Harry Emerson Fosdick

"Already all of us must have heard about the people who call themselves the Fundamentalists. Their apparent intention is to drive out of the evangelical churches men and women of liberal opinions. I speak of them the more freely because there are no two denominations more affected by them than the Baptist and the Presbyterian. We should not identify the Fundamentalists with the conservatives. All Fundamentalists are conservatives, but not all conservatives are Fundamentalists. The best conservatives can often give lessons to the liberals in true liberality of spirit, but the Fundamentalist program is essentially illiberal and intolerant."

"Dont simply retire from something; have something to retire to."

"God of grace and God of glory, On Thy people pour Thy power. Crown Thine ancient churchs story, Bring her bud to glorious flower. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, For the facing of this hour, For the facing of this hour."

"Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your minds eye and you will be drawn toward it. Picture yourself vividly as defeated and that alone will make victory impossible. Picture yourself vividly as winning, and that alone will contribute immeasurably to success. Do not picture yourself as anything and you will drift like a derelict."

"Peace is an awareness of reserves from beyond ourselves, so that our power is not so much in us as through us. Peace is the gift, not of volitional struggle, but of spiritual hospitality."

"Christians are supposed not merely to endure change, nor even to profit by it, but to cause it."

"God is not a cosmic bell-boy for whom we can press a button to get things done."

"To keep the Golden Rule we must put ourselves in other peoples places, but to do that consists in and depends upon picturing ourselves in their places."

"At very best, a person wrapped up in himself makes a small package."

"I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it."

"Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, Lest we miss Thy kingdoms goal, Lest we miss Thy kingdoms goal."

"Some Christians carry their religion on their backs. It is a packet of beliefs and practices which they must bear. At times it grows heavy and they would willingly lay it down, but that would mean a break with old traditions, so they shoulder it again. But real Christians do not carry their religion, their religion carries them. It is not weight, it is wings. It lifts them up, it sees them over hard places. It makes the universe seem friendly, life purposeful, hope real, sacrifice worthwhile. It sets them free from fear, futility, discouragement, and sin — the great enslaver of mens souls. You can know a real Christian when you see him, by his buoyancy."