I love children, especially when they cry, for then someone takes them away. -Nancy Mitford

The trouble with children is that they are not returnable. -Quentin Crisp (grandchildren are!)

There is no torment like the inner torment of an

unforgiving spirit. It refuses to be soothed, it

refuses to be healed, it refuses to forget. -Charles R. Swindoll (1934- )

Permanence is the illusion of every age. - Mark Steyn

It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.- Alfred Adler, 1870 - 1937

There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great.- GK Chesterton

I sometimes drink mywhisky neat. Other times I take my tie off and leave my shirt hanging out - Tommy Cooper

A woman, especially if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can -Jane Austen

Comedy is the one job you can do badly and no one will laugh at you. - Max Miller

If you look at the troubles which happened in European countries, this is purely because of the accumulated troubles of the worn out welfare society. I think the labour laws are outdated. The labour laws induce sloth, indolence, rather than hardworking. The incentive system, is totally out of whack.Why should, for instance, within [the] eurozone some member's people have to work to 65, even longer, whereas in some other countries they are happily retiring at 55, languishing on the beach? This is unfair. The welfare system is good for any society to reduce the gap, to help those who happen to have disadvantages, to enjoy a good life, but a welfare society should not induce people not to work hard.-Jin Liqun, the supervising chairman of China's sovereign wealth fund, Talk to Al Jazeera, 06 Nov 2011

The new life is not implanted because man perceives the truth, but he perceives the truth because the new life is implanted. A man is not regenerated because he has first believed in Christ, but he believes in Christ because he has been regenerated. He is not regenerated because he first repents, but he repents because he has been regenerated. - William GT Shedd

The gospel is this: We are more sinful & flawed in ourselves than we ever dared to believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved & accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared to hope. This is the only kind of relationship that will really transform us. Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports & affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it. God’s saving love in Christ, however, is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are & yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us. — Timothy Keller

Fear not because you sometimes walk in darkness and have no light. Remember that you cannot understand the mind of the Lord, nor the meaning of His dealings. But when the clouds compass you about, believe in God as Daniel did; trust in the Lord Jesus at all times; sing to Him in the dungeon, as Paul and Silas; sing to Him even in the fire, as the three Hebrew children did; be sure, be very sure, he who believes shall never be ashamed.~ J.C. Ryle, Daniel Found Faithful

Christian maturity is not indicated by the infrequency of temptation but by the infrequency of succumbing to temptation.-Douglas Moo, James, Eerdmans, 2000, p. 76.

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions. - Albert Einstein, 1879 - 1955

The world's theology is easy to define. It is the view that
human beings are basically good, that no one is really lost,
that belief in Jesus Christ is not necessary for salvation.
Such capitulation is common in some church circles. When I was
speaking at [certain conferences], a section of my paper had to
do with human lostness. I discussed it as a motivation for
mission: we take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others because
they are lost without it. In every consultation, that point in
my paper aroused anger on the part of those listening. Some
were infuriated. Nearly all were dissatisfied. Each time, as I
moved into that section of the paper, people began to shift,
cough, move. When I finished, it was the part of the paper they
brought up for objection.- James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000), Foundation of the Christian Faith, InterVarsity Press, 1986, p. 674

What is worst of all is to advocate Christianity, not
because it is true, but because it might prove useful... To
justify Christianity because it provides a foundation of
morality, instead of showing the necessity of Christian
morality from the truth of Christianity, is a very dangerous
inversion; and we may reflect that a good deal of the attention
of totalitarian states has been devoted with a steadiness of
purpose not always found in democracies, to providing their
national life with a foundation of morality--the wrong kind,
perhaps, but a good deal more of it. It is not enthusiasm, but
dogma, that differentiates a Christian from a pagan society.-T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), The Idea of a Christian Society, London: Faber, 1939, reprint, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1960, p. 46-47

I won the nickname the great communicator. But I never thought it was my style that made a difference, it was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things. .- Ronald Reagan, 1911 - 2004

I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.- Ronald Reagan, 1911 - 2004

Lord, when the sense of Thy sweet grace

Sends up my soul to seek Thy face,

Thy blessed eyes breed such desire,

I die in love's delicious fire.

O Love! I am thy sacrifice,

Be still triumphant, blessed eyes;

Still shine on me, fair suns! that I

Still may behold though still I die.

Though still I die, I live again,

Still longing so to be still slain;

So gainful is such loss of breath,

I die even in desire of death.

Still live in me this loving strife

Of living death and dying life:

For while Thou sweetly slayest me,

Dead to myself, I live in Thee.

