What God says is best, is best, though all the men in the world are against it.
— John Bunyan
Revealing Pilgrims Progress quotations
In my case Pilgrim's Progress consisted in my having to climb down a thousand ladders until I could reach out my hand to the little clod of earth that I am.

Then I saw that there was a way to hell, even from the gates of heaven.


a man there was, though some did count him mad, the more he cast away the more he had.
The man that takes up religion for the world will throw away religion for the world.
All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass - "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners."

Dark clouds bring waters, when the bright bring none.
He that is down needs fear no fall.
For to speak the truth, there are but few that care thus to spend their time, but choose rather to be speaking of things to no profit.

Most vices demand considerable self-sacrifices.
There is no greater mistake than to suppose that a vicious life is a life of uninterrupted pleasure. It is a life almost as wearisome and painful -- if strenuously led -- as Christian's in The Pilgrim's Progress.
It beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where 't is kept is lighter than vanity.
To go back is nothing but death; but to go forward is fear of death and life everlasting beyond.

Now, Mr. Great-heart was a strong man, so he was not afraid of a lion.
This hill though high I covent ascend;
The difficulty will not me offend; For I perceive the way of life lies here. Come, pluck up, heart; let's neither faint nor fear.
It is imperative that the past of the pilgrims' progress be intentionally carried forward into the present as we work into our future. Without it we cannot know who we are, why we are here, or where we can go. Without a common past to live out of we become aimless and wandering individuals instead of a pilgrim people.

I seek a place that can never be destroyed, one that is pure, and that fadeth not away, and it is laid up in heaven, and safe there, to be given, at the time appointed, to them that seek it with all their heart. Read it so, if you will, in my book.
I have given Him my faith, and sworn my allegiance to Him;
how, then, can I go back from this, and not be hanged as a traitor?
A saint abroad, and a devil at home.

The name of the Slough was Despond.
The law, instead of cleansing the heart from sin, doth revive it, put strength into, and increase it in the soul, even as it doth discover and forbid it, for it doth not give power to subdue.
Was there ever yet anything written by mere man that was wished longer by its readers, excepting Don Quixote, Robinson Crusoe, and the Pilgrim's Progress?

At religious instruction classes, I encountered The Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan, and the sincerity of the traveller in that book was overwhelming.
From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' my first collection was of John Bunyan's works in separate little volumes.
Literate households in the 17th century would have had the Bible, John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress," and a couple of other books. Shakespeare plays were cheap, so you could buy those, but a folio cost a pound, which was an incredible amount of money then.

Next to the Bible, the book I value most is John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
I believe I have read it through at least a hundred times. It is a volume of which I never seem to tire; and the secret of its freshness is that it is so largely compiled from the Scriptures.
Pilgrim's Progress , about a man that left his family, it didn't say why.
I read considerable in it now and then. The statements was interesting, but tough.
In an article on Bunyan lately published in the "Contemporary Review" - the only article on the subject worth reading on the subject I ever saw (yes, thank you, I am familiar with Macaulay's patronizing prattle about "The Pilgrim's Progress") etc.

Truth should be the very breath of our life.
When once this state in the pilgrim's progress is reached, all other rules of correct living will come without any effort, and obedience to them will be instinctive.
John Bunyan, author of the classic book the Pilgrim’s Progress, said “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who cannot pay you back.” Make a decision that you will live to give. Be on the lookout each day for somebody you can bless. Don’t’ live for yourself; learn to give yourself away, and your life will make a difference.