Quotations

«Wilt thou compel men to become believers? No soul can believe but by the leave of God»

«Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? / Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? / Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.»

«The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.»

«Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? / Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? / Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? / What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: / And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, / Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? / As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.»

«Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? / Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? / Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? / Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn? / Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? / Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, / And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.»

«What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? / And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment? / How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? / I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? / And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.»

«Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.»

«With only half a lip you kiss, And half of that I ne'er' should miss, A greater boon, of worth untold, Wilt grant me? That whole half withhold»

«Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit.»