W. C. Fields, a lifetime agnostic, was discovered reading a Bible on his deathbed. “I’m looking for a loop-hole,” he explained.
—W. C. Fields (1880–1946) American Actor, Comedian, Writer
I call the book of Job, apart from all theories about it, one of the grandest things ever written with the pen.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
The Bible is a window in this prison of hope, through which we look into eternity.
—John Sullivan Dwight
There’s no better book with which to defend the Bible than the Bible itself.
—Dwight L. Moody (1837–99) Christian Religious Leader, Publisher
The Bible is the great family chronicle of the Jews.
—Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German Poet, Writer
There never was found in any age of the world, either philosophy, or sect, or religion, or law, or discipline, which did so highly exalt the good of the community, and increase private and particular good as the holy Christian faith.—Hence, it clearly appears that it was one and the same God that gave the Christian law to men, who gave the laws of nature to the creatures.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Unless we form the habit of going to the Bible in bright moments as well as in trouble, we cannot fully respond to its consolations because we lack equilibrium between light and darkness.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
I know the Bible is inspired, because it finds me at greater depths of my being than any other book.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the word of God, because you will have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness and your own duty.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
Intense study of the Bible will keep any writer from being vulgar, in point of style.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the ground work of human freedom.
—Horace Greeley (1811–72) American Elected Rep, Politician, Reformer, Editor
Well, Fitz, I looked all through that bible, it was in very fine print and stumbling on that great book Ecclesiastics, read it aloud to all who would listen. Soon I was alone and began cursing the bloody bible because there were no titles in it—although I found the source of practically every good title you ever heard of. But the boys, principally Kipling, had been there before me and swiped all the good ones so I called the book Men Without Women hoping it would have a large sale among the fairies and old Vassar Girls.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
All the distinctive features and superiority of our republican institutions are derived from the teachings of Scripture.
—Edward Everett (1794–1865) American Politician, Scholar
Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet-anchor of your liberties; write its precepts in your hearts, and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this book we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization, and to this we must look as our guide in the future. “Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.”
—Ulysses S. Grant (1822–85) American Civil War General, Head of State
Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.
—Dwight L. Moody (1837–99) Christian Religious Leader, Publisher
England has two books, one which she has made and one which has made her: Shakespeare and the Bible.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
The incongruity of the Bible with the age of its birth; its freedom from earthly mixtures; its original, unborrowed, solitary greatness; the suddenness with which it broke forth amidst the general gloom; these, to me, are strong indications of its Divine descent: I cannot reconcile them with a human origin.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
This is the canon that will mkae Italy free.
—Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–82) Italian Revolutionary, Soldier, Politician
After all, the Bible must be its own argument and defence. The power of it can never be proved unless it is felt. The authority of it can never be supported unless it is manifest. The light of it can never be demonstrated unless it shines.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
For eighteen hundred years, though perchance I have no right to say it, the New Testament has been written; yet where is the legislator who has wisdom and practical talent enough to avail himself of the light which it sheds on the science of legislation?
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The Bible rose to the place it now occupies because it deserved to rise to that place, and not because God sent anybody with a box of tricks to prove its divine authority.
—Bruce Fairchild Barton (1886–1967) American Author, Advertising Executive, Politician
Give to the people who toil and suffer, for whom this world is hard and bad, the belief that there is a better made for them. Scatter Gospels among the villages, a Bible for every cottage.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
I have read many books, but the Bible reads me.
—Unknown
There are no songs comparable to the songs of Zion; no orations equal to those of the prophets; and no politics like those which the Scriptures teach.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
The Good Book—one of the most remarkable euphemisms ever copied.
—Ashley Montagu (1905–1999) British-American Anthropologist
The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.
—A. W. Tozer (1897–1963) American Christian Pastor, Preacher, Author, Editor
I believe a knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without a Bible.
