Schuller Quotes & Sayings

Tough times never last. Tough people do — Robert H. Schuller

The world of tomorrow belongs to the person who has the vision for today. — Robert H. Schuller

The record company started as an adjunct to that, to give young composers their first recorded performances; to give young musicians their first debut on a recording. These are all things that big record companies would never touch because there is no money in it! — Gunther Schuller

One classical role of the pulpit in Protestantism has been to 'preach sermons' which imply indoctrination more than education. Within this from of communication, there is an inherent, intrinsic inclination to intimidate, manipulate, and, hence, offend the person's most prized quality of humanness - his dignity. — Robert H. Schuller

Every person is responsible for all the good within the scope of his abilities, and for no more, and none can tell whose sphere is the largest. — Robert H. Schuller

You can often measure a person by the size of his dream. — Robert H. Schuller

I have discovered that you can go from nowhere to somewhere, from nothing to something, from a nobody to a somebody, from an empty person to a fulfilled one, if you have faith in God. — Robert H. Schuller

I think a good pastor is somebody who is honest and humble and has a really caring heart. — Robert H. Schuller

I wanted to be a painter and an artist. And it's interesting that in some of my later musical works, I refer so often and associate myself with works of art. — Gunther Schuller

My whole childhood was filled with classical music and going to concerts of the New York Philharmonic and other New York ensembles and organizations, but interestingly, I didn't become conscious of wanting to be a musician until I was about 11. I was a rather late starter. — Gunther Schuller

I'm short-selling my house. I have more loans than I can sell the house for. The house will not go into foreclosure. It will be a short sale. I can't afford the house as I once could. — Robert A. Schuller

I realized that every sermon I preached should be designed not to 'teach' or 'convert' people, but rather to encourage them, to give them a lift. I decided to adopt the spirit, style, strategy and substance of a 'therapist' in the pulpit. — Robert H. Schuller

The subconscious is ahead of the conscious, and we never know what really drives us. — Robert H. Schuller

You won't win if you don't begin. — Robert H. Schuller

Come to me. Are you lost? I can see another way from where I live. The heart can see a path that's out of sight to the head-a path you'll surely overlook, left alone on your lofty perch up there, too distracted by your world to see the real world where I live. I live on the level of laughter, tears, and-yes-prayer. — Robert H. Schuller

Classical theology defines sin as 'rebellion against God.' The answer is not incorrect as much as it is shallow and insulting to the human being. Every person deserves to be treated with dignity even if he or she is a 'rebellious sinner'. — Robert H. Schuller

High achievers spot rich opportunities swiftly, make big decisions quickly and move into action immediately. Follow these principles and you can make your dreams come true. — Robert H. Schuller

His musical inspiration operates in a world uncluttered by conventional bar lines, conventional chord changes, and conventional ways of blowing or fingering a saxophone. Such practical 'limitations' did not even have to be overcome in his music; they somehow never existed for him. Despite this-or more accurately, because of this-his playing has a deep inner logic. Not an obvious surface logic, it is based on subtleties of reaction, subtleties of timing and color that are, I think, quite new to jazz-at least they have never appeared in so pure and direct a form. — Gunther Schuller

You didn't think that when you got up this morning that this would be the day your life would change did you? But it's going to happen because the only thing that stands between you and grand success are getting started and not stopping. — Robert H. Schuller

When an opportunity comes, it holds possibilities. And when you move away from it or don't sense it or grasp it, you're really throwing away your future; you're throwing away your tomorrow. — Robert H. Schuller

God's forgiving grace is incomplete until he gives me - and I accept - a new kingdom-building dream and opportunity. — Robert H. Schuller

What we need is a theology of salvation that begins and ends with a recognition of every person's hunger for glory. — Robert H. Schuller

Optimism refuses to believe that the road ends without options. — Robert H. Schuller

Possibilitizing is overcoming while you're undergoing. — Robert H. Schuller

I feel that heterosexual marriage is the more excellent way, and it surely is approved holy by the Holy Bible, and it holds so many more possibilities: the possibilities of having children of both the mother and father, the male and the female. — Robert H. Schuller

If we could ever find that moment, maybe thousands of years from
now, where all the musics of the worlds would be communicating with each other, there would be no more wars, there would be peace. — Gunther Schuller

We are all children starving to experience and know the heart of reality. — Robert H. Schuller

It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts. — Robert H. Schuller

Nothing is more important than honesty in prayer. There are no pretensions in prayer, so the best place to begin is wherever you are. — Robert H. Schuller

Are you disappointed, discouraged and discontented with your present level of success? Are you secretly dissatisfied with your present status? Do you want to become a better and more beautiful person than you are today? Would you like to be able to really learn how to be proud of yourself and still not lose genuine humility? Then start dreaming! It's possible! You can become the person you have always wanted to be! — Robert H. Schuller

