Quotes about Faith

Scientists were rated as great heretics by the church, but they were truly religious men because of their faith in the orderliness of the universe.

Albert Einstein

When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.

Anais Nin

Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.

Blaise Pascal

This is what I believe That I am I. That my soul is a dark forest. That my known self will never be more than a little clearing in the forest. That gods, strange gods, come forth from the forest into the clearing of my known self, and then go back. That I must have the courage to let them come and go. That I will never let mankind put anything over me, but that I will try always to recognize and submit to the gods in me and the gods in other men and women. There is my creed.

D. H. Lawrence

Disillusion comes only to the illusioned. One cannot be disillusioned of what one never put faith in.

Dorothy Thompson

The only force that can overcome an idea and a faith is another and better idea and faith, positively and fearlessly upheld.

Dorothy Thompson

Democracy is itself, a religious faith. For some it comes close to being the only formal religion they have.

E. B. White

Faith is not belief. Belief is passive. Faith is active.

Edith Hamilton

Whoso loves, believes the impossible.

Elizabeth Barret Browning

To sit patiently with a yearning that has not yet been fulfilled, and to trust that, that fulfillment will come, is quite possibly one of the most powerful "magic skills" that human beings are capable of. It has been noted by almost every ancient wisdom tradition.

Elizabeth Gilbert

We have not lost faith, but we have transferred it from God to the medical profession.

George Bernard Shaw

The brute necessity of believing something so long as life lasts does not justify any belief in particular.

George Santayana

A garden is evidence of faith. It links us with all the misty figures of the past who also planted and were nourished by the fruits of their planting.

Gladys Taber

We do not believe in immortality because we can prove it, but we try to prove it because we cannot help believing it.

Harriet Martineau

The faith of a church or of a nation is an adequate faith only when it inspires and enables people to give of their time and energy to shape the various institutions -- social, economic, and political -- of the common life.

James Luther Adams

I have one life and one chance to make it count for something . . . I'm free to choose what that something is, and the something I've chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands -- this is not optional -- my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.

Jimmy Carter

Faith is not contrary to the usual ideas, something that turns out to be right or wrong, like a gambler's bet it's an act, an intention, a project, something that makes you, in leaping into the future, go so far, far, far ahead that you shoot clean out of time and right into Eternity, which is not theend of time or a whole lot of time or unending time, but timelessness, the old Eternal Now.

Joanna Russ

Unthinking faith is a curious offering to be made to the creator of the human mind.

John A. Hutchinson

Beth could not reason upon or explain the faith that gave her courage and patience to give up life, and cheerfully wait for death. Like a confiding child, she asked no questions, but left everything to God and nature, Father and Mother of us all, feeling sure that they, and they only, could teach and strengthen heart and spirit for this life and the life to come.

Louisa May Alcott

My faith has been the driving thing of my life. I think it is important that people who are perceived as liberals not be afraid of talking about moral and community values.

Marian Wright Edelman

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.

Marian Wright Edelman

Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.

Mary McLeod Bethune

It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Faith as ultimate concern is an act of the total personality. It happens in the center of the personal life and includes all its elements. Faith is the most centered act of the human mind. It is not a movement of a special section or a special function of (our) total being. They all are united in the act of faith.

Paul Tillich

I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels.

Pearl S. Buck

When men destroy their old gods they will find new ones to take their place.

Pearl S. Buck

There are no creeds in mathematics.

Peter F. Drucker

A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime, Therefore, we are saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; Therefore, we are saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone. Therefore, we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite a virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own; Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

Reinhold Niebuhr

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

Thomas Jefferson

To choose what is difficult all one's days, as if it were easy, that is faith.

W. H. Auden

Scientists were rated as great heretics by the church, but they were truly religious men because of their faith in the orderliness of the universe.

Albert Einstein

When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.

Anais Nin

Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.

Blaise Pascal

This is what I believe That I am I. That my soul is a dark forest. That my known self will never be more than a little clearing in the forest. That gods, strange gods, come forth from the forest into the clearing of my known self, and then go back. That I must have the courage to let them come and go. That I will never let mankind put anything over me, but that I will try always to recognize and submit to the gods in me and the gods in other men and women. There is my creed.

