Quotes about Prayer

A prayer may chance to rise from whose heart lives in the grace of God. A prayer from any other is unheeded. Dante 

We all have our prayer-wheels which were set up on the steppes. The indifferent winds come and carry most of them away to gasp out their little lives in the desert, for few reach heaven. Learned Hand

Immortal gods, I crave no pelf; I pray for no man but myself; Grant I may never prove so fond, to trust man on his oath or bond. William Shakespeare

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body; the soul is on its knees. Victor Hugo

Complaint is the largest tribute heaven receives, and the sincerest part of our devotion. Jonathan Swift 

In case of atomic attack, the federal ruling against prayer in schools will be temporarily cancelled. Unknown

Prayers are to men as dolls are to children. They are not without use and comfort, but it is not easy to take them very seriously. Samuel Butler

More than any time in history, mankind now faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly. Woody Allen

It is in vain to expect our prayers to be heard, if we do not strive as well. Aesop

Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the double lock will keep; may no brick through the window break and, no one rob me till I awake. Walt Kelly

O thou child of many prayers! Life hath quicksands; life hath snares! Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Prayer is the little implement through which men reach where presence is denied them. Emily Dickinson 

So remember, when you’re feeling very small and insecure, how amazingly unlikely is your birth; and pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere out in space, cause there’s b--r all down here on Earth! Song Lyric

Prayer, among sane people, has never superseded practical efforts to secure the desired end. George Santayana 

Some people pray for more than they are willing to work for. John Billings 

The success of any venture will be helped by prayer, even in the wrong denomination. Anonymous 

Pray that success will not come any faster than you are able to endure it. Elbert Hubbard

Prayer is a strong will and fortress of the church; it is a goodly Christian’s weapon. Martin Luther 

Let him who gropes painfully in darkness or uncertain light, and prays vehemently that the dawn may ripen into day, lay this precept well to heart: "Do the duty which lies nearest to thee," which thou know to be a duty! Thy second duty will already have become clearer. Thomas Carlyle

Affliction teaches a wicked person sometimes to pray; prosperity never. Ben Jonson

What are men better than sheep or goats that nourish a blind life within the brain if knowing God; they lift not hands of prayer both for themselves and those who call them friend? Alfred Lord Tennyson

Marriage is the only evil that men pray for. Unknown

The true laws of God are the laws of our own well-being. Samuel Butler

Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. Emerson

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. Marcus Aurelius 

The soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. Douglas MacArthur

Today any successful and competent businessman will employ the latest and best tested methods in production, distribution, and administration, and many are discovering that one of the greatest of all efficiency methods is prayer power. Norman Peal

Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is god whom you must ask to attend to them. Unknown

God waits to win back his own flowers as gifts from man’s hands. Tagore

Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. Mahatma Gandhi

We offer up prayers to god only because we have made him after our own image. We treat him like a pasha, or a sultan, who is capable of being exasperated and appeased. Voltaire

It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain for himself. Epicurus 

Men say they are of the same religion for quietness sake; but if the matter were well examined, you would scarce find three anywhere of the same religion in all points. John Selden 

None can pray well but he that lives well. Thomas Fuller

Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action. Mohandas Gandhi

How ready is heaven to those that pray? Ben Jonson

Do not pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger men. John F. Kennedy

Prayer as a means to affect a private end is theft and meanness. Emerson 

The prayer of the agnostic: O God, if there is a God, save my soul if I have a soul. Unknown

In prayer we call ourselves “worms of the dust” but it is only on a sort of tacit understanding that the remark shall not be taken as par. Mark Twain

Pray to God, but keep rowing to shore. Proverb

We have just religion enough to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. Jonathan Swift

I never pray before meals; my mom’s a good cook. Unknown

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; words without thoughts never to heaven go. Shakespeare 