Don't let a temporal way to connect be a poor substitute for an eternal way. Without first being connected vertically to God, all the social networking contacts in the world won't be enough. — Robert A. Schuller

I have said to people I have six children, one son, four daughters, and a church. — Robert H. Schuller

Yes, you can be a dreamer and a doer too, if you will remove one word from your vocabulary: impossible. — Robert H. Schuller

The very word possibility creates a mental climate conducive to creativity. — Robert H. Schuller

The concept of the megachurch - some have attributed that to me. Whatever people want to buy, they can get it in the shopping center. It's one-stop shopping. Churches should be that way. — Robert H. Schuller

The Crystal Cathedral is not an attempt to be an architectural ego-statement. It's probably the ultimate spiritual and psychological statement that could be made in architectural terms. — Robert H. Schuller

I am not fully forgiven until I allow God to write his new dream for my life on the blackboard of my mind.. God has a great plan to redeem society. He needs me and wants to use me. — Robert H. Schuller

Winning starts with beginning. — Robert H. Schuller

The good news is that the bad news can be turned into good news when you change your attitude. — Robert H. Schuller

It's unfulfilled dreams that keep you alive. — Robert H. Schuller

You know how many seeds are in an apple. But you don't know how many apples are in a seed. — Robert H. Schuller

Love is my decision to make your problem my problem. — Robert A. Schuller

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? — Robert H. Schuller

The core of original sin, then is LOT - Lack of Trust. Or, it could be considered an innate inability to adequately value ourselves. Label it a 'negative self-image,' but do not say that the central core of the human soul is wickedness ... positive Christianity does not hold to human depravity, but to human inability. — Robert H. Schuller

Jesus never called a human being a sinner. — Robert H. Schuller

They decided to no longer air my messages on 'The Hour of Power.' They felt they could have greater impact if they had lots of different preachers. 'The Hour of Power' owns the Crystal Cathedral, and the owners, in effect, evicted me ... so that they could have other preachers on Sunday mornings. — Robert A. Schuller

I would like to read some books: I don't have time; I would like to continue working on my autobiography. — Gunther Schuller

The core of sin is a lack of self-esteem ... Sin is psychological self-abuse ... the most serious sin is one that causes me to say, 'I am unworthy. I may have no claim to divine sonship if you examine me at my worst.' For once a person believes he is an 'unworthy sinner,' it is doubtful if he can really honestly accept the saving grace God offers in Jesus Christ. — Robert H. Schuller

Tough times never last, but tough people do. — Robert H. Schuller

When you can't solve the problem, manage it. — Robert H. Schuller

God flourished my ministry and my career of creative thinking, communicating and writing back 50 years. — Robert H. Schuller

Labels such as, 'evangelical', 'fundamental', 'charismatic', 'liberal' contribute to polarization and produce a climate of implied or outspoken distrust. Respectful dialogue becomes virtually impossible. What we desperately need to offset this disunity and distrust is a new and cleansing theology of communication. — Robert H. Schuller

Many people think of me as a modernist, as a radical in music, you know, someone who's always sort of at the avant-garde of musics, but I'm also quite a traditionalist. — Gunther Schuller

Don't violate the law, but don't reject an idea because it's illegal. You might be able to get the law changed. — Robert H. Schuller

I wanted to be an artist, but at age 11, somehow all this musical knowledge and information and love for music that I had came out, and then suddenly it was very clear that I wanted to be a musician of some sort. — Gunther Schuller

What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail? — Robert H. Schuller

I want to build friendships. I want to come across as being a good illustration of what Jesus is like. — Robert H. Schuller

Grace is God's love in action for those who don't deserve it. — Robert H. Schuller

We are the Love, loving. — Robert H. Schuller

If there exists no possibility of failure, then victory is meaningless. — Robert H. Schuller

What do I mean by sin? Answer: Any human condition or act that robs God of glory by stripping one of His children of their right to divine dignity ... I can offer still another answer: 'Sin is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem'. — Robert H. Schuller

I was never close to Jerry Falwell because he had his ministry, I had mine. And we came from different theological training and from a different psychological education. — Robert H. Schuller

Doomed are the hotheads! Unhappy are they who lose their cool and are too proud to say, I'm sorry. — Robert H. Schuller

Never sell tomorrow short. There's plenty to get excited about. Be filled with expectation, hope and confidence. Believe something good is going to happen - and it usually will. — Robert H. Schuller

I am humanly unable to correct my negative self-image until I encounter a life-changing experience with non-judgmental love bestowed upon me by a Person whom I admire so much that to be unconditionally accepted by Him is to be born again. — Robert H. Schuller

