Quotes about churches

"Once is orthodox, twice is puritanical."

Melbourne, Lord on churches   

"Archbishop -- A Christian ecclesiastic of a rank superior to that attained by Christ."

Mencken, H. L. on churches   

"A church is a place in which gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there."

Mencken, H. L. on churches
4 fans of this quote   

"The difference between listening to a radio sermon and going to church...is almost like the difference between calling your girl on the phone and spending an evening with her."

Moody, Dwight L. on churches   

"Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man."

Moody, Dwight L. on churches   

"The Christian church is a society of sinners. It is the only society in the world, membership in which is based upon the single qualification that the candidate shall be unworthy of membership."

Morrison, Charles C. on churches
3 fans of this quote   

"The greatest hindrances to the evangelization of the world are those within the church."

Mott, John R. on churches   

"The priesthood is a marriage. People often start by falling in love, and they go on for years without realizing that love must change into some other love which is so unlike it that it can hardly be recognized as love at all."

Murdoch, Iris on churches
3 fans of this quote   

"A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints."

Nash, L. L. on churches
4 fans of this quote   

"Many are called but few are chosen. There are sayings of Christ which suggest that the Church he came to establish will always be a minority affair."

Norman, Edward on churches   

"If church prelates, past or present, had even an inkling of physiology they'd realize that what they term this inner ugliness creates and nourishes the hearing ear, the seeing eye, the active mind, and energetic body of man and woman, in the same way that dirt and dung at the roots give the plant its delicate leaves and the full-blown rose."

O'Casey, Sean on churches   

"Here, the churches seemed to shrink away into eroding corners. They seem to have ceased to be essential parts of American life. They no longer give life. It is the huge buildings of commerce and trade which now align the people to attention. These in their massive manner of steel and stone say, Come unto me all ye who labor, and we will give you work."

O'Casey, Sean on churches
3 fans of this quote   

"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church."

Paine, Thomas on churches   

"My own mind is my own church."

Paine, Thomas on churches   

"It would be far better to be of no church than to be bitter of any."

Penn, William on churches   

"Too hot to go to Church? What about Hell?"

Poster In Dayton, Ohio on churches   

"The act of bell ringing is symbolic of all proselytizing religions. It implies the pointless interference with the quiet of other people."

Pound, Ezra on churches   

"Mass ought to be in Latin, unless you could do it in Greek or Chinese. In fact, any abracadabra that no bloody member of the public or half-educated ape of a clargimint could think he understood."

Pound, Ezra on churches   

"He who is near the Church is often far from God."

Proverb, French on churches
4 fans of this quote   

"Be neither intimate nor distant with the clergy."

Proverb, Irish on churches   

"Standards of conduct appropriate to civil society or the workings of a democracy cannot be purely and simply applied to the Church."

Ratzinger, Cardinal Joseph on churches   

"Nearly all the evils in the Church have arisen from bishops desiring power more than light. They want authority, not outlook."

Ruskin, John on churches   

"The root of almost every schism and heresy from which the Christian Church has suffered, has been because of the effort of men to earn, rather than receive their salvation; and the reason preaching is so commonly ineffective is, that it often calls on people to work for God rather than letting God work through them."

Ruskin, John on churches
3 fans of this quote   

"A glorious Church is like a magnificent feast; there is all the variety that may be, but every one chooses out a dish or two that he likes, and lets the rest alone: how glorious soever the Church is, every one chooses out of it his own religion, by which he governs himself, and lets the rest alone."

Selden, John on churches   

"We sing in a church, why can we not dance there?"

Shaw, George Bernard on churches   

"What is wrong with priests and popes is that instead of being apostles and saints, they are nothing but empirics who say I know instead of I am learning, and pray for credulity and inertia as wise men pray for skepticism and activity."

Shaw, George Bernard on churches   

"The problem is not that the churches are filled with empty pews, but that the pews are filled with empty people."

Shedd, Charlie on churches
7 fans of this quote   

"I have, alas, only one illusion left, and that is the Archbishop of Canterbury."

Smith, Sydney on churches   

"How can a bishop marry? How can he flirt? The most he can say is I will see you in the vestry after service."

Smith, Sydney on churches   

"The priesthood in many ways is the ultimate closet in Western civilization, where gay people particularly have hidden for the past two thousand years."

Spong, John on churches   

"I never weary of great churches. It is my favorite kind of mountain scenery. Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral."

Stevenson, Robert Louis on churches   

"I never saw, heard, nor read, that the clergy were beloved in any nation where Christianity was the religion of the country. Nothing can render them popular, but some degree of persecution."

Swift, Jonathan on churches   

"I think a bishop who doesn't give offence to anyone is probably not a good bishop."

Thomson, James on churches   

"A little, round, fat, oily man of God."

Thomson, James on churches   

"One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organizations do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always."

Tozer, A. W. on churches   

"A group touring Westminster Abbey in London heard the guide list the famous people buried within its walls. During a momentary silence a little old lady's voice blurted out loud and clear, Anybody been saved here lately?"

Unknown, Source on churches   

"Though the church has many critics, it has no rivals."

Unknown, Source on churches   

"Sign in lot: Church parking only. We will not forgive those who trespass against us."

Unknown, Source on churches   

"The Pope is an idol whose hands are tied and whose feet are kissed."

Voltaire on churches   

"She say, Celie, tell the truth, have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God."

Walker, Alice on churches
3 fans of this quote