110+ John Henry Newman Quotes On Education, Death And Faith

John Henry Newman was a British Clergyman who was a leader in the Oxford Movement. He was an influential figure in the 19th century, advocating for the development of a distinctively Anglican form of Christianity. He was later made a cardinal in the Catholic Church, and was canonized as a saint in 2019. Following is our collection on famous quotes by John Henry Newman on education, death, faith.

Top 10 John Henry Newman Quotes

1. To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.
2. God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission.
3. A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault.
4. Life passes, riches fly away, popularity is fickle, the senses decay, the world changes. One alone is true to us; One alone can be all things to us; One alone can supply our need.
5. Ability hits the mark where presumption overshoots and diffidence falls short.
6. If we are intended for great ends, we are called to great hazards.
7. It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment but not in matters of conscience.
8. Cruelty to animals is as if humans did not love God.
9. Purity prepares the soul for love, and love confirms the soul in purity.
10. The reason why Christ is unknown today is because His Mother is unknown.

John Henry Newman Image Quotes

Ability hits the mark where presumption overshoots and diffidence falls short. — John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman Short Quotes

• Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom, lead thou me on.
• Health of body and mind is a great blessing, if we can bear it.
• Regarding Christianity: Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.
• We should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend.
• Calculation never made a hero.
• It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain.
• I see nothing in the theory of evolution inconsistent with an Almighty Creator and Protector.
• Great things are done by devotion to one idea.
• It is very difficult to get up resentment towards persons whom one has never seen.
• If then the power of speech is as great as any that can be named,

John Henry Newman Quotes About Faith

The attributes of God, though intelligible to us on their surface yet, for the very reason that they are infinite, transcend our comprehension, when they are dwelt upon, when they are followed out, and can only be received by faith. — John Henry Newman

What can this world offer comparable with that insight into spiritual things, that keen faith, that heavenly peace, that high sanctity, that everlasting righteousness, that hope of glory, which they have, who in sincerity love and follow our Lord Jesus Christ? — John Henry Newman

Faith ventures and hazards . . . counting the costs and delighting in the sacrifice. — John Henry Newman

Faith ... acts promptly and boldly on the occasion, on slender evidence. — John Henry Newman

With Christians, a poetical view of things is a duty. We are bid to color all things with hues of faith, to see a divine meaning in every event. — John Henry Newman

Faith is illuminative, not operative; it does not force obedience, though it increases responsibility; it heightens guilt, but it does not prevent sin. The will is the source of action. — John Henry Newman

Religion indeed enlightens, terrifies, subdues; it gives faith, it inflicts remorse, it inspires resolutions, it draws tears, it inflames devotion, but only for the occasion. — John Henry Newman

Faith is the result of the act of the will, following upon a conviction that to believe is a duty. — John Henry Newman

Reason is one thing and faith is another and reason can as little be made a substitute for faith, as faith can be made a substitute for reason. — John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman Quotes About Love

Dear Lord...shine through me, and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul...Let me thus praise You in the way You love best, by shining on those around me. — John Henry Newman

And with the morn those angel faces smile Which I have loved long since and lost awhile. — John Henry Newman

The love of our private friends is the only preparatory exercise for the love of all men. — John Henry Newman

In this world no one rules by love; if you are but amiable, you are no hero; to be powerful, you must be strong, and to have dominion you must have a genius for organizing. — John Henry Newman

O loving wisdom of our God when all was sin and shame, a second Adam to the fight and to the rescue came. — John Henry Newman

I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, Pride ruled my will: remember not past years. — John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman Quotes About Life

May He support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done! Then in His mercy may He give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. — John Henry Newman

Growth is the only evidence of life. — John Henry Newman

Prayer is to the spiritual life what the beating of the pulse and the drawing of the breath are to the life of the body. — John Henry Newman

You must make up your mind to the prospect of sustaining a certain measure of pain and trouble in you'r passage through life. — John Henry Newman

Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall ever have a beginning. — John Henry Newman

How many writers are there... who, breaking up their subject into details, destroy its life, and defraud us of the whole by their anxiety about the parts. — John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman Quotes About People

To holy people the very name of Jesus is a name to feed upon, a name to transport. His name can raise the dead and transfigure and beautify the living. — John Henry Newman

It is not God's way that great blessings should descend without the sacrifice first of great sufferings. If the truth is to be spread to any wide extent among the people, how can we dream, how can we hope, that trial and trouble shall not accompany its going forth. — John Henry Newman

I sought to hear the voice of God and climbed the topmost steeple, but God declared: Go down again - I dwell among the people. — John Henry Newman

The ears of the common people are holier than the hearts of the priests. — John Henry Newman

Most people go not by argument, but by sympathies. — John Henry Newman

Go down again - I dwell among the people. — John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman Famous Quotes And Sayings

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another, I have my mission ... He has not created me for naught ... If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. — John Henry Newman

Ability hits the mark where presumption overshoots and diffidence falls short. — John Henry Newman

I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain. — John Henry Newman

You must be patient, you must wait for the eye of the soul to be formed in you. Religious truth is reached, not by reasoning, but by an inward perception. Anyone can reason; only disciplined, educated, formed minds can perceive. — John Henry Newman

To take up the cross of Christ is no great action done once for all; it consists in the continual practice of small duties which are distasteful to us. — John Henry Newman

Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance. — John Henry Newman

By a garden is meant mystically a place of spiritual repose, stillness, peace, refreshment, delight. — John Henry Newman

Every breath of air and ray of light and heat, every beautiful prospect, is, as it were, the skirts of the (angel's) garments, the waving robes of those whose faces see God. — John Henry Newman

Why should we be willing to go by faith? We do all things in this world by faith in the word of others. By faith only we know our position in the world, our circumstances, our rights and privileges, our fortunes, our parents, our brothers and sisters, our age, our mortality. Why should Religion be an exception? — John Henry Newman

Satan is inconsistent. He persuades a man not to go to a synagogue on a cold morning; yet when the man does go, he follows him into it. — John Henry Newman

A science is not mere knowledge, it is knowledge which has undergone a process of intellectual digestion. It is the grasp of many things brought together in one, and hence is its power; for, properly speaking, it is Science that is power, not Knowledge. — John Henry Newman

Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not... We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them. — John Henry Newman

God created you to do him some particular service. He has given some work to you that he has not given to another. You have your mission. You shall do good. — John Henry Newman

True religion is slow in growth, and, when once planted, is difficult of dislodgement; but its intellectual counterfeit has no root in itself: it springs up suddenly, it suddenly withers. — John Henry Newman

A great memory does not make a mind, any more than a dictionary is a piece of literature. — John Henry Newman

Make me what Thou wouldst have me. I bargain for nothing. I make no terms. I seek for no previous information whither Thou art taking me. I will be what Thou wilt make me, and all that Thou wilt make me. I say not, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest, for I am weak, but I give myself to Thee, to lead me anywhither. — John Henry Newman

It's really not a difficult decision when you reflect on it, ... The situation is just so tenuous with where it's going to hit. You don't want to take any chances. — John Henry Newman

Now what is it moves our very hearts, and sickens us so much at cruelty shown to poor brutes? I suppose this first, that they have done no harm; next, that they have no power whatever of resistance; it is the cowardice and tyranny of which they are the victims which makes their sufferings so especially touching. — John Henry Newman

Two and two only supreme and luminously self-evident beings, myself and my Creator. — John Henry Newman

I shall drink to the Pope, if you please, still, to conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards. — John Henry Newman

Egotism is true modesty. In religious enquiry each of us can speak only for himself. — John Henry Newman

Reason is God's gift, but so are the passions. Reason is as guilty as passion. — John Henry Newman

Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ. — John Henry Newman

The world is content with setting right the surface of things. — John Henry Newman

I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. — John Henry Newman

A great memory is never made synonymous with wisdom, any more than a dictionary would be called a treatise. — John Henry Newman

Feast of Clare of Assisi, Founder of the Order of Minoresses (Poor Clares), 1253 Commemoration of John Henry Newman, Priest, Teacher, Tractarian, 1890 It is our great relief that God is not extreme to mark what is done amiss, that he looks at the motives, and accepts and blesses in spite of incidental errors. — John Henry Newman

After the fever of life--after wearinesses, sicknesses, fightings and despondings, languor and fretfulness, struggling and failing, struggling and succeeding--after all the changes and chances of this troubled and unhealthy state, at length comes death--at length the white throne of God--at length the beatific vision. — John Henry Newman

It is mutual respect which makes friendship lasting. — John Henry Newman

Thought and speech are inseparable from each other. Matter and expression are parts of one; style is a thinking out into language. — John Henry Newman

An academical system without the personal influence of teachers on pupils, is an arctic winter; it will create an icebound, petrified, cast-iron University, and nothing else. — John Henry Newman

O most sacred, most loving heart of Jesus, thou art concealed in the Holy Eucharist, and thou beatest for us still.... Thou art the heart of the Most High made man.... Thy Sacred Heart is the instrument and organ of Thy love. It did beat for us. It yearned for us. It ached for our salvation. It was on fire through zeal, that the glory of God might be manifested in and by us.... In worshipping thee I worship my incarnate God, my Emmanuel — John Henry Newman

There are wounds of the spirit which never close and are intended in God's mercy to bring us nearer to Him, and to prevent us leaving Him by their very perpetuity. Such wounds then may almost be taken as a pledge, or at least as a ground for a humble trust, that God will give us the great gift of perseverance to the end. This is how I comfort myself in my own great bereavements. — John Henry Newman

Flagrant evils cure themselves by being flagrant. — John Henry Newman

Where good and ill together blent, Wage an undying strife. — John Henry Newman

To discover and to teach are distinct functions; they are also distinct gifts, and are not commonly found united in the same person. — John Henry Newman

Let us put ourselves into His hands, and not be startled though He leads us by a strange way, a mirabilis via, as the Church speaks. Let us be sure He will lead us right, that He will bring us to that which is, not indeed what we think best, nor what is best for another, but what is best for us. — John Henry Newman

Knowledge is one thing, virtue is another. — John Henry Newman

Lions would have fared better, had lions been the artists. — John Henry Newman

Stuffing birds or playing stringed instruments is an elegant pastime, and a resource to the idle, but it is not education. — John Henry Newman

When men understand what each other mean, they see, for the most part, that controversy is either superfluous or hopeless — John Henry Newman

A universityeducates the intellect to reason well in all matters, to reach out towards truth, and to grasp it. — John Henry Newman

We must make up our minds to be ignorant of much, if we would know anything. — John Henry Newman

There is in stillness oft a magic powerTo calm the breast when struggling passions lower,Touched by its influence, in the soul ariseDiviner feelings, kindred with the skies. — John Henry Newman

I toast the Pope, but I toast conscience first. — John Henry Newman

It is seldom we have the heart to throw ourselves, if I may so speak, on the Divine Arm; we dare not trust ourselves on the waters, though Christ bids us. We have not St. Peter's love to ask leave to come to him upon the sea. When we once are filled with that heavenly charity, we can do all things, because we attempt all things - for to attempt is to do. — John Henry Newman

How can we feel our need of His help, or our dependence on Him, or our debt to Him, or the nature of His gift to us, unless we know ourselves.... This is why many in this age (and in every age) become infidels, heretics, schismatics, disloyal despisers of the Church.... They have never had experience of His power and love, because they have never known their own weakness and need. — John Henry Newman

I want a laitywho know their creed so well, that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. — John Henry Newman

Time hath a taming hand. — John Henry Newman

Literature stands related to Man as Science stands to Nature; it is his history. — John Henry Newman

A cloud of incense was rising on high; the people suddenly all bowed low; what could it mean? The truth flashed on him, fearfully yet sweetly; it was the Blessed Sacrament - it was the Lord Incarnate who was on the altar, who had come to visit and bless his people. It was the Great Presence, which makes a Catholic Church different from every other place in the world; which makes it, as no other place can be - holy. — John Henry Newman

All men have a reason, but not all men can give a reason. — John Henry Newman

Such is the constitution of the human mind, that any kind of knowledge, if it be really such, is its own reward. — John Henry Newman

I wonder what day I shall die on - one passes year by year over one's death day, as one might pass over one's grave. — John Henry Newman

We can believe what we choose. We are answerable for what we choose to believe. — John Henry Newman

There is a knowledge which is desirable, though nothing come of it, as being of itself a treasure, and a sufficient remuneration of years of labor. — John Henry Newman

Praise to the Holiest in the height, And in the depth be praise; In all His words most wonderful, Most sure in all His ways. — John Henry Newman

Learn to do thy part and leave the rest to Heaven. — John Henry Newman

All that is good, all that is true, all that is beautiful, all that is beneficent, be it great or small, be it perfect or fragmentary, natural as well as supernatural, moral as well as material, comes from God. — John Henry Newman

To be deep in history, is to cease to be Protestant. — John Henry Newman

It is God himself who can be discovered in the beauty of sensible things. — John Henry Newman

Cease, stranger, cease those witching notes, The art of syren choirs; Hush the seductive voice that floats Across the trembling wires. Music's ethereal power was given Not to dissolve our clay, But draw Promethean beams from heaven To purge the dross away. — John Henry Newman

Living Nature, not dull art Shall plan my ways and rule my Heart. — John Henry Newman

The heart is commonly reached, not through the reason, but through the imagination, by means of direct impressions, by the testimony of facts and events, by history, by description. Persons influence us, voices melt us, looks subdue us, deeds inflame us. Many a man will live and die upon a dogma; no man will be a martyr for a conclusion. — John Henry Newman

There is such a thing as legitimate warfare: war has its laws; there are things which may fairly be done, and things which may not be done. — John Henry Newman

Now what is it that moves our very hearts and sickens us so much at cruelty shown to poor brutes?.. They have done us no harm and they have no power of resistance... There is something so very dreadful, so Satanic, in tormenting those who have never harmed us, who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power. — John Henry Newman

Life Lessons by John Henry Newman

1. John Henry Newman taught that life is a journey of self-discovery and growth, and that we should strive to keep learning and improving ourselves.
2. He also emphasized the importance of living a life of service to others, and of having faith in God.
3. Lastly, he encouraged us to be open to change and to embrace new opportunities, as life is full of surprises and we should never be afraid to take risks.