Prayer Quotes
But petitional prayer is only one department of prayer; and if we take the word in the wider sense as meaning every kind of inward communion or conversation with the power recognized as divine, we can easily see that scientific criticism leaves it untouched. Prayer in this wide sense is the very soul and essence of religion.
William James
Lord! Thou art with Thy people still; they see Thee in the night-watches, and their hearts burn within them as Thou talkest with them by the way. And Thou art near to those that have not known Thee; open their eyes that they may see Thee--see Thee weeping over them, and saying, "Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life"--see Thee hanging on the cross and saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"--see Thee as Thou wilt come again in Thy glory to judge them at the last. Amen.
George Eliot
A social order bent on producing wealth as an end in itself cannot avoid the creation of a people whose souls are superficial and whose daily life is captured by sentimentalities. They will ask questions like “why does a good God let bad things happen to good people ” such people cannot imagine that a people once existed who produced and sang the psalms. If we learn to say “God ” we will do so with the prayer “My God my God why have you forsaken me?
Stanley Hauerwas
Prayer is, for me, not an opportunity to ask God to do stuff for me. Prayer is an opportunity to open myself, to try and understand his will, and oftentimes it's a prayer of thanksgiving, and sometimes it's a prayer of supplication, and sometimes it is just worship.
Francis Collins
I've got a knife and I want to talk to you I've got a prayer and I want to carve it to you I've got no chance, that's why I'm looking to you O Lord, ride with me
Henry Rollins
Black Flag
Lord, for the erring thought
Not unto evil wrought:
Lord, for the wicked will
Betrayed, and baffled still:
For the heart from itself kept,
Our thanksgiving accept.
For ignorant hopes that were
Broken to our blind prayer:
For pain, death, sorrow, sent
Unto our chastisement:
For all loss of seeming good,
Quicken our gratitude.
William Dean Howells
Attentiveness is the natural prayer of the Soul.
Nicolas Malebranche
Prayer unaccompanied by perseverance leads to no result.
John Calvin
The man of prayer will be at peace with himself and with the whole world.
Mahatma Gandhi
And if by prayer Incessant I could hope to change the will Of Him who all things can, I would not cease To weary Him with my assiduous cries.
John Milton
Chamdi is always uncomfortable when he asks for something. Each morning, all the children collect in this prayer room and, instead of praying, they close their eyes and make demands. Chamdi does not feel this is real prayer. To him, real prayer means sending a bright thought, like "Thank you" or "I love you", too heaven. That is prayer. The moment you ask for something, the prayer room becomes a marketplace.
Anosh Irani
You are called to exercise the Spirit's gifts amidst the ups and downs of your daily life. Let your faith mature through your studies, work, sports, music and art. Let it be sustained by prayer and nurtured by the sacraments.
Pope Benedict XVI
