Keller Quotes & Sayings

Suffering dispels the illusion that we have the strength and competence to rule our own lives and save ourselves. — Timothy Keller

Legalism is looking to something besides Jesus Christ in order to be acceptable and clean before God. — Timothy Keller

Marriage has the power to set the course of your life as a whole. If your marriage is strong, even if all the circumstances in your life around you are filled with trouble and weakness, it won't matter. You will be able to move out into the world in strength. — Timothy Keller

There is no evil that the father's love cannot pardon and cover, there is no sin that is a match for his grace. — Timothy Keller

Cooking is not about convenience and it's not about shortcuts. Our hunger for the twenty-minute gourmet meal, for one-pot ease and prewashed, precut ingredients has severed our lifeline to the satisfactions of cooking. Take your time. Take a long time. Move slowly and deliberately and with great attention. — Thomas Keller

I have made my limitations tools of learning and true joy. — Helen Keller

There is a joy available that the deepest grief cannot put out. No circumstance or person can take away the joy God gives. — Timothy Keller

People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the only ones who do. — Gary Keller

Luis hopes for heaven.
Keller fears hell.
Vera fears only death, and that because he takes such pleasure in life. — Don Winslow

However one feels about the war in Iraq, realize that our troops deserve our support 100 percent. — Ric Keller

Only if your God can say things that upset you will you know you have a real God and not just a creation of your imagination. So — Timothy J. Keller

The only way to free ourselves from the destructive influence of counterfeit gods is to turn back to the true one. The living God, who revealed himself both at Mount Sinai and on the Cross, is the only Lord who, if you find him, can truly fulfill you, and, if you fail him, can truly forgive you. — Timothy Keller

In the course of expounding a biblical text the Christian preacher should compare and contrast the Scripture's message with the foundational beliefs of the culture, which are usually invisible to people inside it, in order to help people understand themselves more fully. If done rightly it can lead people to say to themselves, Oh, so that's why I tend to think and feel that way. This can be one of the most liberating and catalytic steps in a person's journey to faith in Christ. — Timothy J. Keller

Like a surgeon, friends cut you in order to heal you. — Timothy Keller

You are worse than you think you are, but also far more loved than you feel you are. — Timothy Keller

With passion, if you see the first asparagus of the springtime and you become passionate about it, so much the better, but three weeks later, when you've seen that asparagus every day now, passions have subsided. What's going to make you treat the asparagus the same? It's the desire. — Thomas Keller

Multitasking is merely the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time. — Gary Keller

When you're supposed to be working, work, and when you're supposed to be playing, play. It's a weird tightrope you're walking, but it's only when you get your priorities mixed up that things fall apart. — Gary Keller

I take happiness very seriously. It is a creed, a philosophy and an objective. — Helen Keller

Neither son loved the father for himself. They both were using the father for their own self-centered ends rather than loving, enjoying, and serving him for his own sake. This means that you can rebel against God and be alienated from him either by breaking his rules or by keeping all of them diligently. It's a shocking message: Careful obedience to God's law may serve as a strategy for rebelling against God. — Timothy Keller

De Tocqueville says it comes from taking some "incomplete joy of this world" and building your entire life on it. That is the definition of idolatry. — Timothy Keller

Hockey and cooking are similar in so many ways, especially if you are a player-coach, the guy in charge on the ice, a role I would closely relate to that of a chef in the kitchen - they are both contact sports.

You've gotta keep your head up, keep moving and communicate well. Even though you might be the leader in the kitchen or on the ice, you need to understand that that you're part of a working machine and that machine stops working if one of the pieces isn't working in unison with the others. I learned from a very young age the importance of being part of this team dynamic and how hard work can take you to so many different places.

(Chef Duane Keller) — Chris Hill

Follow the pathway of the fear back into your heart to discover the things you love more than God. — Timothy J. Keller

Edmund P. Clowney wrote, "The Bible does not present an art of prayer; it presents the God of prayer."129 We should not decide how to pray based on the experiences and feelings we want. Instead, we should do everything possible to behold our God as he is, and prayer will follow. The more clearly we grasp who God is, the more our prayer is shaped and determined accordingly. — Timothy Keller

All great achievements are the result of sustained focus over time - all of them. — Gary Keller

You can lead a bureaucrat to water, but you can't make him think. — Ric Keller

Common sense and history tell you that rewarding illegal behavior will only encourage more of it. — Ric Keller

What will make the people in your neighborhood be glad you are there? Connect with individuals and leaders in the community and begin to meet the perceived needs of the community. — Timothy J. Keller

When one reads hurriedly and nervously, having in mind written tests and examinations, one's brain becomes encumbered with a lot of bric-a-brac for which there seems to be little use. — Helen Keller

The message of the resurrection is that this world matters! — Timothy Keller

The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. — Timothy Keller

The economic impact of illegal immigration on taxpayers is catastrophic. — Ric Keller

Even if our own troubles are great, we should still serve. Jesus washed His disciples feet on the way to the cross. — Timothy Keller

