Motivational Quotes

Prayer

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.

- Kierkegaard, S°ren

Best Quotes about Prayer

Prayer should be short, without giving God Almighty reasons why he should grant this, or that; he knows best what is good for us.

Selden, John

If you can't pray a door open, don't pry it open.

Rader, Lyell

The influence of prayer on the human mind and body is as demonstrable as that of secreting glands. Its results can be measured in terms of increased physical buoyancy, greater intellectual vigor, moral stamina, and a deeper understanding of the realities underlying human relationships.

Carrel, Dr. Alex

All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother. I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.

Lincoln, Abraham

Ask God for what man can give, and you may get it.

Proverb, English

Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.

Gandhi, Mahatma

One hour in the execution of justice is worth seventy years of prayer.

Proverb

Heaven grant that the burden you carry may have as easy an exit as it had an entrance. [Prayer To A Pregnant Woman]

Erasmus, Desiderius

Spiritual favors are not always to be looked for, and not always to be relied on.

Barr, Amelia E.

10.

My prayer to God is a very short one: O Lord, make my enemies look ridiculous! God has granted it.

Voltaire

11.

When you pray for anyone you tend to modify your personal attitude toward him.

Peale, Norman Vincent

12.

Prayer and practice is good rhyme.

Proverb, Scottish

13.

There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.

Saint Theresa of Jesus

14.

The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament.

Lawrence, Brother

15.

Father in Heaven! When the thought of thee wakes in our hearts let it not awaken like a frightened bird that flies about in dismay, but like a child waking from its sleep with a heavenly smile.

Kierkegaard, S°ren

16.

If I regard wickedness in my heart the Lord will not hear. [Psalms 66:18]

Bible

17.

One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer.

G. E. Lessing

18.

Do not ask for what you will wish you had not got.

Seneca

19.

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.

Kierkegaard, S°ren

20.

There are thoughts which are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees.

Hugo, Victor

21.

We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them.

West, Charles C.

22.

Pray that you will never have to bear all that you are able to endure.

Proverb, Jewish

23.

Our thanks to God should always precede our requests.

24.

Common people do not pray; they only beg.

Shaw, George Bernard

25.

Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. [I Thessalonians]

Bible

26.

Short prayers reach heaven.

Proverb

27.

Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.

Socrates

28.

Ask God's blessing on your work, but don't ask him to do it for you.

Robson, Dame Flora

29.

That prayer has great power which a person makes with all his might. It makes a sour heart sweet, a sad heart merry, a poor heart rich, a foolish heart wise, a timid heart brave, a sick heart well, a blind heart full of sight, a cold heart ardent. It draws down the great God into the little heart; it drives the hungry soul up into the fullness of God; it brings together two lovers, God and the soul, in a wondrous place where they speak much of love.

Magheburg, Mechthild of

30.

To pray is to pay attention to something or someone other than oneself. Whenever a man so concentrates his attention -- on a landscape, a poem, a geometrical problem, an idol, or the True God -- that he completely forgets his own ego and desires, he is praying. The primary task of the schoolteacher is to teach children, in a secular context, the technique of prayer.

Auden, W. H.

31.

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.

Milton, John

32.

Audible prayer can never do the works of spiritual understanding, which regenerates; but silent prayer, watchfulness, and devout obedience enable us to follow Jesus example. Long prayers, superstition, and creeds clip the strong pinions of love, and clothe religion in human forms. Whatever materializes worship hinders man's spiritual growth and keeps him from demonstrating his power over error.

Eddy, Mary Baker

33.

Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.

Herbert, George

34.

If this obstacle is from Thee, Lord, I accept it; but if it is from Satan, I refuse him and all his works in the name of Calvary.

Kuhn, Isobel

35.

Pray to God but continue to row to the shore.

Proverb, Russian

36.

The wish to pray is a prayer in itself. God can ask no more than that of us.

Bernanos, Georges

37.

When a man has done all he can do, still there is a mighty, mysterious agency over which he needs influence to secure success. The one way he can reach it is by prayer.

Conwell, Russel H.

38.

The time to pray is not when we are in a tight spot but just as soon as we get out of it.

Josh Billings

39.

The fates are not quite obdurate; they have a grim, sardonic way of granting them who supplicate the thing they wanted yesterday.

Montgomery, Roselle Mercier

40.

Most men pray for power, the strength to do things. Few people pray for love, the quality to be someone.

Foster, Robert D.

41.

When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don't, they don't.

Temple, Sir William

42.

Just pray for a tough hide and a tender heart.

Graham, Ruth

43.

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.

Brooks, Phillips

44.

Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is God whom you ask to attend to them.

Hammarskjold, Dag

45.

When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.

Oscar Wilde

46.

A childish soul not inoculated with compulsory prayer is a soul open to any religious infection.

Cockburn, Alexander

47.

When you lie down with a short prayer, commit yourself into the hands of your Creator; and when you have done so, trust Him with yourself, as you must do when you are dying.

Taylor, Jeremy

48.

So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Bible

49.

Answered prayers cause more tears than those that remain unanswered.

Teresa of Avila, St.

50.

Take God for your spouse and friend and walk with him continually, and you will not sin and will learn to love, and the things you must do will work out prosperously for you.

John of the Cross, St.