James Gibbons Quotes

Reform must come from within, not from without. You cannot legislate for virtue.

We do not attach any intrinsic value to the Cross; this would be sinful and idolatrous. Our veneration is referred to Him who died upon it.

I am no longer a curmudgeon. I am a curmudgeon emeritus.

There are no office hours for leaders.

Every man has a mission from God to help his fellow beings.

Like all valuable commodities, truth is often counterfeited.

No great thing comes to any person unless that person has courage.

A civil ruler dabbling in religion is as reprehensible as a clergyman dabbling in politics. Both render themselves odious as well as ridiculous.

For to keep at the top is harder almost than to get there

A critic is a man who expects miracles.

To-day the whole Christian world prostrates itself in adoration around the crib of Bethlehem and rehearses in accents of love a history which precedes all time and will endure throughout eternity. As if by an instinct of our higher, spiritual nature, there well up from the depths of our hearts, emotions which challenge the power of human expression. We seem to be lifted out of the sphere of natural endeavor to put on a new life and to stretch forward in desire to a blessedness which, though not palpable, is eminently real.

There are no working hours for leaders.

Berlioz says nothing in his music, but he says it magnificently.