Bede Griffiths Quotes

“Obedience is detachment from the self. This is the most radical detachment of all. But what is the self? The self is the principle of reason and responsibility in us. It is the root of freedom, it is what makes us men.”

“He alone loves the Creator perfectly who manifests a pure love for his neighbor.”

“The world needs anger. The world often continues to allow evil because it isn't angry enough.”

“And I pray thee, loving Jesus, that as Thou hast graciously given me to drink in with delight the words of Thy knowledge, so Thou wouldst mercifully grant me to attain one day to Thee, the fountain of all wisdom and to appear forever before Thy face.”

“God had brought me to my knees and made me acknowledge my own nothingness, and out of that knowledge I had been reborn. I was no longer the centre of my life and therefore I could see God in everything.”

“The mysterious is always attractive. People will always follow a vail.”

“May He give usall the courage that we needto go the way He shepherds us.That when He callswe may go unfrightened. If He bids us come to Himacross the waters,that unfrightened we may go. And if He bids us climb a hill,may we not notice that it is a hill,mindful only ofthe happiness of His company. He made us for Himself,that we should travel with Himand see Him at the lastin His unveiled beautyin the abiding city whereHe is lightand happinessand endless home.”

“The world needs more anger. The world often continues to allow evil because it isn't angry enough.”

“I was suddenly made aware of another world of beauty and mystery such as I had never imagined to exist, except in poetry. It was as though I had begun to see and smell and hear for the first time. The world appeared to me as Wordsworth describes with “the glory and freshness of a dream.” The sight of a wild rosegrowing on a hedge, the scent of lime-tree blossoms caught suddenly as I rode down a hill on a bicycle, came to me like visitations from another world. But it was not only my sensesthat were awakened. I experienced an overwhelming emotionin the presence of nature, especially at evening. It began to have a kind of sacramental character for me. I approached it with a sense of almost religious awe and , in a hush that comes before sunset, I felt again the presence of an almost unfathomable mystery. The song of the birds, the shape of the trees, the colors of the sunset, were so many signs of the presence, which seemed to be drawing me to itself.”

“It is no longer a question of a Christian going about to convert others to the faith, but of each one being ready to listen to the other and so to grow together in mutual understanding.”