There were honest people long before there were Christians and there are, God be praised, still honest people where there are no Christians. It could therefore easily be possible that people are Christians because true Christianity corresponds to what they would have been even if Christianity did not exist.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
I believe in Christianity as I believe in the rising sun; not because I see it, but by it I can see all else.
—C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) Irish-born British Academic, Author, Literary Scholar
Scratch the Christian and you find the pagan—spoiled.
—Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) English Playwright, Novelist, Zionist Activist
No one is without Christianity, if we agree on what we mean by that word. It is every individual’s individual code of behavior by means of which he makes himself a better human being than his nature wants to be, if he followed his nature only. Whatever its symbol—cross or crescent or whatever—that symbol is man’s reminder of his duty inside the human race.
—William Faulkner (1897–1962) American Novelist
Christianity is the root of all democracy, the highest fact in the rights of men.
—Novalis (1772–1801) German Romantic Poet, Novelist
Christianity has operated with an unmitigated arrogance and cruelty—necessarily, since a religion ordinarily imposes on those who have discovered the true faith the spiritual duty of liberating the infidels.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
Wherever there are walls I shall inscribe this eternal accusation against Christianity upon them—I can write in letters which make even the blind see. I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct for revenge for which no expedient is sufficiently poisonous, secret, subterranean, petty—I call it the one immortal blemish of mankind.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
He spends his life explaining from his pulpit that the glory of Christianity consists in the fact that though it is not true it has been found necessary to invent it.
—Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) (1870–1916) British Short Story Writer, Satirist, Historian
If there is any moral in Christianity, if there is anything to be learned from it, if the whole story is not profitless from first to last, it comes to this: that a man should back his own opinion against the world s.
—Samuel Butler
A good example is far better than a good precept.
—Dwight L. Moody (1837–99) Christian Religious Leader, Publisher
Christianity, with its doctrine of humility, of forgiveness, of love, is incompatible with the state, with its haughtiness, its violence, its punishment and its wars.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
Faith makes a Christian. Life proves a Christian. Trial confirms a Christian. Death crowns a Christian.
—Unknown
To be like Christ is to be a Christian.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Political leader, Philosopher
What the world requires of the Christians is that they should continue to be Christians.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
A rule I have had for years is: to treat the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal friend. His is not a creed, a mere doctrine, but it is He Himself we have.
—Dwight L. Moody (1837–99) Christian Religious Leader, Publisher
Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue with that; I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first—rock and roll or Christianity.
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
God doesn’t have any grandchildren.
—E. Stanley Jones (1884–1973) American Methodist Priest, Theologian
Christianity is the highest perfection of humanity.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Christians are rare people on earth.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
He who begins by loving Christianity better than truth, will proceed by loving his own sect or church better than Christianity, and end in loving himself better than all.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man I’ve met.
—Dwight L. Moody (1837–99) Christian Religious Leader, Publisher
Never think that Jesus commanded a trifle, nor dare to trifle with anything He has commanded.
—Dwight L. Moody (1837–99) Christian Religious Leader, Publisher
A real Christian is a person who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.
—Billy Graham (1918–91) American Baptist Religious Leader
The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women’s emancipation.
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) American Social Reformer
Christianity is a battle not a dream.
—Wendell Phillips (1811–84) American Abolitionist, Lawyer, Orator
No egoism is so insufferable as that of the Christian with regard to his soul.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
Is your Christianity ancient history—or current events?
—Sam Shoemaker (1893–1963) American Episcopal Priest
Christianity, above all, has given a clear-cut answer to the demands of the human soul.
—Unknown
Christianity provides a unified answer for the whole of life.
—Francis Schaeffer (1912–84) American Presbyterian Religious Leader, Theologian, Philosopher
I am not a Catholic; but I consider the Christian idea, which has its roots in Greek thought and in the course of the centuries has nourished all of our European civilization, as something that one cannot renounce without becoming degraded.
—Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist
Christianity is completed Judaism or it is nothing.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Here I swear, and as I break my oath may eternity blast me, here I swear that never will I forgive Christianity! It is the only point on which I allow myself to encourage revenge. Oh, how I wish I were the Antichrist, that it were mine to crush the Demon; to hurl him to his native Hell never to rise again—I expect to gratify some of this insatiable feeling in Poetry.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
The test of Christian character should be that a man is a joy-bearing agent to the world.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Most of us spend the first six days of each week sowing wild oats; then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.
—Fred Allen (1894–1956) American Humorist, Radio Personality
Do you wish to find out the really sublime? Repeat the Lord’s Prayer.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Christianity makes suffering contagious.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
The Three in One, the One in Three? Not so! To my own Gods I go. It may be they shall give me greater ease than your cold Christ and tangled Trinities.
—Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) British Children’s Books Writer, Short story, Novelist, Poet, Journalist
The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
I have a great mind to believe in Christianity for the mere pleasure of fancying I may be damned.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Bear the Cross cheerfully and it will bear you.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion; it is like a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.
—Billy Graham (1918–91) American Baptist Religious Leader
Christianity is art and not money. Money is its curse.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.
—Dwight L. Moody (1837–99) Christian Religious Leader, Publisher
A Christian is nothing but a sinful man who has put himself to school for Christ for the honest purpose of becoming better.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Don’t feel superior just because you go to church, it doesn’t make you a Christian.
—Unknown
A strong argument for the religion of Christ is this—that offences against Charity are about the only ones which men on their death-beds can be made—not to understand—but to feel—as crime.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
The real security of Christianity is to be found in its benevolent morality, in its exquisite adaptation to the human heart, in the facility with which its scheme accommodates itself to the capacity of every human intellect, in the consolation which it bears to the house of mourning, in the light with which it brightens the great mystery of the grave.
—Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–59) English Historian, Essayist, Philanthropist
Two great European narcotics, alcohol and Christianity.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Christian life consists of faith and charity.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian