Joan D. Chittister Quotes

93 quotes in 1530 categories

• It's possible to have too much in life. Too many clothes jade our appreciation of new ones; too much money can out us out of…
• The vision of a culture lies in what becomes its major institutions, in what it remembers as its most impacting events, in who it sees…
• We may well be the ones Proverbs warns when it reminds us: "Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value the one who speaks the…
• Compassion makes no distinction between friends and enemies, neighbors and outsiders, compatriots and foreigners. Compassion is the gate to human community.
• Failure is the foundation of truth. It teaches us what isn't true, and that is a great beginning. To fear failure is to fear the…
• A bifurcation of loyalties that requires religious to put canon law above civil law and moral law puts us in a situation where the keepers…
• Blind obedience is itself an abuse of human morality. It is a misuse of the human soul in the name of religious commitment. It is…
• To be contemplative we must remove the clutter from our lives, surround ourselves with beauty, and consciously, relentlessly, persistently, give clutter away until the tiny…
• Hope is not a matter of waiting for things outside of us to get better. It is about getting better inside about what is going…
• It is a pathetic moment in the history of the human condition when the outside world tells us who and what we are - and…
• Longing is a compass that guides us through life. We may never get what we really want, that's true, but every step along the way…
• In our dreams lies our unfinished work for the world.
• No one finds time for prayer. You either take time for it or you don't get it.
• A seeker searched for years to know the secret of achievement and success in human life. One night in a dream a sage appeared bearing…
• I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality…
• A hard heart makes for hard judgments; a compassionate heart understands the humanity of the one we presume to judge.
• Compassion is the ability to understand how difficult it is for people to be the best of what they want to be at all times.
• Compassion is not sympathy. Compassion is mercy. It is a commitment to take responsibility for the suffering of others.
• Contemplation is a very dangerous activity. It not only brings us face to face with God. It brings us, as well, face to face with…
• Lent is the time for trimming the soul and scrapping the sludge off a life turned slipshod. Lent is about taking stock of time, even…

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