Richard Crashaw (1613-1649), The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, London: J. R. Smith, 1858, p. 204

Do you feel anything of the importance of being forgiven? Then, in the name of God, I call upon you to encourage that feeling more and more. This is the point to which we desire to bring all people's souls. We want you to understand that religion does not consist in professing certain opinions, and performing certain outward duties, and going through certain outward forms. It consists in being reconciled to God, and enjoying peace with Him. It consists in having our sins cleansed away, and knowing that they are cleansed. It consists in being brought back into friendship with the King of kings, and living in the sunshine of that friendship.

Do not listen to those who are inclined to persuade you that if you only "go to church" regularly you will go to heaven. Settle it rather in your mind, that true saving religion, such as the Bible teaches, is another kind of thing altogether. The very foundation of real Christianity is to know that you have many sins, and deserve hell - and to feel the importance of having these sins cleansed away, in order that you may go to heaven.~ J.C. Ryle, Old Paths, “Our Sins”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1999], 159, 160.

If the Lord should bring a wicked man to heaven, heaven would be hell to him; for he who loves not grace upon earth will never love it in heaven.-Christopher Love

Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end.-- Denis Waitley

To falter before the forces of life when the power of God is available is unfortunate and above all unnecessary.

-E. Ray Jones

Mankind, by the perverse depravity of their nature,

esteem that which they have most desired as of no

value the moment it is possessed, and torment

themselves with fruitless wishes for that

which is beyond their reach. -Francois Fenelon (1651-1715) _Telemaque_ [1699], Book XVIII

In spite of this prevailing tendency to conform, we

as Christians have a mandate to be nonconformists.

The Apostle Paul, who knew the inner realities of

the Christian faith, counseled, "Be not conformed

to this world: but be ye transformed by the

renewing of your mind."

We are called to be people of conviction, not

conformity; of moral nobility, not social

respectability. We are commanded to live

differently and according to a higher loyalty. -Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) _Strength To Love_ [1963], "Transformed Nonconformist"

If we get rid of the provision that the Heir to the Throne and the Monarch can’t marry a Catholic, we will undermine the link between the Monarchy and the Church of England which will threaten the establishment of the Church taking with it our last figleaf that we are a Christian country.- Ann Widdecomb

There are three important steps to take in preparation for a holy death. And these three principles should be practiced throughout life. (1) Expect that death will come knocking at your gates at any time; this will keep your priorities straight. (2) Value your time for it is the most precious possession you have. (3) Refrain from a soft and easy life; stress the holy life of self-discipline, labor, and alertness. Engage each day in self-examination. -Jeremy Taylor

We are dominated by a secular elite which hates Islam every bit as much it hates Christianity. This elite of atheists and metro-political despisers is also a cowardly elite and dare not attack Islam for fear of getting its corporate throat slit. But it finds it useful to invoke an allegedly outraged Islamic sensitivity in order to persecute the Christian faith - Peter Mullen

In 1550, the Genevan magistrates ordered ‘that the celebration of our Saviour’s nativity should be deferred [from 25 December] to the Sabbath-day following, and that there should be no other feast days, except...the Lord’s Day’ (Theodore Beza, ‘Life of Calvin’, Tracts and Letters, Banner of Truth, vol.1 pp.lv-lvi). ‘Calvin...did not think it worthwhile to make a quarrel about it’, says Beza.

It was a break with the practice of the other Reformed churches. Berne and Zurich observed Christmas—in fact, four major gospel ‘feasts’—and they were offended. Thus, on 2 January 1551, Calvin wrote to Bernese pastor, John Haller: the abolition of the feast days here has given grievous offence...I can solemnly testify that it was accomplished without my knowledge, and without my desire... Since my recall, I have pursued the moderate course of keeping Christ’s birth-day as you are wont to do... There were however...certain inflexible individuals who did not comply with the common custom from some perverse malice or other. Diversity would not be tolerated in a rightly constituted church... Yet there is no reason why men should be so much provoked, if we use our liberty as the edification of the church demands (Tracts and Letters, vol.5, pp.288-9). - Peter Naylor

As for the other festival days, we have removed them as much as possible from us, especially those which have been introduced through manifest idolatry... Nevertheless, because there are certain festivals devoted, since ancient times, to the celebration of certain mysteries concerning our redemption, we use Christian liberty, and submit all to edification, according to the different circumstances of places, times and persons’ Beza, The Christian Faith, 5.41).

And as we judge the celebration of the natal anniversary to be most pious and useful, still we think the precise observance of the 25th of December rests rather upon custom...than upon any apostolic command or example - Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, 1679-85, Topic 13, Q. 10, vol. 2, p.339).

You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy. - Eric Hoffer