So this anchoring in some way, in some important way in the past without repeating the past, but on the basis of the past building something new: that is what is important. — Gunther Schuller

Classical theology has erred in its insistence that theology be 'God-centered,' not 'man-centered'. — Robert H. Schuller

Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. — Robert H. Schuller

If you're going to counsel people - and that's all my ministry is, it's a counseling ministry more than anything else - people have to believe that they can trust you and that they can listen to you, that you're going to try to help them and not just politically try to convert them to your views. — Robert H. Schuller

Big egos have little ears. — Robert Schuller

To be born again means that we must be changed from a negative to a positive self-image - from inferiority to self-esteem, from fear to love, from doubt to trust. — Robert H. Schuller

Nobody has a money problem - there are only idea problems. — Robert H. Schuller

I believe that Christians believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works. And we believe that if you're saved, Jesus becomes your savior. He makes a promise to you. You can trust his promises. You can bank on that word. — Robert H. Schuller

Inch by inch, it's a cinch. — Robert H. Schuller

Through faith, the weak times can become peak times. — Robert H. Schuller

It can only be hoped that the overwhelming factual (not anecdotal) evidence presented herein will arouse conductors and performers of all stripes to rededi-cate themselves to serving, rather than using, the art of music - espousing the notion and principle that a great composer's creations ought to be inherently respected and cherished. Perhaps one could then supplant the motto "nobody gives a damn about the composer" with the more benign, gracious - and simple - "all for the composer. — Gunther Schuller

Well, because music is my life and music is not work for me. — Gunther Schuller

Any analysis of 'sin' or 'evil' or 'demonic influence' or 'negative thinking' or 'systemic evil' or 'antisocial behavior' that fails to see the lack of self-dignity as the core of the problem will prove to be too shallow. — Robert H. Schuller

Roman Catholics utter their Papal edicts, Protestants quote their Bible, Fundamentalists declare their orthodox theological dogmas, and we are all expected to renounce private reflection and peacefully acquiesce to these pronouncements. And the result is that the dignity of the person is violated by such oppressive, intelligence-smothering forms of communication. — Robert H. Schuller

Marriage may restrict your activity, but it increases your pleasure. It permits sex without shame, fear, or guilt. — Robert H. Schuller

We all know that a church is not a building. — Robert H. Schuller

Faith is reacting positively to a negative situation. — Robert H. Schuller

I will! I am! I can! I will actualize my dream. I will press ahead. I will settle down and see it through. I will solve the problems. I will pay the price. I will never walk away from my dream until I see my dream walk away: Alert! Alive! Achieved! — Robert H. Schuller

In difficult times, people too often lose the ability to face the future optimistically. They begin to think about their tomorrow's negatively. They forget that the tough times will pass. They concentrate on the problems of today rather than on the opportunities of tomorrow. In so doing, they not only lose the potential of today, they also throw away the beauty of tomorrow. — Robert H. Schuller

I think that there are cancers of the body, but I think they are what I would call cancer of the emotional system, too. These are the kind of diseases or illnesses or sicknesses of the emotional system that are as incurable as cancer. — Robert H. Schuller

There is a quiet place in Hawaii where, for over thirty years, I've gone to draw inspiration and write many of my books. — Robert H. Schuller

It's impossible to fail completely and it's impossible to succeed perfectly. — Robert H. Schuller

How we express ourselves in worship remains up in the air. — Robert H. Schuller

What would you do if you knew you could not fail? — Robert H. Schuller

Life is but a moment, death also is but another. — Robert H. Schuller

Every human being is born without faith. Faith comes only through the process of making decisions to change before we can be sure it's the right move. — Robert H. Schuller

The emerging church, reformed according to the needs of self-esteem-starved-souls under the Lordship of Christ ... will help us to affirm the concept that 'While god's ideas may seem humanly impossible, he will give us these ideas which will lead to glorious, self-esteem-generating success. — Robert H. Schuller

We are born to soar. We are children of God ... The Fatherhood of God offers a deep spiritual cure for the inferiority complex and lays the firm foundation for a solid spiritual self-esteem. — Robert H. Schuller

Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive. — Robert H. Schuller

You are what you think about all day long. — Robert H. Schuller

But somehow, I felt no inclination to be interested in it in any amateur way, let alone professional, until suddenly I became interested. And the first thing I did was to compose: not play an instrument, but to compose. — Gunther Schuller

Open your eyes that you might see that all things are possible through you (with God's help) — Robert A. Schuller

Daring to dream means daring to live. — Robert H. Schuller

I think there's definitely a potential there for a congregation to survive without the Crystal Cathedral. The congregation is the people. It's not the building. — Robert A. Schuller

Since it doesn't cost a dime to dream, you'll never shortchange yourself when you stretch your imagination. — Robert H. Schuller