When we die and go to Heaven, our Maker is not going to say, “Why didn’t you discover the cure for such and such?” The only thing we’re going to be asked at that precious moment is “Why didn’t you become you?”
—Unknown
Smile… heaven is watching!
—African Proverb
When I investigate and when I discover that the forces of the heavens and the planets are within ourselves, then truly I seem to be living among the gods.
—Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72) Italian Architect, Humanist, Painter, Art Critic
Courage leads to heaven; fear leads to death.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
We send missionaries to China so the Chinese can get to heaven, but we won’t let them into our country.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
We ought to fly away from earth to heaven as quickly as we can; and to fly away is to become like God, as far as this is possible; and to become like him is to become holy, just, and wise.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
It is heaven upon earth to have a man’s mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
For each man produced by heaven, earth provides a grave.
—Chinese Proverb
I wonder whether they have rum and Coke in Heaven?. Maybe it’s too mundane a pleasure, but I hope so—as a sundowner. Except, of course, the sun never goes down there. Oh, man, this heaven is going to take some getting used to.
—Desmond Tutu (b.1931) South African Clergyman
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.
—C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) Irish-born British Academic, Author, Literary Scholar
One of the hardest lessons we have to learn in this life, and one that many persons never learn, is to see the divine, the celestial, the pure, in the common, the near at hand-to see that heaven lies about us here in this world.
—John Burroughs (1837–1921) American Naturalist, Writer
Look for me in the nurseries of Heaven.
—Francis Thompson (1859–1907) English Poet, Ascetic
The net of heaven is large and wide, but it lets nothing through.
—Chinese Proverb
One time “here you are” is better than ten times “heaven help you.”
—German Proverb
Heaven ne’er helps the man who will not act.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Doctors are the signposts to heaven.
—German Proverb
Of all the inventions of man I doubt whether any was more easily accomplished than that of a Heaven.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
You don’t go to heaven in a carriage.
—Italian Proverb
Many might go to Heaven with half the labor they go to hell.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If I ever reach heaven I expect to find three wonders there: first, to meet some had not thought to see there; second, to miss some I had expected to see here; and third, the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there.
—John Newton (1725–1807) English Clergyman, Writer
As for evildoers, for them awaits a painful chastisement; but for those who believe, and do deeds of righteousness, they shall be admitted to gardens underneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever, by the leave of their Lord, their greeting therein: “Peace!”
—The Holy Quran Sacred Scripture of Islam
That happy sense of direct relation with Heaven is known evidently to multitudes of human souls of all faiths, and in all lands; evidently often a dream,—demonstrably, as I conceive, often a reality; in all cases dependent on resolution, patience, self-denial, prudence, obedience; of which some pure hearts are capable without effort, and some by constancy.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Earth gets its price for what Earth gives us,
The beggar is taxed for a corner to die in,
The priest hath his fee who comes and shrives us,
We bargain for the graves we lie in;
At the devil’s booth are all things sold,
Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold;
For a cap and bells our lives we pay.
Bubbles we buy with a whole soul’s tasking,
‘Tis heaven alone that is given away,
‘Tis only God may be had for the asking,
No price is set on the lavish summer;
June may be had by the poorest comer.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there.
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) American Head of State
Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.
—C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) Irish-born British Academic, Author, Literary Scholar
Heaven must be an awfully dull place if the poor in spirit live there.
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940) Lithuanian-American Anarchist, Feminist
The very strength that protects the heart from injury is the strength that prevents the heart from enlarging to its intended greatness within. The song of the voice is sweet, but the song of the heart is the pure voice of heaven.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
The ink of the scholar and the blood of a martyr are of equal value in heaven.
—The Holy Quran Sacred Scripture of Islam
Great Spirit, give to me a heaven not so large as yours but large enough for me.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
We are as near to heaven as we are far from self, and far from the love of a sinful world.
—Samuel Rutherford (1600–61) Scottish Presbyterian Theologian, Author
The heavens and the earth and all that is between them, do you think they were created in jest?
—The Holy Quran Sacred Scripture of Islam
What they do in heaven we are ignorant of; but what they do not do we are told expressly; they neither marry nor are given in marriage.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
God forgives sinners, otherwise His heaven would be empty.
—German Proverb
Poetry moves heaven and earth.
—Japanese Proverb
The human mind is inspired enough when it comes to inventing horrors; it is when it tries to invent a Heaven that it shows itself cloddish.
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–66) British Novelist, Essayist, Biographer
There are treasures laid up in the heart,—treasures of charity, piety, temperance, and soberness. These treasures a man takes with him beyond death when he leaves this world.
—Buddhist Teaching
To us who are Christians, is it not a solemn, but a delightful thought, that perhaps nothing but the opaque bodily eye prevents us from beholding the gate which is open just before us; and nothing but the dull ear prevents us from hearing the ringing of those bells of joy which welcome us to the heavenly land?
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Heaven and earth shall never meet.
—African Proverb
The generous who is always just, and the just who is always generous, may, unannounced, approach the throne of heaven.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
Heaven is so far of the mind that were the mind dissolved—the site of it by architect could not again be proved.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
The philosopher is Nature’s pilot. And there you have our difference: to be in hell is to drift: to be in heaven is to steer.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Heaven for climate, Hell for company.
—J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish Novelist, Dramatist
Who seeks for heaven alone to save his soul may keep the path, but will not reach the goal; while he who walks in love may wander far, yet God will bring him where the blessed are.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
Well, I don’t know, but I’ve been told the streets in heaven are lined with gold. I ask you how things could get much worse if the Russians happen to get up there first; Wowee! pretty scary!
—Bob Dylan (b.1941) American Singer-songwriter
Heaven is under our feet, as well as over our heads.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The trouble with kingdoms of heaven on earth is that they’re liable to come to pass, and then their fraudulence is apparent for all to see. We need a kingdom of heaven in Heaven, if only because it can’t be realized.
—Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–90) English Journalist, Author, Media Personality, Satirist
The kingdom of Heaven is within you… Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven and all things will be added unto you.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Heaven means to be one with God.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Eternity has nothing to do with the hereafter… This is it… If you don’t get it here, you won’t get it anywhere. The experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life. Heaven is not the place to have the experience; here’s the place to have the experience.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer