quotations about Heaven
Heaven is not reached at a single bound;
But we build the ladder by which we rise
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,
And we mount to its summit round by round.
JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND
"Gradatim"
It is possible that the distance of heaven lies wholly in the veil of flesh, which we now want power to penetrate. A new sense, a new eye, might show the spiritual world compassing us on every side.
WILLIAM E. CHANNING
Thoughts
Jesus knew -- knew -- that we're carrying the Kingdom of Heaven around with us, inside, where we're all too goddam stupid and sentimental and unimaginative to look? You have to be a son of God to know that kind of stuff.
J. D. SALINGER
Zooey
To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell.
BUDDHIST PROVERB
Heaven is homelike, we are told,
To beggars as to kings;
And resurrection is a fashion
Antedating wings.
NELLIE SEELYE EVANS
"Equality"
The way of Heaven and Earth may be completely declared in one sentence: They are without any doubleness, and so they produce things in a manner that is unfathomable.
CONFUCIUS
The Doctrine of the Mean
Heaven and Hell are man's hopes and his fears extended beyond the grave.
ABRAHAM MILLER
Unmoral Maxims
While the wish of many individuals is to arrive at heaven, we daily behold them on the way to hell.
WILLIAM SCOTT DOWNEY
Proverbs
Heaven does not make holiness, but holiness makes heaven.
PHILLIPS BROOKS
"The Gift and Its Return", Sermons
Heaven for climate, and hell for society.
MARK TWAIN
speech to the Acorn Society, 1901
We speak of Paradise, and we speak of Heaven. At times they seem far off and distant to us. But there is no need for us to change our place, or even planet, in order to enter on these regions. We only need that, when we put off these our bodies, we put off also our present limitations; and thus, in accordance which He has apportioned for us, we enter on those good things He "hath prepared."
ARTHUR FOLEY WINNINGTON-INGRAM
"The Shadow of Heaven", Thoughts on Love and Death
To emphasize the afterlife is to deny life. To concentrate on heaven is to create hell.
TOM ROBBINS
Skinny Legs and All
God is found in this Life ... to wait for another is folly.
DAN SIMMONS
Lovedeath
What makes earth feel like hell is our expectation that it should feel like heaven.
CHUCK PALAHNIUK
Damned
Seeking Heaven through righteousness is not seeking righteousness, but something else;--it is not loving goodness for goodness' sake, but for its rewards.
E. H. CHAPIN
Living Words
Howling is the noise of hell, singing the voice of heaven.
JOHN DONNE
"Sermon LXVI"
S'pose Heaven's not like a painting that's just hanging there for ever, but more like ... Like the best song anyone ever wrote, but a song you only catch in snatches, while you're alive, from passing cars, or ... upstairs windows when you're lost ...
DAVID MITCHELL
The Bone Clocks
Aim at heaven and you will get earth "thrown in": aim at earth and you will get neither.
C. S. LEWIS
Mere Christianity
We may speak about a place where there are no tears, no death, no fear, no night; but those are just the benefits of heaven. The beauty of heaven is seeing God.
MAX LUCADO
Experiencing the Heart of Jesus
Heaven and Hell make no sense if the majority of humans are a complex mixture of good and evil. There's no reason to receive a reward if you're 57/43--why sit around forever in an elevated version of Club Med? That's almost impossible to contemplate.
NORMAN MAILER
On God