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Quotes about prayer

52 quotes from 42 people

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I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.
John Adams1735–1826On the White House, in a letter to Abigail Adams (2 November 1800)
- Presidency
Prayer is the spirit speaking truth to Truth.
Philip James Bailey1816–1902Festus (1839)
Any heart turned Godward feels more joy
In one short hour of prayer, than e’er was raised
By all the feasts of earth since its foundation.
Philip James Bailey1816–1902Festus (1839)
- Happiness
It is not well for a man to pray, cream; and live, skim milk.
Henry Ward Beecher1813–1887Life Thoughts (1858), p. 64
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
The Bible (King James Version)Psalms (1611), Psalm 19:14 (KJV)In context
- God
Pray, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.
Ambrose Bierce1842–1914The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
- Anti-Religion
An angry man is unfit to pray.
NBNachman of Bratslav
- Anger
Before reciting his prayers, a man should give to charity.
NBNachman of Bratslav
- Charity
Every wish
Is like a prayer⁠—with God.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning1806–1861Aurora Leigh (1857), Bk. II
God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers,
And thrusts the thing we have prayed for in our face,
A gauntlet with a gift in’t.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning1806–1861Aurora Leigh (1857), Bk. II, l. 952
- God
The ceremony of lifting up our hands in prayer is designed to remind us that we are far removed from God, unless our thoughts rise upward.
John Calvin1509–1564Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536; 1559), Book 3, Chapter 20, Section 5
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge1772–1834The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798), Part VIIIn context
- Animals
- God
Prayer is petition, intercession, adoration, and contemplation; great saints and mystics have agreed on this definition. To stop short at petition is to pray only in a crippled fashion.
Robertson Davies1913–1995A Voice from the Attic (1960)
Batter my heart, three-person’d God; for you
As yet but knock; breathe, shine, and seek to mend
John Donne1572–1631Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God (1633)In context
- God
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,⁠—
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings⁠—
I know why the caged bird sings!
Paul Laurence Dunbar1872–1906Sympathy (1899)In context
- Freedom