Inspirational Quotes by Peter Kreeft

“It is tempting to remain in the comfortable theater of the imagination instead of the real world, to fall in love with the idea of becoming a saint and loving God and neighbor instead of doing the actual work, because the idea makes no demands on you.”

“nothing else can ever cure our sick world except saints, and saints are never made except by prayer.”

“Right Response to Reality—the Three R’s—is the fundamental principle of morality, of sanctity, and of sanity.”

“we catch the good infection of Godliness by contact.”

“He stoops down even into the spiritual nursery and carefully watches over spiritual infants like us.”

“Light, life, and love parallel the three absolute values of truth, goodness, and beauty, the supreme values of the three parts of the soul; intellect, will, and emotions. God is all truth, goodness, and beauty; everything that is true, good, or beautiful is a reflection of God, a participation in God, a shadow of God. Therefore every choice for or against any truth, any goodness or any beauty is a choice for or against God—whether He is known or unknown, named or anonymous. A choice to change a diaper, praise a sunset, admit a mistake, or give up a subway seat is a choice for God: “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brothers, ye did it unto Me.”15”

“The Church also seems to be in the social service business, the counseling business, the fundraising business, the daycare business-dozens of the same worthy businesses the secular world is also in. Why? What justifies these things? The Church's ultimate end for all these things is different from the world's end; it is salvation. This is its distinctive "product." Why put out a product that is just the same as other compa- vies' products already on the market? Why would anyone expect such a product to sell? That's why modernist or liberal Christianity, charitable as its services are, is simply not selling. The only reason for any of the Church's activities, the only reason for the very existence of the Church at all, is exactly the same as the reason Jesus came to earth: to save poor and lost humanity.”

“We love Mary for one reason: because we love Jesus. The more we love Jesus, the more we love Mary. If we could grade Catholics on a scale of sainthood, a kind of spiritual graph, three lines would be almost identical in height or depth: how saintly you are, how much you love Jesus, and how much you love Mary. That’s the empirical fact. Here comes the explanation. Look at the Hail Mary prayer. It stops halfway through. The speaker has to take a silence break before and after the name “Jesus.” He’s at the heart of that prayer as He was at the heart of her body, her womb. Look at the title we give her in that prayer: “Mother of God.” Unbelievable, astonishing, incredible, amazing, infinitely wonderful! What? Jesus in Mary, Jesus incarnating, Jesus coming down to us in Mary. Suppose He had chosen to come in another way. He could have. He could have appeared instantly as a full-grown man descending from the sky, the reverse of the Ascension. He could have come down on a mountaintop, or in the Temple. And if he had, every Christian in the world who adored Him would make a pilgrimage to that mountain or that Temple. They would love that place above all places in the universe. They would make a very big deal of it. Why? Because they make a very big deal about Him.”

“Over half of all Roman Catholics in America today leave the Church before they get married and have kids. The most common reason for returning is for the kids. Like parachute jumpers, soldiers in foxholes, and big wave surfers, parents know they need God. And for similar reasons.”

“Father Norris Clarke, S.J., my philosophy professor at Fordham, went to Tibet once, on his own, just to converse with the Buddhist monks there. After a day of delightful conversation with the Buddhist abbot about their religions, the abbot said, “Obviously, our two religions are very different. But I think they are also very similar in their root in the depths of the human heart. I would like to test this idea, with your permission. Here are four of my priests who speak good English. I will ask you and them the same question and compare your answers. I have never asked them this question before. The question is this: What is the first requirement for any religion at all?” Father Clarke thought that was an excellent experiment, so he agreed. He and the four monks wrote their answers on five pieces of paper. When the papers were unfolded and read, the very same single word was found on all five of them. The word was gratitude.”

“Socrates says we must be either fools because we think we are wise, or wise because we know we are fools. Christ says we must be either sinners who think we are saints, or saints who know we are sinners. Even”

“It is often said that we live in a youth culture. It's a lie. We live in an old culture. We idolize youth because we are old. We are tired and bored. Ancient cultures respected the old because those cultures were young. They were not bored.”

“KANT: The traditional religious foundation for morality may be ontologically stronger, but I say it is not logically or epistemologically stronger. It cannot be proved by speculative, theoretical reason. It cannot be known with certainty. I wanted to construct an absolute and certain ethics; that’s why I confined myself to the parameters of reason alone—and of practical reason alone, for I believe that practical reason can do much more than theoretical reason. I cut down the bushes and weeds of theoretical reason to make room for the garden of practical faith. SOCRATES: So both your structure and your strategy depend on your epistemology of theoretical reason. Your ethics depends on your epistemology. KANT: Yes. We have already established that. SOCRATES: Then I fear it is a beautiful building with a questionable foundation. KANT: That is your final judgment on my work? SOCRATES: Alas, it is. KANT: I have two questions I would like to ask you in conclusion, if they are allowed. SOCRATES: We do not forbid questions here. KANT: You have told me what you think of my philosophy. Can you assure me that God agrees with your judgment on my philosophy? And can you tell me His judgment on me? On how I am known to God? Can you tell me my Heavenly identity? SOCRATES: Can I do these two things? I can answer both of those questions with the same answer. KANT: And the answer is . . . ? SOCRATES: I. Kant.”

“other little wooden fences can come down too. How? When? God only knows.”

“Happiness can get boring, because it is the satisfaction of our desires, and we know what we desire. (Can you desire what you do not know?) Joy never gets boring because it transcends our desires and surprises them with gifts.”

“If a government is built on the principle of benevolence similar to that of a father towards his children, that is, a paternal government . . . , in which subjects are treated like children who have not yet come of age and who cannot distinguish what is truly beneficial from what is harmful for them . . . this is the greatest despotism imaginable. . . . Not a paternal but a patriotic government . . . is the only government conceivable for human beings who are capable of rights. (OCS)”

“Doesn’t certainty about a universal negative require omniscience? Don’t you have to have knowledge of everywhere to know that there is no X anywhere?”

“There is a legend that in every age God spares the world the destruction it deserves only because there are a certain number of Abrahams, righteous men and women who keep the world alive by their righteousness and their prayers, by the mass and the gravity of their righteousness reverberating on the walls of the divine mercy. No one but God knows who these righteous are or how many there are.”

“(See C. S. Lewis’ essay “Meditation in a Toolshed” for this crucial distinction.) The”

“Principles are not conclusions but starting points, principia. When”