—William Lyon Phelps (1865–1943) American Author, Critic, Scholar
Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity of the New, which carrieth the greater benediction and the dearer revelation of God’s favor. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; adversity not without many comforts and hopes.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength.
—Robert E. Lee (1807–70) Confederate General during American Civil War
A loving trust in the Author of the Bible is the best preparation for a wise and profitable study of the Bible itself.
—Henry Clay Trumbull (1830–1903) American Army Chaplain, Evangelist
I believe that the Bible is to be understood and received in the plain and obvious meaning of its passages; for I cannot persuade myself that a book intended for the instruction and conversion of the whole world should cover its true meaning in any such mystery and doubt that none but critics and philosophers can discover it.
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American Statesman, Lawyer
The Bible, thoroughly known, is literature in itself—the rarest and richest in all departments of thought and imagination which exists.
—James Anthony Froude (1818–94) British Historian, Novelist, Biographer, Editor
We have used the Bible as if it were a mere special constable’s handbook, an opium dose for keeping beasts of burden patient while they are overloaded.
—Charles Kingsley (1819–75) English Clergyman, Academic, Historian, Novelist
My ground is the Bible. Yea, I am a Bible-bigot. I follow it in all things, both great and small.
—John Wesley (1703–91) British Methodist Religious Leader, Preacher, Theologian
When you read God’s Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, “It is talking to me, and about me.”
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
It is a belief in the Bible, the fruit of deep meditation, which has served me as the guide of my moral and literary life.—I have found it a capital safely invested, and richly productive of interest.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Sink the Bible to the bottom of the sea, and man’s obligation to God would be unchanged. He would have the same path to tread, only his lamp and his guide would be gone; he would have the same voyage to make, only his compass and chart would be overboard.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district—all studied and appreciated as they merit—are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
I have always believed in the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, whereby they have become the expression to man of the Word and Will of God.
—Warren G. Harding (1865–1923) American Head of State, Businessperson
Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
The most learned, acute, and diligent student cannot, in the longest life, obtain an entire knowledge of this one volume. The more deeply he works the mine, the richer and more abundant he finds the ore, new light continually beams from this source of heavenly knowledge, to direct the conduct, and illustrate the work of God and the ways of men; and he will at last leave the world confessing, that the more he studied the Scriptures, the fuller conviction he had of his own ignorance, and of their inestimable value.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
Philosophical argument, especially that drawn from the vastness of the universe, in comparison with the apparent insignificance of this globe, has sometimes shaken my reason for the faith that is in me; but my heart has always assured and reassured me that the gospel of Jesus Christ must be a divine reality.
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American Statesman, Lawyer
For this reason the Bible is a book of eternal and effective power; because, as long as the world lasts, no one will say: I comprehend it in the whole and understand it in the particular. Rather we must modestly say it on the whole it is venerable, and in the particular practical.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
The scripture in times of disputes is like an open town in times of war, which serves in differently the occasions of both parties.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
There is much in the Bible against which every instinct of my being rebels, so much that I regret the necessity which has compelled me to read it through from beginning to end. I do not think that the knowledge which I have gained of its history and sources compensates me for the unpleasant details it has forced upon my attention.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
I cannot too greatly emphasize the importance and value of Bible study—more important than ever before in these days of uncertainties, when men and women are apt to decide questions from the standpoint of expediency rather than on the eternal principles laid down by God, Himself.
—John Wanamaker (1838–1922) American Merchant, Civil Servant
I speak as a man of the world to men of the world; and I say to you, Search the Scriptures! The Bible is the book of all others, to be read at all ages, and in all conditions of human life; not to be read once or twice or thrice through, and then laid aside, but to be read in small portions of one or two chapters every day, and never to be intermitted, unless by some overruling necessity.
—John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) Sixth President of the USA
The philosophers, as Varro tells us. counted up three hundred and twenty answers to the question, “What is the supreme good?” How needful, then, is a divine revelation, to make plain what is the true end of our being.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian