100 Clergymen Quotes

Following is our list of clergymen quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about clergy.

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Famous Clergymen Quotes

A clergyman is one who feels himself called upon to live without working at the expense of the rascals who work to live. — Voltaire

Clergymen almost necessarily fail in two ways as teachers of morals. They condemn acts which do no harm and they condone acts which do great harm. — Bertrand Russell

There is not in the universe a more ridiculous, nor a more contemptible animal, than a proud clergyman. — Henry Fielding

The bishops will govern the Church, the priests will do all the work and the deacons will have all the fun. — Richard Cushing

I go farther, and say, that it is plainly our duty to desire pastors and teachers to take the care of such congregations, and that God did raise up such in the church as we see it in the word. — John Nelson Darby

A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism. — Carl Sagan

I am surrounded by priests who repeat incessantly that their kingdom is not of this world, and yet they lay their hands on everything they can get. — Napoleon Bonaparte

until the theologians and the ordained clergy begin to communicate with ordinary people in the vernacular, in a way that they can understand, I’m going to have to do this sort of thing. — C. S. Lewis

Far, far from the clergy be the love of novelty! — Pope Pius X

People who only listen to preachers have a tendency to put them on a pedestal, but those who live with preachers recognize that they are just common men. — Paul Washer

To take those fools in clerical garb seriously is to show them too much honor. — Sayings

In all ages of the world, priests have been enemies of liberty. — David Hume

...the holy men sat in an atmosphere reeking of antiquity, so thick with the dust of ages that you can't see through it -nor can they. — Gertrude Bell

Spiritual leaders are not made by man, nor any combination of men. Neither conferences, nor synods, nor councils can make them, but only God. — Samuel Logan Brengle

The vow of celibacy is a matter of keeping one's word to Christ and the Church. a duty and a proof of the priest's inner maturity; it is the expression of his personal dignity. — Pope John Paul II

Short Clergymen Quotes

  • There is nothing to prove and nothing to protect. I am who I am and it's enough. — Richard Rohr
  • And as for the Pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy and Antichrist, with all his false doctrine. — Thomas Cranmer
  • Adoption gives us the privilege of sons, regeneration the nature of sons. — Stephen Charnock
  • Avoid, as you would the plague, a clergyman who is also a man of business. — St. Jerome
  • To be a clergyman, and all that is compassionate and virtuous, ought to be the same thing. — Samuel Richardson
  • I have always considered a clergyman as the father of a larger family than he is able to maintain. — Samuel Johnson
  • Is there in all the history of human folly a greater fool than a clergymen in politics? — Pat Robertson
  • The defects of a preacher are soon spied. — Martin Luther
  • The clergyman who lives in the city may have piety, but he must have taste. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • He--the country parson--is not witty or learned or eloquent, but holy. — George Herbert

Clergymen Quotes

Every time there are losses, there are choices to be made. You choose to live your losses as passages to anger, blame, hatred, depression and resentment, or you choose to let these losses be passages to something new, something wider, and deeper. — Henri Nouwen

Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth. — John Wesley

When we sin and mess up our lives, we find that God doesn't go off and leave us- he enters into our trouble and saves us. — Eugene H. Peterson

Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior. — John Newton

There was reference made to a book written in Greek by a former Rabbi who had been converted to Christianity. There was reference to a publication of a high clergyman of Milan. Not even did Jews raise objections to that book. — Julius Streicher

In these times I don't, in a manner of speaking, know what I want; perhaps I don't want what I know and want what I don't know. — Marsilio Ficino

No doctrine is more excellent, or necessary to be preached and studied, than Jesus Christ, and him crucified. — John Flavel

Better that only a few Catholics should be left, staunch and sincere in their religion, than that they should, remaining many, desire as it were, to be in collusion with the Church's enemies and in conformity with the open foes of our faith. — Peter Canisius

Did Christ finish His work for us? Then there can be no doubt but He will also finish His work in us. — John Flavel

What a mercy was it to us to have parents that prayed for us before they had us, as well as in our infancy when we could not pray for ourselves! — John Flavel

Clergy Quotes

If the liberties of the American people are ever destroyed, they will fall by the hands of the clergy. — Marquis de Lafayette

An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. - Proverbs

An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. — Proverbs

The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. — C. S. Lewis

Body have to physically strong and sturdy. Spiritually balanced fi clean and purge me. Mentally advanced fi always urge me. Read a couple books and challenge the clergy. Read a couple psalms up in the morning early. — Damian Marley

He promoted the education of the parish clergy and wrote: He seems to me a very foolish man, and very wretched, who will not increase his understanding while he is in the world, and ever wish and long to reach that endless life where all shall be made clear. — Alfred the Great

If all Church power vests in the clergy, then the people are practically bound to passive obedience in all matters of faith and practice; for all right of private judgment is then denied. — Charles Hodge

I'm a man of some intelligence. I've had some education, passed the bar, practiced law. I've been a teacher and I deal with men of substance, statesman, business leaders, the clergy... So why do I spend my time arguing with Dizzy Dean? — Branch Rickey

I never liked the Hierarchy of the Church-an equality in the teacher of Religion, and a dependence on the people, are republican sentiments-but if the Clergy combine, they will have their influence on Government — Rufus King

Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state'... is absolutely essential in a free society. — Thomas Jefferson

The Clergy is the greatest hindrance to faith. — Martin Luther

Ecclesiastic Quotes

Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history. — James Madison

The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less advance Mohammedanism, or Judaism or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity; but ... to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment which should give to a hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government. — Joseph Story

No Ideas original - there is nothing new under the sun. — Nas

Godly fear, faith, and humility is the true threefold cord that can’t easily be broken (see Ecclesiastes 4:12). — John Bevere

The intelligentsia ...was kept busy embroidering white stitches on the philosophical and ecclesiastical vestments of the bourgeoisie - that old and filthy fabric besmeared with the blood of toiling masses. — Maxim Gorky

Wisdom is better than weapons of war. 9:18b, Ecclesiastes — Bible

There is a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance. — Solomon

If naturalists go to heaven (about which there is considerable ecclesiastical doubt), I hope that I will be furnished with a troop of kakapo to amuse me in the evening instead of television. — Gerald Durrell

But how can one be warm alone? — Joseph Heller

Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. — Solomon

People Writing About Clergymen

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Read quotes by Voltaire

Voltaire
quotes on life, government and human nature

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Read quotes by Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell
quotes on happiness, life and war

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Read quotes by Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding
quotes on leadership, education and religion

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Read quotes by John Nelson Darby

John Nelson Darby

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Read quotes by Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan
quotes on love, death and education

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Read quotes by Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte
quotes on leadership, success and war

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More Clergymen Quotes

every time God forgives us, God is saying that God's own rules do not matter as much as the relationship that God wants to create with us. — Richard Rohr

The carnal person fears man, not God. The strong Christian fears God, not man. The weak Christian fears man too much, and God too little. — John Flavel

The knowledge of Christ is profound and large. All other sciences are but shadows; this is a boundless, bottomless ocean. Though something of Christ be unfolded in one age, and something in another, yet eternity itself cannot full unfold him. — John Flavel

Every politician, clergyman, educator, or physician, in short, anyone dealing with human individuals, is bound to make grave mistakes if he ignores these two great truths of population zoology: (1) no two individuals are alike, and (2) both environment and genetic endowment make a contribution to nearly every trait. — Ernst Mayr

A man's free will cannot cure him even of the toothache, or a sore finger; and yet he madly thinks it is in its power to cure his soul. — Augustus Toplady

I was brought up an atheist and have always remained so. But at no time was I led to believe that morality was unimportant or that good and bad did not exist. I believe passionately in the need to distinguish between right and wrong and am somewhat confounded by being told I need God, Jesus or a clergyman to help me to do so. — Nigella Lawson

What really matters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love Him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And, without the love of Jesus, everything is useless. — Pope John Paul II

The Bible makes it clear that every time that there is a story of faith, it is completely original. God's creative genius is endless. — Eugene H. Peterson

If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed? — Steven Wright

If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted? — George Carlin

It is to be deeply regretted that the clergymen would oppose an effort to teach the people the Bible truths; nevertheless, we find much opposition everywhere, and many clergymen will attempt to prevent the people from reading what is here written. — Joseph Franklin Rutherford

No amount of energy will take the place of thought. A strenuous life with its eyes shut is a kind of wild insanity. — Henry Van Dyke

The life of a conscientious clergyman is not easy. I have always considered a clergyman as the father of a larger family than he is able to maintain. I would rather have chancery suits upon my hands than the cure of souls. — Samuel Johnson

One person I do feel a little sorry for, though, is the Archbishop of Canterbury, the most important clergyman in Britain and he's only got two lousy palaces to live in. What sort of life is that for a man of God? I bet if Jesus came back, even he'd be embarrassed for him; I bet he wouldn't be able to look him in the eye. — Pat Condell

Sometimes we listen to too many commentators about things that don't affect their lives because they're in a different tax bracket. Or to the so-called clergymen giving their interpretation of God's word, and yet they're not rolling the same way in their own lives. — Stevie Wonder

I do not envy a clergyman's life as an easy life, nor do I envy the clergyman who makes it an easy life. — Samuel Johnson

CLERGYMAN, n. A man who undertakes the management of our spiritual affairs as a method of better his temporal ones. — Ambrose Bierce

Clergymen tend to be unreliable and pompous figures. Seldom Jewish rabbis, less often Catholic priests, but Protestant ministers tend to be... not really very admirable. Not necessarily evil, but silly. And wrong, of course. — Charlton Heston

Young people, some of whom are not born into the faith, are being fired up by preachers using basic Islamic scripture and mobilized to wage jihad by radical imams who represent themselves as legitimate Muslim clergymen. — Ayaan Hirsi Ali

A woman once said to me, 'Any religion that is to be any good to one must be one they make for themselves,' - and it is so. She, curiously, was a clergyman's wife. — Kate Greenaway

I was brought up in a clergyman's household so I am a first-class liar. — Sybil Thorndike

The entitlement mentality so carefully cultivated by liberal academics, politicians, clergymen, and journalists continues to corrode the self-sufficiency that once defined the American character. — Mona Charen

That clergyman soon becomes an object of contempt who being often asked out to dinner never refuses to go. — St. Jerome

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