Look at Jesus Christ. Every time he was in trouble he used the Word of God. When he was tempted he used the Word. When he was suffering on the cross he used the Word. — Timothy Keller

If anything becomes more fundamental than God to your happiness, meaning in life, and identity, then it is an idol. — Timothy Keller

The joy of surmounting obstacles that once seemed unremovable and pushing the frontier of accomplishment further-what other joy is there like it? — Helen Keller

The prerequisite for receiving the grace of God is to know you need it. — Timothy Keller

We still have it in our power to rise above the fears, imagined and real, and to shoulder the great burdens which destiny has placed upon us, not for our country alone, but for the benefit of all the world. That is the only destiny worthy of America. — Helen Keller

we can conclude that a professed Christian who is not committed to a life of generosity and justice toward the poor and marginalized is, at the very least, a living contradiction of the Gospel of Christ, the Son of God, whose Father "executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry — Timothy J. Keller

Touch each object as if tomorrow you would never be able to feel anything again. — Helen Keller

Austin Phelps makes this point in a chapter in his volume on prayer. He tells of Ethelfrith, the pagan Saxon king of Northumbria, who had invaded Wales and was about to give battle. The Welsh were Christians, and as Ethelfrith was observing the army of his opponents spread out before him, he noticed a host of unarmed men. When he asked who they were, he was told that they were the Christian monks of Bangor, praying for the success of their army. Ethelfrith immediately realized the seriousness of the situation. "Attack them first," he ordered. — Timothy J. Keller

Marriage [is] two flawed people coming together to create a space of stability, love and consolation, a haven in a heartless world. — Timothy Keller

Hope comes not in the solution to the problem but in focusing on Christ, who facilitates the change. — Timothy J. Keller

Often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. — Helen Keller

The world is polarizing over religion. It is getting both more religious and less religious at the same time. — Timothy Keller

Love is like a beautiful flower which I may not touch, but whose fragrance makes the garden a place of delight just the same. — Helen Keller

Good friends walk in when the old ones walk out. — Helen Keller

No one is too bad for Jesus. A lot of people think they are too good for Jesus. — Timothy Keller

No smile is as beautiful as the one that struggles through tears. — Helen Keller

True love is generative. It is the only kind that makes more of itself as it goes along. — Timothy Keller

The gospel is not advice to be followed; it is news, good (eu) news about what has been done. — Timothy Keller

A simple, childlike faith in a Divine Friend solves all the problems that come to us by land or sea — Helen Keller

A marriage based not on self-denial but on self-fulfillment will require a low- or no-maintenance partner who meets your needs while making almost no claims on you. Simply put - today people are asking far too much in the marriage partner. — Timothy J. Keller

If you have to beg, then beg. If you have to barter, then barter. If you have to be creative, then be creative. Just don't be a victim of your circumstance. — Gary Keller

Whether it's destiny or fate or whatever, I don't think I could do a French Laundry anywhere else. — Thomas Keller

Lacking a clear formula for making decisions, we get reactive and fall back on familiar, comfortable ways to decide what to do. Pinballing through our day like a confused character in a B-horror movie, we end up running up the stairs instead of out the front door. The best decision gets traded for any decision. — Gary Keller

The main problem in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel, we have not 'used' the gospel in and on all parts of our life. — Timothy Keller

Anyone who wonders if a Christian can sin is ignorant about sin's enslaving nature. — Timothy Keller

I've heard plenty of Christians try to answer the why question by going back to the what. "You have to believe because Jesus is the Son of God." But that's answering the why with more what. Increasingly we live in a time in which you can't avoid the why question. Just giving the what (for example, a vivid gospel presentation) worked in the days when the cultural institutions created an environment in which Christianity just felt true or at least honorable. But in a post-Christendom society, in the marketplace of ideas, you have to explain why this is true, or people will just dismiss it. — Timothy Keller

Speech is the birthright of every child. It is the deaf child's one fair chance to keep in touch with his fellows. — Helen Keller

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision. — Helen Keller

Keller had a professor in college who said that civilization was a matter of plumbing. That basically, the infrastructure for moving clean water in and filthy water out is what allowed people to congregate in large populations in permanent dwellings and create cities and cultures. Otherwise, people had to be nomads to literally escape their own shit. — Don Winslow

Literature is my Utopia ... No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book-friends — Helen Keller

If we can't say "thy will be done" from the bottom of our hearts, we will never know any peace. We will feel compelled to try to control people and control our environment and make things the way we believe they ought to be. — Timothy Keller

This woman saw the gospel - that you're more wicked than you ever believed, but at the same time more loved and accepted than you ever dared to hope. — Timothy Keller

Knowing why you're doing something provides the inspiration and motivation to give the extra perspiration needed to persevere when things go south..
..Purpose provides the ultimate glue that can help you stick to the path you've set. When what you do matches your purpose, your life just feels in rhythm, and the path you beat with your feet seems to match the sound in your head and heart. Live with purpose and don't be surprised if you actually hum more and even whistle while you work. — Gary Keller

When you say yes to something, it's imperative that you understand what you're saying no to. — Gary Keller

