Ralph Washington Sockman Quotes

A true lover always feels in debt to the one he loves

The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.

Gentleness is a divine trait: nothing is so divine as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as real strength.

The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.

Faced with the immensity of the universe, Job realized that there are limits to man's rationalizing, that we cannot find where the cloud of sorrow starts, that all our boasted knowledge is but an island in the vast ocean of mystery, and as the island of knowledge grows larger, the shore line of mystery becomes longer. At the end of his wits, he surrendered in trust to a Higher Wisdom.

There are parts of a ship which taken by themselves would sink. The engine would sink. The propeller would sink. But when the parts of a ship are built together, they float. So with the events of my life. Some have been tragic. Some have been happy. But when they are built together, they form a craft that floats and is going places. And I am comforted.

Our growth depends not on how many experiences we devour, but on how many we digest.

True humility is intelligent self-respect which keeps us from thinking too highly or too meanly of ourselves. It makes us mindful of the nobility God meant us to have. Yet it makes us modest by reminding us how far we have come short of what we can be.

The test of our religion is whether it fits us to meet emergencies. A man has no more character than he can command in a time of crisis.

Our love for God is tested by the question of whether we seek Him or His gifts.

What makes greatness is starting something that lives after you.

All our science and philosophy form only an island of knowledge surrounded by an ocean of mystery. The larger the island grows, the longer the shoreline where the known meets the unknown.

The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable.

When the dictators and the opportunists are gone, the cross will still stand before us and something in us will say, That is the real thing.

Nothing is so strong as gentleness.

Give the best you have to the highest you know... and do it now.

Whatever the right hand findeth to do, the left hand carries a watch on its wrist to show how long it takes to do it.

In overcoming prejudice, working together is even more effective than talking together.

Good habits, which bring our lower passions and appetites under automatic control, leave our natures free to explore the larger experiences of life. Too many of us divide and dissipate our energies in debating actions which should be taken for granted.

In all living there is a certain narrowness of application which leads to breadth and power. We have to concent on a thing in order to master it. Then we must be broad enough not to be narrowed by our specialties.

Let us not bankrupt our today's by paying interest on the regrets of yesterday and borrowing in advance the troubles of tomorrow.

When we count on chance in lieu of law and labor, we weaken our healthy attitudes toward work, our fellow men and our God.

Our Creator has put in us hungers that this earth can- not satisfy. We cannot be completely self-contained on earth. Physical sense cannot give us a full life, nor can knowledge alone. No life is full unless it is linked to some- thing that goes on after we are dead.... If we have nothing more to live for than just to get ahead in a competitive system, then democracy will go down before other philosophies.

A service of worship is primarily a service to God. When we realize this and act upon it, we make it a service to men.

True liberty consists not merely in being free from something, but also in being free for something.