quotations about faith
For, no: not faith by fable lives,
But from the faith the fable springs
-- It never is the song that gives
Tongue life, it is the tongue that sings;
And sings the song.
ROBERT PENN WARREN
Love's Voice
Faith is like a floodlight that lights our path and provides illumination to our dark world.
MEL CURTISS
Inkspirations: Devotions for a Lifetime
Faith has not lost its power. The soul still enjoys this privilege of receiving inspiration from above. It is not the special prerogative of a few saints. It is the common right of all. It is not an occasional, exceptional gift. It is constant, continuous, the law of our being. It is not a miracle, interfering with the operations of the human soul. It is the condition of our soul's true life.
LYMAN ABBOTT
Old Testament Shadows of New Testament Truths
The want of faith, as well as faith itself, is best shewn by works. If a sceptic avoid the fire as much as those who believe it dangerous to go into it, we can hardly avoid thinking his scepticism to be feigned, and not real.
THOMAS REID
Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man
I'm wary of faith outside of actions. I'm wary of religiosity that ignores the wider world.
BONO
Rolling Stone, Nov. 3, 2005
Faith only shuts the eye of reason, not picks it out.
WILLIAM MCEWEN
Selected Essays Doctrinal & Practical
Christianity, just as much as Islam, teaches children that unquestioned faith is a virtue. You don't have to make the case for what you believe. If somebody announces that it is part of his faith, the rest of society, whether of the same faith, or another, or of none, is obliged, by ingrained custom, to "respect" it without question; respect it until the day it manifests itself in a horrible massacre like the destruction of the World Trade Center, or the London or Madrid bombings.
RICHARD DAWKINS
The God Delusion
If you hate anyone because of your faith, you're doing it wrong.
ANONYMOUS
Faith is reason denying absurdity in the face of the unknown.
WILLIAM BATCHELDER GREENE
The Blazing Star
Faith is not just something you have, it's something you do.
BARACK OBAMA
speech, Dec. 1, 2006
Faith comes in different tempers: there's the hard, brittle faith that shatters when it meets an obstacle it can't cut through, and the tough, springy faith that bounces off unchipped.
K. J. PARKER
Devices and Desires
They bring me faith like a closed package in someone else's plate. They want me to accept it so that I don't open it.
FERNANDO PESSOA
The Book of Disquiet
The discoveries of science have proved that the opinions concerning a firmament above, and a flat earth beneath, are completely inaccurate; but faith delights more in sublimity than truth; it soars far above science in its discoveries, and holds accuracy in contempt.
ETHAN ALLEN
Reason: The Only Oracle of Man
Faith, not Knowledge, builds for every man,
In his own spiritual consciousness,
The ultimate, bright Heaven of his hope,
The realm of joy, the goal of his desire.
No weaker hand can lead the errant soul
From Doubt's dark labyrinth into the light,
And up the starry heights whereon is God.
ANDREW DOWNING
"The Sphinx"
Faith was a longing that pretended to be a conviction.
IVAN KLIMA
Waiting for the Dark
Faith is an orientation of the total person, giving purpose and goal to one's hopes and strivings, thoughts and actions.
JAMES W. FOWLER
Stages of Faith
We may define "faith" as a firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of "faith". We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence. The substitution of emotion for evidence is apt to lead to strife, since different groups substitute different emotions.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
Human Society in Ethics and Politics
I have learned that faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse.
PHILIP YANCEY
Finding God in Unexpected Places
However logical our induction, the end of the thread is fastened upon the assurance of faith.
E. H. CHAPIN
Living Words
Great is his faith who dares believe his own eyes.
COVENTRY PATMORE
The Rod