Publicans Quotes & Sayings

Inside the coop where he'll stay until he's killed, the rooster sings anthems to liberty because he was given two roosts. — Fernando Pessoa

Sometimes bliss can only be found in the serenity of darkness. — Saim .A. Cheeda

Archdeacon Peter's face was like stone. He was the worst kind of Christian, Philip realized: he embraced all of the negatives, enforced every proscription, insisted on all forms of denial, and demanded strict punishment for every offense; yet he ignored all the compassion of Christianity, denied its mercy, flagrantly disobeyed its ethic of love, and openly flouted the gentle laws of Jesus. That's what the Pharisees were like, Philip thought; no wonder the Lord preferred to eat with publicans and sinners. — Ken Follett

The people who make wars, the people who reduce their fellows to slavery, the people who kill and torture and tell lies in the name of their sacred causes, the really evil people in a word - these are never the publicans and the sinners. No, they're the virtuous, respectable men, who have the finest feelings, the best brains, the noblest ideals. — Aldous Huxley

The worst sinners, according to Jesus, are not the harlots and publicans, but the religious leaders with their insistence on proper dress and grooming, their careful observance of all the rules, their precious concern for status symbols, their strict legality, their pious patriotism ... the haircut becomes the test of virtue in a world where Satan deceives and rules by appearances. — Hugh Nibley

Jesus' 'lack of moral principles.' He sat at meat with publicans and sinners, he consorted with harlots. Did he do this to obtain their votes? Or did he think that, perhaps, he could convert them by such 'appeasement'? Or was his humanity rich and deep enough to make contact, even in them, with that in human nature which is common to all men, indestructible, and upon which the future is built? — Dag Hammarskjold

If I choose to dine with publicans and sinners, that is my business. But I do not choose to break bread with Pharisees. — Robert A. Heinlein

Harlots shall be made pure by their own tears. But you publicans shall be held down by the chains of your own judgement. — Khalil Gibran

Termagant!" he moaned after her. "Shrew! Harridan! All right, all right, you win, you, you ... uh ... virago, you spitfire ... " He rubbed his head and sat up, grinned sheepishly. Lin made an obscene gesture at him without turning around. — China Mieville

He, to Whom the Angels bowed down in worship, at that same time reclined at table with publicans. Upon Him the Seraphim dared not to gaze, and at the same time Pilate pronounced sentence upon Him. He is That One and Same, Whom the servant did smite and before whom did tremble all creation. He was nailed to the Cross and ascended to the Throne of Glory - He was placed in the tomb and He stretched out the heavens like a canopy (Ps. 104:2) He was numbered amidst the dead and He emptied hell; here upon the earth, they cursed at Him as a transgressor - there in Heaven, they exclaimed Him glory as the All-Holy. What — John A. Peck

Shopkeepers - the great landed and commercial interests - regularly sat and slept, and where the two publicans occupied pews, but seldom made even the pretence of worshipping. — Thomas Hughes

Amazingly, their belief in their own ability was an even stronger predictor of job performance than the actual level of skill or training they had. More — Shawn Achor

As I have read the Gospels over the years, the belief has grown in me that Christ did not come to found an organized religion but came instead to found an unorganized one. He seems to have come to carry religion out of the temples into the fields and sheep pastures, onto the roadsides and the banks of the rivers, into the houses of sinners and publicans, into the town and the wilderness, toward the membership of all that is here. Well, you can read and see what you think. — Wendell Berry

The difference between famous creators and struggling artists is that the creators know that improving the lives of others deserves the highest reward. — Alan Cohen

The hand that holds the seven stars is as loving as the hand that was laid in blessing upon the little children; the face that is as the sun shining in its strength beams with as much love as when it drew publicans and harlots to His feet. The breast that is girt with the golden girdle is the same breast upon which John leaned his happy head. — Alexander MacLaren

Analyze, as a study in Temper, the thunder-cloud itself as it gathers upon the Elder Brother's brow. What is it made of? Jealousy, anger, pride, uncharity, cruelty, self-righteousness, touchiness, doggedness, sullenness - these are the ingredients of this dark and loveless soul. In varying proportions, also, these are the ingredients of all ill temper. Judge if such sins of the disposition are not worse to live in, and for others to live with, than the sins of the body. Did Christ indeed not answer the question Himself when He said, "I say unto you that the publicans and the harlots go into the Kingdom of Heaven before you"? There is really no place in heaven for a disposition like this. A man with such a mood could only make heaven miserable for all the people in it. Except, therefore, such a man be BORN AGAIN, — Henry Drummond

I don't want to embarrass any other catcher by comparing him to Johnny Bench. — Sparky Anderson

Tsars and slaves, the intelligent and the obtuse, publicans and pharisees all have an identical legal and moral right to honor the memory of the deceased as they see fit, without regard for anyone else's opinion and without the fear of hindering one another. — Anton Chekhov

Publicans and harlots do sooner come to heaven than Pharisees, because they are sooner convinced of their sin and misery. — Richard Baxter

Back in the eighties, people thought a vegan was someone from Vegas. It's a different world now and I feel lucky to have been a part of the revolution, both for animal rights and gay rights. — Dan Mathews

The spirit of Lincoln still lives; that spirit born of the teachings of the Nazarene, who promised mercy to the merciful, who lifted the lowly, strengthened the weak, ate with publicans, and made the captives free. In the light of this divine example, the doctrines of demagogues shiver in their chaff. — Martin Luther King Jr.