John Calvin Quotes

The fanaticism which discards the Scripture, under the pretense of resorting to immediate revelation...

The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.

How do you know yourself to be a son of God in fact as well as in name?”Answer: “Because I am baptiz...

The difference between us and the papists is that they do not think that the church can be 'the pill...

Faith is a knowledge of the benevolence of God toward us and a certain persuasion of His veracity.

There is no work, however vile or sordid, that does not glisten before God.

However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes...

A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked a...

There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rej...

[They] pervert the course of nature [by saying] the sun does not move and that it is the earth that ...

Knowledge of the sciences is so much smoke apart from the heavenly science of Christ.

Seeing that a Pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the ...

There is no knowing that does not begin with knowing God.

We should ask God to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it wh...

God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of...

Faith consists not in ignorance but in knowledge and that not only of God but also of the divin...

Is it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church?

The answer of our prayers is secured by the fact that in rejecting them God would in a certain sense...

No man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is set open unto all men: neither is...

There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence.

Yet consider now, whether women are not quite past sense and reason, when they want to rule over men...

God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escape...

It would be the height of absurdity to label ignorance tempered by humility "faith"!(Institutio III....

May we be prepared, whatever happens, rather to undergo a hundred deaths than to turn aside from the...

men are undoubtedly more in danger from prosperity than from adversity. for when matters go smoothly...

All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they ...

We shall never arrive at true meekness by any other way than by humiliating ourselves and by honorin...

True wisdom consists in two things: Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self.

It is a promise which eminently deserves our observation that all who are united to Christ and ackno...

True knowledge of God is born out of obedience.

It is not the mere fear of punishment that restrains [man] from sin. Loving and revering God as his ...

Is it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church?

Indeed, men who have either quaffed or even tasted the liberal arts penetrate with their aid far mor...

Man's nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.

For very few persons are concerned about the way that leads to heaven, but all are anxious to know, ...

The knowledge of ourselves, therefore, is not only an incitement to seek after God, but likewise a c...

The worship of God is…the only thing which renders men superior to brutes, and makes them aspire to ...

For though God has promised to do whatsoever his people may ask, yet he does not allow them an unbri...

And indeed we must seek the true rule of prayer in the word of God, that we may not rashly break thr...

The whole world is a theatre for the display of the divine goodness, wisdom, justice, and power, but...

The Lord commands us to do good unto all men without exception, though the majority are very undeser...

The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life. It cannot be grasped by reason and memory o...

Without the fear of God, men do not even observe justice and charity among themselves.

In a way, the futile excuses many people use to cover their superstitions are demolished. They think...

Were the judgments of mankind correct, custom would be regulated by the good. But it is often far ot...

For if we see that the sun, in sending forth its rays upon the earth, to generate, cherish, and invi...

In forming an estimate of sins, we are often imposed upon by imagining that the more hidden the less...

No one can travel so far that he does not make some progess each day. So let us never give up. Then ...

Those who set up a fictitious worship, merely worship and adore their own delirious fancies; indeed,...

We unlearn the art of speaking well when we cease to speak with God.

Men in prayer give greater license to their unlawful desires than if they were telling jocular tales...

Prayer unaccompanied by perseverance leads to no result.

The cross of Christ only triumphs in the breast of believers over the devil and the flesh, sin and s...

He who neglects to pray alone and in private, however assiduously he frequents public meetings, ther...

I was always exceedingly delighted with that saying of Chrysostom, "The foundation of our philosophy...

When God descends to us he, in a certain sense, abases himself and stammers with us, so He allows us...

We are enjoined whenever we behold the gifts of God in others so to reverence and respect the gifts ...

The Lord enjoins us to do good to all without exception, though the greater part, if estimated by th...

He regards it as the highest insult for the wicked to boast of His covenant while profaning His sacr...

But the Lord often leaves his servants, not only to be annoyed by the violence of the wicked, but to...

Our true wisdom is to embrace with meek docility, and without reservation, whatever the holy scriptu...

It is now clear that faith is a singular pledge of paternal love, treasured up for the sons whom he ...

We should consider that the brightness of the Divine countenance, which even an apostle declares to ...

We are not to reflect on the wickedness of men but to look to the image of God in them, an image whi...

When the same qualities which we admire in ourselves are seen in others, even though they be superio...

Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God. Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to...

We are not to look to what men in themselves deserve but to attend to the image of God which exists ...

He who has learned to look to God in everything he does is at the same time diverted from all vain t...

There is no inconsistency when God raises up those who have fallen prostrate.

The salvation of all the elect is not less certain than the power of God is invincible.

For the Word of God is not received by faith if it flits about in the top of the brain, but when it ...

The Must be worthless by our estimation or keep us enslaved by an intemperate love of it.

Prayers will never reach God unless they are founded on free mercy.