D. H. Lawrence

Disillusion comes only to the illusioned. One cannot be disillusioned of what one never put faith in.

Dorothy Thompson

The only force that can overcome an idea and a faith is another and better idea and faith, positively and fearlessly upheld.

Dorothy Thompson

Democracy is itself, a religious faith. For some it comes close to being the only formal religion they have.

E. B. White

Faith is not belief. Belief is passive. Faith is active.

Edith Hamilton

Whoso loves, believes the impossible.

Elizabeth Barret Browning

To sit patiently with a yearning that has not yet been fulfilled, and to trust that, that fulfillment will come, is quite possibly one of the most powerful "magic skills" that human beings are capable of. It has been noted by almost every ancient wisdom tradition.

Elizabeth Gilbert

We have not lost faith, but we have transferred it from God to the medical profession.

George Bernard Shaw

The brute necessity of believing something so long as life lasts does not justify any belief in particular.

George Santayana

A garden is evidence of faith. It links us with all the misty figures of the past who also planted and were nourished by the fruits of their planting.

Gladys Taber

We do not believe in immortality because we can prove it, but we try to prove it because we cannot help believing it.

Harriet Martineau

The faith of a church or of a nation is an adequate faith only when it inspires and enables people to give of their time and energy to shape the various institutions -- social, economic, and political -- of the common life.

James Luther Adams

I have one life and one chance to make it count for something . . . I'm free to choose what that something is, and the something I've chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands -- this is not optional -- my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.

Jimmy Carter

Faith is not contrary to the usual ideas, something that turns out to be right or wrong, like a gambler's bet it's an act, an intention, a project, something that makes you, in leaping into the future, go so far, far, far ahead that you shoot clean out of time and right into Eternity, which is not theend of time or a whole lot of time or unending time, but timelessness, the old Eternal Now.

Joanna Russ

Unthinking faith is a curious offering to be made to the creator of the human mind.

John A. Hutchinson

Beth could not reason upon or explain the faith that gave her courage and patience to give up life, and cheerfully wait for death. Like a confiding child, she asked no questions, but left everything to God and nature, Father and Mother of us all, feeling sure that they, and they only, could teach and strengthen heart and spirit for this life and the life to come.

Louisa May Alcott

My faith has been the driving thing of my life. I think it is important that people who are perceived as liberals not be afraid of talking about moral and community values.

Marian Wright Edelman

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.

Marian Wright Edelman

Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.

Mary McLeod Bethune

It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Faith as ultimate concern is an act of the total personality. It happens in the center of the personal life and includes all its elements. Faith is the most centered act of the human mind. It is not a movement of a special section or a special function of (our) total being. They all are united in the act of faith.

Paul Tillich

I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels.

Pearl S. Buck

When men destroy their old gods they will find new ones to take their place.

Pearl S. Buck

There are no creeds in mathematics.

Peter F. Drucker

A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime, Therefore, we are saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; Therefore, we are saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone. Therefore, we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite a virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own; Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

Reinhold Niebuhr

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

Thomas Jefferson

To choose what is difficult all one's days, as if it were easy, that is faith.

W. H. Auden

Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand.

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

Saint Augustine

Faith is spiritualized imagination.

Henry Ward Beecher

Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.

Henry Ward Beecher

Your faithfulness makes you trustworthy to God.

Edwin Louis Cole

To me faith means not worrying.

John Dewey

Reason is our soul's left hand, faith her right.

John Donno

Faith is reason grown courageous.

Sherwood Eddy

He who has faith has... an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well - even though to the world it may appear to come out most badly.

B.C. Forbes

Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch.

E.M. Forster

Nor shall derision prove powerful against those who listen to humanity or those who follow in the footsteps of divinity, for they shall live forever. Forever.

Kahlil Gibran

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.

Kahlil Gibran

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.

Martin Luther

In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.

Blaise Pascal

Faith and doubt both are needed - not as antagonists, but working side by side to take us around the unknown curve.

Lilian Smith

As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.

Emmanuel Teney

I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.

Mother Teresa

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

Mother Teresa

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.

Voltaire

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.

Elie Wiesel

Faith is a passionate intuition.

William Wordsworth