John Eldredge Quotes

The story of your life is the story of the long and brutal assault on your heart by the one who knows what you could be and fears it.

Security is not found in the absence of danger, but in the presence of Jesus.

Deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue.

The true story of every person in this world is not the story you see, the external story. The true story of each person is the journey of his or her heart.

The heart is God's most magnificent creation, and the prize over which he fights the kingdom of darkness. Now consider this - marriage is the sanctuary of the heart. You have been entrusted with the heart of another human being. Whatever else your life's great mission will entail, loving and defending this heart next to you is part of your great quest.

A wound that goes unacknowledged and unwept is a wound that cannot heal.

Faith looks back and draws courage; hope looks ahead, and keeps desire alive.

Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wildness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of man.

To find God, you must look with all your heart. To remain present to God, you must remain present to your heart. To hear his voice, you must listen with all your heart. To love him, you must love with all your heart. You cannot be the person God meant you to be, and you cannot live the life he meant you to live, unless you live from the heart.

An intimate encounter with Jesus is the most transforming experience of human existence. To know him as he is, is to come home. To have his life, joy, love, and presence cannot be compared. A true knowledge of Jesus is our greatest need and our greatest happiness.

Caring for our own hearts isn't selfishness; it's how we begin to love.

somehow we have overlooked the fact this treasured called the heart can also be broken, has been broken, and now lies in pieces down under the surface. When it comes to habits we cannot quit or patterns we cannot stop, anger that flies out of nowhere, fears we cannot overcome, or weaknesses we hate to admit--much of what troubles us comes out of the broken places in our hearts crying out for relief. Jesus speaks as if we are all brokenhearted. We would do well to trust His perspective on this.

You can't fight a battle you don't think exists.

Without the anticipation of better things ahead, we will have no heart for the journey.

It is the thoughts and intents of the heart that shape a person's life.

A man needs a much bigger orbit than a woman. He needs a mission, a life purpose, and he needs to know his name. Only then is he fit for a woman, for only then does he have something to invite her into.

It takes great courage to be vulnerable. It takes enormous strength to be a real woman.

But a wound unfelt is a wound unhealed.

The most dangerous man on earth is the man who has reckoned with his own death. All men die; few men ever really live.

Don't climb on that, don't break anything, don't be so aggressive, don't be so noisy, don't be so messy, don't make such crazy risks. But God's design - which He placed in boys as the picture of Himself - is a resounding yes. Be fierce, be wild, be passionate.

Every man is a warrior inside. But the choice to fight is his own.

We abandon the most important journey of our lives when we abandon desire. We leave our hearts by the side of the road and head off in the direction of fitting in, getting by, being productive, what have you. Whatever we might gain – money, position, the approval of others, or just absence of the discontent self – it’s not worth it.

If we can reawaken that fierce quality in a man, hook it up to a higher purpose, release the warrior within, then the boy can grow up and become truly masculine.

A man's calling is written on his true heart, and he discovers it when he enters the frontier of his deep desires.

In the end, it doesn’t matter how well we have performed or what we have accomplished—a life without heart is not worth living.