At the cross, we see the worst that sin can do, as humanity - of which each one of us is a part - crucified the Lord. But at the cross, we also see that the most that sin can do cannot thwart God's salvation. — Timothy Keller

And if you determine to run your marriage your way, you're in for a lot of trouble, because marriage is God's institution. — Timothy Keller

You have been saved through a dying sacrifice, so you are free to be a living one. — Timothy J. Keller

When we complain of having to do the same thing over and over, let us remember that God does not send new trees, strange flowers and different grasses every year. When the spring winds blow, they blow in the same way. In the same places the same dear blossoms lift up the same sweet faces, yet they never weary us. When it rains, it rains as it always has. Even so would the same tasks which fill our daily lives put on new meanings if we wrought them in the spirit of renewal from within
a spirit of growth and beauty. — Helen Keller

The final true artform in what we're talking about is the goal itself. And for us to try and stop that from happening, we're kind of the anti-art. — Kasey Keller

A person who is severely impaired never knows his hidden sources of strength until he is treated like a normal human being and encouraged to shape his own life. — Helen Keller

A job is a vocation only if someone else calls you to do it for them rather than for yourself. And so our work can be a calling only if it is reimagined as a mission of service to something beyond merely our own interests. Thinking of work mainly as a means of self-fulfillment and self-realization slowly crushes a person. — Timothy Keller

We should let Scripture interpret us more than we interpret Scripture. — Timothy Keller

I am conscious of a soul-sense that lifts me above the narrow, cramping circumstances of my life. My physical limitations are forgotten- my world lies upward, the length and the breadth and the sweep of the heavens are mine! — Helen Keller

Two things we want so desperately, glory and relationship, can coexist only in God. — Timothy Keller

In a smaller church your pastoring sets up your preaching. In a larger church your preaching sets up your pastoring. — Timothy Keller

No one is self-made — Gary Keller

This world is so full of care and sorrow that it is a gracious debt we owe to one another to discover the bright crystals of delight hidden in somber circumstances and irksome tasks. — Helen Keller

If God is not at the center of your life, something else is. — Timothy Keller

Many say that it is ethnocentric to claim that our religion is superior to others. Yet isn't that very statement ethnocentric? Most non-Western cultures have no problem saying that their culture and religion is best. The idea that it is wrong to do so is deeply rooted in Western traditions of self-criticism and individualism. To charge others with the "sin" of ethnocentrism is really a way of saying, "Our culture's approach to other cultures is superior to yours. — Timothy J. Keller

THE most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me — Helen Keller

Silence sits immense upon my soul. Then comes hope with a smile and whispers, "There is joy in self-forgetfulness. — Helen Keller

Created meaning is a less rational way to live life than doing so with discovered meaning. — Timothy J. Keller

You can do two things at once, but you can't focus effectively on two things at once. — Gary Keller

I have no formal culinary training, right. — Thomas Keller

What worked in war would likewise work in the place of peace. God's principle of power never altered because of circumstances. It takes as much faith to produce a crop of corn as it does to storm and seize an enemy stronghold. One must act in confidence, sure that
God will play His part, whether in a cornfield or on a battlefield. — W. Phillip Keller

Timothy Keller says my problem was not the situation I was in; rather, I struggled because I built my identity on something other than Jesus. — Laurel Griffith

The gospel is not about choosing to follow advice; it's about being called to follow a King. — Timothy Keller

There are many ways to cover up our sin. We may justify or minimize it by blaming circumstances and other people. However, real repentance first admits sin as sin and takes full responsibility. True confession and repentance begins when blame shifting ends. — Timothy Keller

There is no sin that is a match for God's grace. — Timothy Keller

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, have played an important role in enriching the lives of not just African Americans, but our entire country. — Ric Keller

Luther was an extraordinary man of prayer himself. Veit Dietrich, one of Luther's friends, wrote: "There is not a day on which he does not devote at least three hours, the very ones most suitable for [work], to prayer. Once I was fortunate to overhear his prayer. Good God, what faith in his words! He speaks with the great reverence of one who speaks to his God, and with the trust and hope of one who speaks with his father and friend."163 Peter — Timothy Keller

Every optimist moves along with progress and hastens it, while every pessimist would keep the worlds at a standstill. The consequence of pessimism in the life of a nation is the same as in the life of the individual. Pessimism kills the instinct that urges men to struggle against poverty, ignorance and crime, and dries up all the fountains of joy in the world. — Helen Keller

Beauty is an influence based off of judgment. — Alyssa Keller

The willingness to sacrifice on the part of workers and members is perhaps the key practical index of whether you have become a movement or have become institutionalized. — Timothy Keller

The answer is that their confidence was actuallh in God, not in their limited understanding of what they thought he would do. They had inner assurance that God would rescue them. However, they were not so arrogant as to be sure they were "reading God right." They knew that God was under no obligation to operate according to their limited wisdom. — Timothy Keller

Smells are the fallen angels of the senses. — Helen Keller

The world can't save itself. That's the message of Christmas. — Timothy Keller