He worships God who knows him. Seneca

Morris had been down on his luck for months, and, though not a devoutly religious man had begun to visit the local synagogue to ask God’s help. One week, out of desperation, he prayed, “God, I’ve been a good and decent man all my life. Would it be so terrible if you let me win the lottery just once?”   The despondent fellow returned week after week. One day, Morris, nearly hopeless now, prayed, “God, I've never asked you for anything before. I just want to win one little lottery.”  As he dejectedly rose to leave, God’s voice boomed, “Morris, at least meet me halfway on this. Buy a ticket!”  Unknown

Quotes about Wants and Desire

Desire

How few are our real wants, and how easy is it to satisfy them? Our imaginary ones are boundless and insatiable. Julius Charles and Augustus William Hare

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. John Cage

Those desires that do not bring pain if they are not satisfied are not necessary; and they are easily thrust aside whenever to satisfy them appears difficult or likely to cause injury. Epicurus  

Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods. Socrates

The superiority of the distant over the present is only due to the mass and variety of the pleasures that can be suggested, compared with the poverty of those that at any time can be felt. George Santayana 

Man belongs wherever he wants to go. Scot Joplin

No living being is held by anything so strongly as by its own needs. Whatever therefore appears a hindrance to these, be it brother, or father, or mistress, or friend, is hated, abhorred, and execrated. Epictetus

The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. Theodore Roosevelt

I mean by a picture a beautiful romantic dream of something that never was, never will be;  in a light better than any light that ever shone;  in a land no one can define or remember, only desire’ and the forms divinely beautiful.  Edward Burne-Jones

I treasure this strange combination found in very few persons: a fierce desire for life as well as a lucid perception of the ultimate futility of the quest. Madeleine Gobeil

The constant demands of the heart and the belly can allow man only an incidental indulgence in the pleasures of the eye and the understanding. George Santayana 

Man’s unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in. Sydney J Harris

Some might consider him as too fond of fame; for the desire of glory clings even to the best men longer than any other passion. Tacitus

Conscious is when you are aware of something and conscience is when you wish you weren’t. Terry Wimpole  

I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves. Mary Wollstonecraft

It is hard to fight against impulsive desire; whatever it wants it will buy at the cost of the soul. Heraclitus 

There are certain people who so ardently and passionately desire a thing, that from dread of losing it they leave nothing undone to make them lose it. LA Bruyere 

I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love.  Edward, Duke of Windsor

I wish, by the way, that I knew who separated time from eternity; there seems only one thing to me, and I always feel that I am in eternity. Georgiana Burne-Jones 

Since the creation of the world there has been no tyrant like intemperance, and no slave cruelly treated as his. William Lloyd Garrison 

Understanding human needs is half the job of meeting them. Adlai Stevenson 

It is much easier to extinguish a first desire than to satisfy those which follow it. LA Rochefoucauld 

If you do not wish a man to do a thing, you had better get him to talk about it; for the more men talk, the more likely they are to do nothing else. Thomas Carlyle

It is equally bad when one speeds on the guest unwilling to go, and when he holds back one who is hastening. Rather one should befriend the guest who is there, but speed him when he wishes.  Homer

If you desire many things, many things will seem but a few. Benjamin Franklin 

Thieves respect property; they merely wish the property to become their property so that they may more perfectly respect it. Gilbert K Chesterton

We do not wish ardently for what we desire only through reason. LA Rochefoucauld 

Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish. Quintilian

What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the wish to find out, which are exact opposites. Bertrand Russell 

He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence. William Blake

You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however. Richard Bach

Other people’s appetites easily appear excessive when one doesn't share them. Andre Gide 

Often, the thing we pursue most passionately is but a substitute for the one thing we really want and cannot have. Eric Hoffer 

Men take only their needs into consideration; never their abilities. Napoleon 

When a man has been intemperate so long that shame no longer paints a brush upon his cheek, his liquor generally does it instead. George Dennison Prentice 

All impediments in fancy’s course are motives of more fancy. Shakespeare 

Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion, and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy. Samuel Johnson

Appetite is an instinct thoughtfully implanted by providence as a solution to the labor question. Ambrose Bierce 

Needs must where the Devil drives. Proverb