Prodigal Son Quotes

• The difference between mercy and grace? Mercy gave the prodigal son a second chance. Grace gave him a feast.

  Max Lucado

  Son, Second Chance, Differences

  Twitter post from Jan 17, 2011

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• I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found.

  Henri Nouwen

  Unconditional Love, Son, Found

  Henri Nouwen (2013). “The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming”, p.39, Image

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• One of the hardest things in the world is to stop being the prodigal son without turning into the elder brother.

  John Ortberg

  Brother, Son, World

  John Ortberg (1997). “The Life You've Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People”, p.103, Harper Collins

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• Never cease loving a person, and never give up hope for him, for even the prodigal son who had fallen most low, could still be saved; the bitterest enemy and also he who was your friend could again be your friend; love that has grown cold can kindle.

  Soren Kierkegaard

  Hope, Falling In Love, Giving Up

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• We want to be saved from our misery, but not from our sin. We want to sin without misery, just as the prodigal son wanted inheritance without the father. The foremost spiritual law of the physical universe is that this hope can never be realized. Sin always accompanies misery. There is no victimless crime, and all creation is subject to decay because of humanity’s rebellion from God.

  R. C. Sproul

  Spiritual, Father, Son

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• It is for us to begin. If we take one step towards the Lord, he takes ten towards us -- he who saw the prodigal son while he was at a distance, and had compassion and ran and embraced him.

  Tito Colliander

  Distance, Son, Compassion

  Tito Colliander (1982). “Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth”, p.60, St Vladimir's Seminary Press

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• If they had a social gospel in the days of the prodigal son, somebody would have given him a bed and a sandwich and he never would have gone home.

  Vance Havner

  Home, Son, Bed

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• I do not believe we can truly enter into our own inner pain and wounds and open our hearts to others unless we have had an experience of God, unless we have been touched by God. We must be touched by the Father in order to experience, as the prodigal son did, that no matter how wounded we may be, we are loved. And not only are we loved, but we too are called to heal and to liberate. This healing power in us will not come from our capacities and our riches, but in and through our poverty. We are called to discover that God can bring peace, compassion and love through our wounds.

  Jean Vanier

  Pain, Father, Believe

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• The Prodigal Son story is, I think, the greatest short-story ever written. It has such drama in it, such great characters, it's so clear and concise, and it's entertaining in the sense that everyone can relate to it. But you have no doubt what our Lord was trying to communicate in the heart of that story. So the truth was not sacrificed on the altar of entertainment in that case. And it can be.

  Max Lucado

  Drama, Heart, Character

  Source: www.preaching.com

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• There is a trend today that would put a new robe on the prodigal son while he is still feeding hogs. Some would put the ring on his finger while he still in the pigsty. Others would paint the pigsty and advocate bigger and better hog pens.

  Vance Havner

  Son, Bigger And Better, Laziness

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• I never understood redemption when I was young. Even before I was an atheist, I always thought with the prodigal son, "well, why's he getting the special treatment?"

  Ricky Gervais

  Atheist, Son, Special

  "Ghost Town - Ricky Gervais interview". Interview with Rob Carnevale, www.indielondon.co.uk.

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• Ironically, it was the father's blessing that actually "financed" the prodigal son's trip away from the Father's face! and it was the son's new revelation of his poverty of heart that propelled him back into his Father's arms. Sometimes we use the very blessings that God gives us to finance our journey away from the centrality of Christ. It's very important that we return back to ground zero, to the ultimate eternal goal of abiding with the Father's in intimate communion. (pg. 243)

  Tommy Tenney

  Zero, Father, Heart

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• The flame that burns Twice as bright burns half as long.

  Laozi

  Inspirational, Philosophy, Flames

  "Tao Te Ching". 4th century BC.

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• My writing has developed drastically . The Return of the Prodigal Son is the most important thing I've done, and my most mature book.

  Henri Nouwen

  Book, Writing, Son

  Source: www.liguorian.org

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• The parable of the prodigal son, the most beautiful fiction that ever was invented; our Saviour's speech to His disciples, with which He closed His earthly ministrations, full of the sublimest dignity and tenderest affection, surpass everything that I ever read; and like the spirit by which they were dictated, fly directly to the heart.

  William Cowper

  Bible, Beautiful, Heart

  William Cowper (1862). “Letters of William Cowper; being a selection from his correspondence: with a sketch of his life, and biographical notices of his correspondents. [With a portrait.]”, p.54

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• Jesus disclosed that God is compassionate. Jesus spoke of God that way: "Be compassionate, as God is compassionate." Compassion is the primary quality of the central figures in two of his most famous parables: the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan. And Jesus himself, as a manifestation of the sacred, is often spoken of as embodying compassion.

  Marcus Borg

  Jesus, Father, Son

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• In the long run we are all dead.

  John Maynard Keynes

  Funny, Death, Running

  A Tract on Monetary Reform ch. 3 (1923)

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• I do not overlook the fact that the appearance of these new, free nations in the European political community not only celebrates the return of the prodigal son but also creates new sources of friction here and there

  Hjalmar Branting

  Son, Community, Political

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• I'm a prodigal son. The black sheep of a white flock. I shall die on the gallows.

  William A. Drake

  Death, Son, Sheep

  "Fictional character: Baron Felix von Geigern". "Grand Hotel", www.imdb.com. 1932.

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• If the Prodigal Son's a parable, and if Adam and Eve are metaphors, then maybe God is just figure of speech.

  Dan Barker

  Son, Atheism, Speech

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• To my way of thinking, the concept drawings that Rembrandt did, the drawings he made that he used to model his artists, to work out the compositions of his paintings: those are cartoons. Look at his sketch for the return of the prodigal son. The expression on the angry younger brother's face. The head is down; the eyebrow is just one curved line over the eyes. It communicates in a very shorthand way. It's beautiful, expressive, and, in a peculiar way, it's more powerful than the kind of stilted, formalized expression in the final painting.

  Jim Woodring

  Beautiful, Brother, Powerful

  Interview with Ross Simonini, staging.believermag.com. 2008.

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• There are men regarded today as brilliant economists, who deprecate saving and recommend squandering on a national scale as the way of economic salvation; and when anyone points to what the consequences of these policies will be in the long run, they reply flippantly, as might the prodigal son of a warning father: 'In the long run we are all dead.' And such shallow wisecracks pass as devastating epigrams and the ripest wisdom.

  Henry Hazlitt

  Running, Father, Son

  Henry Hazlitt (2010). “Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics”, p.12, Crown Business

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• In Prodigal Son, Christine Sutton has penned a tight, brutally honest portrait of a psychopath reminiscent of Theodore Sturgeon's 'Some of Your Blood'. This dark descent into the broken mind of Timothy Robert Shively will send chills down your back. Every word rings true, and every page is dark with menace. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up right now. You can thank me later.

  Joe

  Son, Dark, Blood

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