Quotes

Made with Neocities and Phoenix Code

I have a collection of quotes that inspire me and remind me of my own values and priorities.

Bible Passages

I've been very familiar with the Bible since I was young. I took a lot of its teachings to heart and my disappointment and frustration with conservative Christians around me, plus studying the Bible academically in college, led me to the radical leftist universalist Christianity that I find solace and meaning in today. I know other translations are better but I prefer the NIV just because that's what I grew up with.

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
(Isaiah 1:17)

This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
(Jer. 22:3)

Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker,
but those who are kind to the needy honor him.
(Proverbs 14:31, NRSV)

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Matt. 5:3-10)

He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
(Matt. 12:48-50)

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
(Matt. 25:35-36)

"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
He will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'"
(Matt. 25:44-45)

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
(Mark 9:24, KJV)

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.
(Mark 12:30-31)

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
(Luke 4:18-19; Jesus qting Isaiah 61:1-2)

Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
(Romans 13:8)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
(1 John 4:7-8)

Love

Ain’t no such thing as I can hate anybody and hope to see God’s face.
(Fannie Lou Hamer)

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.
(Thomas Merton)

I have sometimes wondered if the greatest desire of man is to be known and loved anyway.
(Donald Miller)

To feel the intimacy of brothers is a marvelous thing in life. To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our life. But to feel the affection that comes from those whom we do not know, from those unknown to us, who are watching over our sleep and solitude, over our dangers and our weaknesses — that is something still greater and more beautiful because it widens out the boundaries of our being, and unites all living things.
(Pablo Neruda)

Solidarity

While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.
(Eugene Debs)

However independent I may imagine myself to be, however far removed I may appear from mundane considerations by my social status, I am enslaved to the misery of the meanest member of society.
(Bakunin)

The gospel of Jesus is not a rational concept to be explained in a theory of salvation, but a story about God’s presence in Jesus’ solidarity with the oppressed, which led to his death on the cross. What is redemptive is the faith that God snatches victory out of defeat, life out of death, and hope out of despair.
(James Cone)

Because whatever has happened to humanity, whatever is currently happening to humanity, it is happening to all of us. No matter how hidden the cruelty, no matter how far off the screams of pain and terror, we live in one world. We are one people.
(Alice Walker)

Taking Action

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

When a cause comes along and you know in your bones that it is just, yet refuse to defend it—at that moment you begin to die. And I have never seen so many corpses walking around talking about justice
(Mumia Abu-Jamal)

To cast one’s eyes heavenward away from the sufferings of the world is an act of idolatry, for Jesus says he is present in the stranger.
(Maki Ashe Van Steenwyk)

On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.
(MLK)

Struggle so that all may live this rich, overflowing life. And be sure that in this struggle you will find a joy greater than anything else can give.
(Peter Kropotkin)