Some Quaker quotes, long and short, that may be less familiar than those we have been looking at thus far. I can track down dates, etc. if we want to use any of them (or a part of one) for the new brochure or in our advertisements. At minimum, I hope they provide some food for thought for others as they have for me. -- Misty

"If contemplation, which introduces us to the very heart of creation does not inflame us with such a love that it gives us, together with rich joy, the understanding of the infinite misery of the world, it is a vain kind of contemplation, it is the contemplation of a false God." - Marius Grout (French Quaker, died 1946)

"Concerned people are struggling over the meaning of inwardness, transcendent reality, and ethical actions, and it is impossible to consider any one of them in isolation from the others." - Paul Lacey, 1969.

"It is good, so very good, to experience the quiet ministry of the living spirit of the living God." - Howard Thurmon, 1961

"I especially want to suggest that we impoverish ourselves spiritually when we close ourselves off too quickly from the witnesses with whom we disagree, or when, to appropriate their words for our own beliefs, we translate or transpose what they say into the worlds and ideas with which we are already comfortable." - Paul Lacey, 1995

"And in this I saw the infinite love of God. I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness. And in that also I saw the infinite love of God; and I had great openings." - George Fox

"The spiritual life has many sources of nourishment, among them the companionship of other seekers, the pleasures of solitude and silence, keeping faith as we wait for leading, experiencing the confirmation of having followed the leadings we have been given, and times of testing. In each of these, when I know I am being nourished and nurtured, I know something of joy. And there are other times I receive joy - as a gift of serenity, balance, deep happiness, and I know this is good for my spirit now and through the rest of my life.
When we share about the spiritual life, let us not be afraid to say what we know. Let us not, above all, be afraid to share the fact of joy, the gifts of joy. Joy is finally the greatest source of nourishment for the spiritual life, because it is God's greatest gift to us." - Paul Lacey, 1995

"Let your lives speak." - George Fox

"The only true standard I can have to direct myself by is that which experience proves to give me the most happiness, buy enabling me to be virtuous. I believe there is something in the mind or in the heart that shows its approbation when we do right. Let me take courage and try from the bottom of my heart to do that which I believe truth dictates." - Elizabeth Gurney Fry

"Oh, that I could talk less and pray more, I should be better prepared to live, and better prepared to die." - Edward Hicks, 1851

"True godliness don't turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavor to mend it: not hide their candle under a bushel, but set it upon a table in a candlestick." - William Penn, 1682

"There is a spirit which I feel delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. - James Nayler

"In the gathered meeting the sense is present that a new Life and Power has entered our midst.Ê We are in communication with one another because we are being communicated to, and through, by the Divine presence." - Thomas Kelly

"Art thou a child of Light and hast walked in the Light, and what thou speakest is it inwardly from God?" - George Fox, 1652

"When one rises to speak one has the sense of being used, of being played upon, of being spoken through. It is as amazing experience as that of being Prayed through, when we the praying ones are no longer the initiators of the supplication, but seem to be transmitters, who second an impulse welling up from the depths of the soul." - Thomas Kelly

"Dearly beloved Friends, these things we do not lay upon you as a rule or form to walk by, but that all, with the measure of light which is pure and holy, may be guided; and so in the light walking and abiding, these may be fulfilled in the Spirit, not from the letter, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." - General meeting at Balby, 1656

"Now to act with integrity, according to that strength of mind and body with which our creator hath endowed each of use, appears necessary for all." - John Woolman

"One thing I understand now is that one's intellect alone won't pull one through, and that the greatest service it can perform is to open a window for that thing we call the divine spirit. If one trusts to it alone, it's like trusting to an artificial system of ventilation -- correct in theory but musty in practice. How I wish it were as easy to throw everything open to the spirit of God as it is to fresh air." - Hilda Clark, 1908

"Trouble of soul can teach us things that raptures never could -- not only patience and perseverance, but humility and sympathy with others." - Edward Grubb, 1033

"There is that near you which will guide you. O wait for it and be sure you keep to it." - Isaac Penington, 1678

"I have never lost the enjoyment of sitting in silence at the beginning of meeting, knowing that everything can happen, knowing the joy of utmost surprise; feeling that nothing is preordained, nothing is set, all is open. The light can come from all sides. The joy of experiencing the Light in a completely different way than one has thought it would come is one of the greatest gifts that Friends' meeting for worship has brought me." - Ursula Franklin, 1979