He that negotiates between God and man, as God's ambassador, the grand concerns of judgment and of mercy, should beware of lightness in his speech. William Cowper
I don’t practice what I preach because I’m not the kind of person I preach to. J Dobs
The first rule of public speaking. First, tell them what you're going to tell them; then tell them; then tell them what you've told them. Joyce Kramer
Preaching has become a by-word for a long and dull conversation of any kind, and whoever wishes to imply, in any piece of writing, the absence of everything agreeable and inviting, calls it a sermon. Sydney Smith
Christ beats his drum, but he does not press men; Christ is served with voluntaries. John Donne
Practice yourself what you preach. Titus Plautus
I preached as never sure to preach again and as a dying man to dying men. Richard Baxter
Spiritual leadership should remain spiritual leadership and the temporal power should not become too important in any church. Eleanor Roosevelt
The perfection preached in the gospels never yet built an empire. Every man of action has a strong dose of egotism, pride, hardness, and cunning. Charles DE Gaulle
A woman’s preaching is like a dog walking on his hind legs. It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all. Samuel Johnson
It is curious that Christianity, which is idealism, is sturdily defended by the brokers, and steadily attacked by the idealists. Emerson
A good sermon does not share tenderness, love, joy, or security; it only talks about them and the fear of not finding them; unless! Brendon Pullman
There are many preachers who don’t hear themselves. Proverb
We shall be judged more by what we do at home than what we preach abroad. John F. Kennedy
The preacher’s garment is cut according to the pattern of that of the hearers, for the most part. Oliver Wendell Holmes
It is a good divine that follows his own instructions; I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching. Shakespeare
The sermon which I write inquisitive of truth is good a year after, but that which is written because a sermon must be written is musty the next day. Emerson
Men use thought only to justify their wrong doings, and speech only to conceal their thoughts. Voltaire
Humility is a virtue all preach, non-practice, and yet everybody is content to hear. John Shelden
No preacher is listened to but time, which gives us the same train and turn of thought that elder people have in vain tried to put into our heads before. Jonathan Swift
Fit for the mountains and the barbarous caves, where manners ne'er were preached. Shakespeare
Among provocative, the next best thing to good preaching is bad preaching. Emerson
It is easy for a man in health to preach patience to the sick. Thomas Fuller
No one is without Christianity, if we agree on what we mean by the word. It is every individual’s individual code of behavior by means of which he makes himself a better human being than his nature wants to be, if he followed his nature only. William Faulkner
Sermons remain one of the last forms of public discourse where it is culturally forbidden to talk back. Harvey Cox
He that has but one word of God before him, and out of that word cannot make a sermon, can never be a preacher. Martin Luther
God gave man two ears and one tongue so that we listen twice as much as we speak. Proverb
God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. C S Lewis
The preaching of divines helps to preserve well-inclined men in the course of virtue, but seldom or ever reclaims the vicious. Jonathan Swift
When I am angry I can write, pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened, my understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and temptations depart. Martin Luther King
Always carry with you into the pulpit a sense of the immense consequences which may depend on your full and faithful presentation of the truth. Richard Storrs
Go into one of our cool churches, and begin to count the words that might be spared, and in most places the entire sermon will go. Emerson
In good speaking, should not the mind of the speaker know the truth of the matter about which he is to speak. Plato
What do our clergy lose by reading their sermons? They lose preaching, the preaching of the voice in many cases, the preaching of the eye almost always. Julius Charles Hare and Augustus William Hare
Finally: Three little ditties
Mine is a way that is little trod,
I am bound by no sect or creed;
I say my prayers to Nature’s God
In the field where the lapwings breed.
I hear the wind preach, and its Psalms are sung
In praise of the infinite free;
And ne’er a sermon from human tongue
Is half so divine unto me.
Ammon Wrigley
For the preacher's merit or demerit,
It were to be wished that the flaws were fewer
In the earthen vessel, holding treasure,
But the main thing is, does it hold good measure?
Heaven soon sets right all other matters!
Robert Browning
Oh Preacher, my Preacher, does God really care?
Are all races equal? Are laws just and fair?
“Boy; here’s the answer, no need to despair:
Shine those new shoes and cut short that hair.”
Oh don’t the days seem lank and long
When all goes right and none goes wrong,
And isn’t your life extremely flat
With nothing whatever to grumble at!
Unknown
