We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.
Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.
The safest road to hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.