John Henry Newman Quotes & Sayings

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

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

The refutation and remedy of errors cannot precede their rise; and thus the fact of false developments or corruptions involves the correspondent manifestation of true ones. Moreover, — John Henry Newman

Great things are done by devotion to one idea. — John Henry Newman

To live is to change, and if you have lived long, you have changed often. — John Henry Newman

Doing is at a far greater distance from intending to do than you at first sight imagine. Join — 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

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

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

Regarding Christianity: Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt. — John Henry Newman

Ability is sexless. — 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

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

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

Virtue is its own reward, and brings with it the truest and highest pleasure; but if we cultivate it only for pleasure's sake, we are selfish, not religious, and will never gain the pleasure, because we can never have the virtue. — John Henry Newman

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. — John Henry Newman

Brutes gaze on sights, they are arrested by sounds; and what they see and what they hear are sights and sounds only. The intellectof man, on the contrary, energises as well as his eye or ear, and perceives in sights or sounds something beyond them. It seizes and unites what the senses present to it; it grasps and forms what need not be seen or heard except in detail. It discerns in lines and colors, or in tones, what is beautiful and what is not. It gives them a meaning, and invests them with an idea. — 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

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

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

It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment but not in matters of conscience. — John Henry Newman

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

Courage does not consist in calculation, but in fighting against chances. — John Henry Newman

Without self-knowledge you have no root in yourselves personally; you may endure for a time, but under affliction or persecution your faith will not last. This is why many in this age (and in every age) become infidels, heretics, schismatics, disloyal despisers of the Church. They cast off the form of truth, because it never has been to them more than a form. They endure not, because they never have tasted that the Lord is gracious; and they never have had experience of His power and love, because they have never known their own weakness and need. — John Henry Newman

When the Apostles were taken away, Christianity did not at once break into portions; yet separate localities might begin to be the scene of internal dissensions, and a local arbiter in consequence would be wanted. Christians — John Henry Newman

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

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

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

Animals have done us no harm and they have no power of resistance. There is something so very dreadful in tormenting those who have never harmed us, who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power. — John Henry Newman

Good is never accomplished except at the cost of those who do it, truth never breaks through except through the sacrifice of those who spread it. — John Henry Newman

If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable ... we must be content to creep along the ground, and never soar. — 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

Let us act on what we have, since we have not what we wish. — 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

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

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

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

Living movements do not come of committees, nor are great ideas worked out through the post, even though it had been the penny post. — John Henry Newman

A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault. — 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

We should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend. — John Henry Newman

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

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. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work.
I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place,
while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.
Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever 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. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about. — John Henry Newman

If we are intended for great ends, we are called to great hazards. — John Henry Newman

Purity prepares the soul for love, and love confirms the soul in purity. — John Henry Newman

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

When you feel in need of a compliment, give one to someone else. — John Henry Newman

But one aspect of Revelation must not be allowed to exclude or to obscure another; and Christianity is dogmatical, devotional, practical all at once; it is esoteric and exoteric; it is indulgent and strict; it is light and dark; it is love, and it is fear. — John Henry Newman

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

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

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

Nothing would be done at all if one waited until one could do it so well that no one could find fault with it. — John Henry Newman

Doctrine without its correspondent principle remains barren, if not lifeless, of which the Greek Church seems an instance; or — John Henry Newman

Nothing is more common in an age like this, when books abound, than to fancy that the gratification of a love of reading is real study. — 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

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

The present is a text, and the past its interpretation. — 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

The nature of the case and the history of philosophy combine to recommend to us this division of intellectual labour between Academies and Universities. To discover and to teach are distinct functions; they are also distinct gifts, and are not commonly found united in the same person. He, too, who spends his day in dispensing his existing knowledge to all comers is unlikely to have either leisure or energy to acquire new. — John Henry Newman

Somehow I am necessary for God's purpose, as necessary in my place as an archangel in his. — John Henry Newman

Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom, lead thou me on. — John Henry Newman

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

How can we understand forgiveness if we haven't recognized the depth of our sin? — 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 development, to be faithful, must retain both the doctrine and the principle with which it started. Doctrine — 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

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

Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning. — John Henry Newman

There is in stillness oft a magic power To calm the breast when struggling passions lower, Touched by its influence, in the soul arise Diviner feelings, kindred with the skies. — 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

God has created all things for good; all things for their greatest good; everything for its own good. What is the good of one is not the good of another; what makes one man happy would make another unhappy. God has determined, unless I interfere with His plan, that I should reach that which will be my greatest happiness. He looks on me individually, He calls me by my name, He knows what I can do, what I can best be, what is my greatest happiness, and He means to give it me. — 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

Lead, Kindly Light, amidst th'encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!
So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on.
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!
Meantime, along the narrow rugged path,
Thyself hast trod,
Lead, Saviour, lead me home in childlike faith,
Home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife
In the calm light of everlasting life. — John Henry Newman

As to the Divine Design, is it not an instance of incomprehensibly and infinitely marvellous Wisdom and Design to have given certain laws to matter millions of ages ago, which have surely and precisely worked out, in the long course of those ages, those effects which He from the first proposed. Mr. Darwin's theory need not then to be atheistical, be it true or not; it may simply be suggesting a larger idea of Divine Prescience and Skill. Perhaps your friend has got a surer clue to guide him than I have, who have never studied the question, and I do not [see] that 'the accidental evolution of organic beings' is inconsistent with divine design - It is accidental to us, not to God. — John Henry Newman

Christ is already in that place of peace, which is all in all. He is on the right hand of God. He is hidden in the brightness of the radiance which issues from the everlasting throne. He is in the very abyss of peace, where there is no voice of tumult or distress, but a deep stillness
stillness, that greatest and most awful of all goods which we can fancy; that most perfect of joys, the utter profound, ineffable tranquillity of the Divine Essence. He has entered into His rest. That is our home; here we are on a pilgrimage, and Christ calls us to His many mansions which He has prepared. — John Henry Newman

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

Slang surely, as it is called, comes of, and breathes of the personal — John Henry Newman

Certainly a liberal education does manifest itself in a courtesy, propriety, and polish of word and action, which is beautiful in itself, and acceptable to others; but it does much more. It brings the mind into form, - for the mind is like the body. — John Henry Newman

This is what the Church is said to want, not party men, but sensible, temperate, sober, well-judging persons, to guide it through the channel of no-meaning, between the Scylla and Charybdis of Aye and no. — John Henry Newman

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

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

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

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

Mary became the window of heaven, for God through her poured the True Light upon the world; the — John Henry Newman

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

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

To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often. — John Henry Newman

It is very difficult to get up resentment towards persons whom one has never seen. — John Henry Newman

If then a practical end must be assigned to a University course, I say it is that of training good members of society ... It is the education which gives a man a clear, conscious view of their own opinions and judgements, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of thought to detect what is sophistical and to discard what is irrelevant. — John Henry Newman

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

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

The reason why Christ is unknown today is because His Mother is unknown. — 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

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

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

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

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