To understand the power of the priesthood, we must know its limitations.

There was something undifferentiated and yet complete, which existed before Heaven and Earth. Soundless and formless, it depends on nothing and does not change. It operates everywhere and is free from danger. It may be considered the mother of the universe. I do not know its name; I call it Tao.

Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of prophets. He saw with open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it and had his being there. Alone in all history, he estimated the greatness of man.

What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man.

Religion can be the enemy of God. It’s often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building.

So let’s be honest with ourselves and not take ourselves too serious, and never condemn the other fellow for doing what we are doing every day, only in a different way.

When you really listen to another person from their point of view, and reflect back to them that understanding, it’s like giving them emotional oxygen.

I particularly admire are Mark Twain and Jerome K. Jerome who wrote in a certain tone of voice which was humane and understanding of humanity, but always ready to annotate its little foibles. I think I’d lay my cards down on that, and say that it’s that that I’m trying to do.

Humans are amphibians – half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.

It’s certainly not wrong to want to be a better person. God gave us that desire.

Women deeply want men who are competent and powerful. And I don’t mean power in that they can exert tyrannical control over others. That’s not power. That’s just corruption.

The man who can dominate a London dinner-table can dominate the world.

So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable.

Martyrs, my friend, have to choose between being forgotten, mocked or used. As for being understood – never.

If you are part of a religion that very strongly insists that you believe then to decide not to do that is quite a big hurdle to jump over. You never forget the thought process you went through. It becomes part of your whole intellectual picture.

All respect for the office of the presidency aside, I assumed that the obvious and unadulterated decline of freedom and constitutional sovereignty, not to mention the efforts to curb the power of judicial review, spoke for itself.

The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go.

We make the Sabbath a delight when we teach the gospel to our children.

I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander.

I thank God I’m myself and for the life I’m given to live and for friends and lovers and beloveds, and I thank God for knowing that all those people have already paid for me.

I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.

It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding.

The soul is your innermost being. The presence that you are beyond form. The consciousness that you are beyond form, that is the soul. That is who you are in essence.

The greatest thing in family life is to take a hint when a hint is intended-and not to take a hint when a hint isn’t intended.

It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace. When we understand the other fellow’s viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences.

I’m just hoping that people understand that Islam is peace and not violence.

One of my major keys is actually the master keys: God.

God is the name people give to the reason we are here. But I think that reason is the laws of physics rather than someone with whom one can have a personal relationship. An impersonal God.

Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.

The momentum of freedom in our world is unmistakable – and it is not carried forward by our power alone. We can trust in that greater power Who guides the unfolding of the years. And in all that is to come, we can know that His purposes are just and true.

I always was a Christian… whatsoever a man thinks in his heart is who he is.

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable.

If man made himself the first object of study, he would see how incapable he is of going further. How can a part know the whole?

Today I love myself as I love my god: who could charge me with a sin today? I know only sins against my god; but who knows my god?

But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people, and do our best to help them find their own grace. That’s what I strive to do, that’s what I pray to do every day.

A beautiful homily, a genuine sermon, must begin with the first proclamation, with the proclamation of salvation. There is nothing more solid, deep and sure than this proclamation.

God’s first line of defense – and offense – for every situation is prayer.

This is a wonderful planet, and it is being completely destroyed by people who have too much money and power and no empathy.

As I approached my 95th birthday, I was burdened to write a book that addressed the epidemic of ‚easy believism.‘ There is a mindset today that if people believe in God and do good works, they are going to Heaven.

The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.

Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.

If one by one we counted people out For the least sin, it wouldn’t take us long To get so we had no one left to live with. For to be social is to be forgiving.

The attempt to combine wisdom and power has only rarely been successful and then only for a short while.

There are two great forces, God’s force of good and the devil’s force of evil, and I believe Satan is alive and he is working, and he is working harder than ever, and we have many mysteries that we don’t understand.

Metaphysics means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly.

We have to continue to learn. We have to be open. And we have to be ready to release our knowledge in order to come to a higher understanding of reality.

I’m grateful for the evangelical resurgence we’ve seen across the world in the last half-century or so. It truly has been God’s doing.

Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.

Motives reveal why we do what we do, which is actually more important to God than what we’re doing.

They are resilient children, but they are children, and as much as they need help to understand the hard truths in life, they also need what we all need – protection and love.

I believe everyone should have a broad picture of how the universe operates and our place in it. It is a basic human desire. And it also puts our worries in perspective.

One of the greatest lessons of my own life was learning to turn the inner rampage of hatred and anger toward my own father for his reprehensible behavior and abandonment of his family into an inner reaction more closely aligned with God and God-realized love.

My experience with power, you can maintain it, or you get it taken from you. You get you some newfound power and go crazy, and it get taken from you quick.

What I cry out for, like every being, with my whole life and all my earthly passion, is something very different from an equal to cherish: it is a God to adore.

God always takes the simplest way.

I do not doubt that we would become more useful if we praised God more, and others would join us, for they would see that God has blessed us.

The great question of our time is, ‚Will we be motivated by materialistic philosophy or by spiritual power?‘

It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations. Precisely one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

My purpose is to help people look at themselves and begin to shift their concepts. Remember, we are not our country, our race, or religion. We are eternal spirits. Seeing ourselves as spiritual beings without label is a way to transform the world and reach a sacred place for all of humanity.