“Only those who have learned well to be earnestly dissatisfied with themselves, and to be confounded with shame at their wretchedness truly understand the Christian gospel.”

Whomever the Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of His fellowship ought to prepare themselves for a hard, toilsome, and unquiet life, crammed with very many and various kinds of evil.

There is no group or type of people anywhere in the world that is excluded from salvation, because God desires that the gospel be proclaimed to all without exception.

You cannot imagine a more certain rule or a more powerful suggestion than this, that all the blessings we enjoy are divine deposits which we have received on this condition that we distribute them to others.

In knowing God, each of us also knows himself.

By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which He determined with Himself whatever He wished to happen with regard to every man

Nothing, including human suffering, happens by chance.

We are nowhere forbidden to laugh, or be satisfied with food or to be delighted with music or to drink wine.

Prayer unaccompanied by perseverance leads to no result.

The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life.

We cannot rely on God’s promises without obeying his commandments.

We may rest assured that God would never have suffered any infants to be slain except those who were already damned and predestined for eternal death.

When I took the leap, I had faith I would find a net; Instead I learned I could fly.

We should ask God to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and raise it up when it is overthrown.

Unless God’s Word illumine the way, the whole life of men is wrapped in darkness and mist, so that they cannot but miserably stray.

It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone.

Repentance is the true turning of our life to God, a turning that arises from a pure and earnest fear of Him; and it consists in the mortification of the flesh and the renewing of the Spirit.

It was only toward the middle of the twentieth century that the inhabitants of many European countries came, in general unpleasantly, to the realization that their fate could be influenced directly by intricate and abstruse books of philosophy.

I imagine the earth when I am no more: Women’s dresses, dewy lilacs, a song in the valley. Yet the books will be there on the shelves, well born, Derived from people, but also from radiance, heights.

Many books are longer than they seem. They have indeed no end. The boredom that they cause is truly absolute and infinite.

In the futile attempts we all make to tidy up our lives and our surroundings, nothing is more difficult than throwing out a book.

Most people don’t walk around the tools to process pain and fear, that kind of discomfort. In most cases, it’s unbearable to look at it, feel it, and/or address it. It’s why I’m such a fan of self-help books.

My mother gave me this book called Feature Films at Used Car Prices by a guy named Rick Schmidt. I gotta credit the guy, cuz he gave me the most practical advice. It empowers you.

Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.

Every beginning is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through.