Poor In Spirit Quotes

• Being 'poor in spirit' (a Christian virtue) means being detached from things - being able to possess goods without being possessed by them. It meansputting people ahead of possessions - and seeing material things only as instruments for serving God and the needs of others.

  James Stenson

  Christian, Mean, People

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• Blessed are the poor in spirit." Blessed are they who are stripped of every thing, even of their own wills, that they may no longer belong to themselves.

  Francois Fenelon

  Blessed, Simplicity, May

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• Catch {a man} at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, "By jove, I'm being humble," and almost immediately pride - pride at his own humility - will appear.

  C. S. Lewis

  Humble, Humility, Pride

  C.S. Lewis (1996). “Joyful Christian”, p.153, Simon and Schuster

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• The man who is poor in spirit desires and says with his whole heart, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. It is as though he himself disappears; everywhere and in everything he wishes to see God-in himself and in others. 'Let everything by Thine, not mine.'

  John of Kronstadt

  Heart, Men, Names

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• 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall see God' suggested to me a heavenly welfare program for the meek. Today that saying reveals an astute insight into egotism, about how those with swollen pride or vanity cannot see anything larger than themselves.

  Huston Smith

  Blessed, Pride, Welfare Programs

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• With so much effort being poured into church growth, so much press being given to the benefits of faith, and so much flexing of religious muscle in the public square, the poor in spirit have no one but Jesus to call them blessed anymore.

  Barbara Brown Taylor

  Religious, Jesus, Blessed

  FaceBook post by Barbara Brown Taylor from Jun 27, 2013

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• The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. These are the 'poor in spirit.'

  Aiden Wilson Tozer

  Lonely, Blessed, Heart

  "The Pursuit of God". Book by Aiden Wilson Tozer, 1957.

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• It can be here today and gone tomorrow.

  Ann Romney

  Gone, Today, Tomorrow

  "Ann Romney: I dont' consider myself to be wealthy". www.foxnews.com. March 6, 2012.

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• Ultimate Reality is not clearly and immediately apprehended except by those who have made themselves loving, pure in heart and poor in spirit.

  Aldous Huxley

  Love, Humility, Heart

  Aldous Huxley (2003). “Huxley and God: Essays on Religious Experience”, Crossroad 8 Avenue

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• I find afflictions to be good for me. I have always found them so. Afflictions are happy means in the hands of the Holy Spirit to subdue my corruptions, my pride, my evil passions, my inordinate love to the creature. Afflictions soften my hard heart, bring me to my knees, increase faith, increase love, increase humility, increase self-denial. Afflictions make me poor in spirit, and nothing in my own eyes.

  Joseph Williams

  Passion, Heart, Mean

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• Do not complain then of your poverty, my daughter, - we only complain of that which is unwelcome, and if poverty is unwelcome to you, you are no longer poor in spirit.

  Saint Francis de Sales

  Daughter, Complaining, Poverty

  Saint Francis de Sales, Catholic Way Publishing (2015). “The Saint Francis de Sales Collection [16 Books]”, p.234, Catholic Way Publishing

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• When a person gets right with God, my eyes are upward...I'm poor in spirit. I'm spiritually bankrupt.

  Johnny Hunt

  Leadership, Christian, Eye

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• If you are lonely, please know you can find comfort. If you are discouraged, please know you can find hope. If you are poor in spirit, please know you can be strengthened. If you feel you are broken, please know you can be mended.

  Jeffrey R. Holland

  Lonely, Broken, Comfort

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• If the Savior were among us today, we would find Him where He always was-ministering to the meek, the downcast, the humble, the distressed, and the poor in spirit. During this Christmas season and always, may we give to Him by loving as He loves.

  Dieter F. Uchtdorf

  Humble, Giving, May

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• Poor and content is rich, and rich enough.

  William Shakespeare

  Money, Simplicity, Contentment

  1603-4 Iago to Othello. Othello, act 3, sc.3, l.176-8.

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• What I've found is that country doesn't refer to where you grew up as much as where your heart grows down, where it takes root. Country is a state of mind. I believe what ultimately defines being country is simple: a loving heart, a helping hand, an open mind, poor in spirit.

  Clay Walker

  Country, Believe, Heart

  Clay Walker (2013). “Jesus Was a Country Boy: Life Lessons on Faith, Fishing, and Forgiveness”, p.12, Simon and Schuster

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• Economic power is not the same as strength of national character. Our country may be rich in goods, but we are poor in spirit.

  Richard M. Nixon

  Country, Character, Power

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• It is incumbent on us diligently to remember that the kingdom of heaven was promised to the poor in spirit, and that minds afflicted by calamity and the contempt of mankind cheerfully listen to the divine promise of future happiness; while, on the contrary, the fortunate are satisfied with the possession of this world; and the wise abuse in doubt and dispute their vain superiority of reason and knowledge.

  Edward Gibbon

  Wise, History, Heaven

  Edward Gibbon (1854). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.217

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• We can be poor in spirit, and I don’t even consider myself wealthy, which is an interesting thing. It can be here today and gone tomorrow.

  Ann Romney

  Interesting, Gone, Today

  "Ann Romney Had Health Scare In March". www.huffingtonpost.com. April 26, 2012.

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• Riches seem to come to the poor in spirit, the poor in interest and joy. To put it straight - the very rich are a poor bunch of bastards

  John Steinbeck

  Joy, Riches, Spirit

  John Steinbeck (2002). “East of Eden”, p.510, Penguin

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• A truly Christian love, either to God or men, is a humble broken-hearted love. The desires of the saints, however earnest, are humble desires. Their hope is a humble hope; and their joy, even when it is unspeakable and full of glory, is a humble broken-hearted joy, and leaves the Christian more poor in spirit, and more like a little child, and more disposed to a universal lowliness of behaviour.

  Jonathan Edwards

  Christian, Children, Humble

  Jonathan Edwards (1821). “A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections: In Three Parts ...”, p.293

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• Heaven must be an awfully dull place if the poor in spirit live there.

  Emma Goldman

  Heaven, Dull, Spirit

  Emma Goldman (1913). “Mother Earth, a Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Social Science and Literature”

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• Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

  Don Marquis

  Bible, Jesus, Humble

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• An animal so poor in spirit that he won't even fight on his own behalf is already an evolutionary dead end; the best he can do for his breed is to crawl off and die, and not pass on his defective genes.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Fighting, Animal, Spirit

  "The Pragmatics of Patriotism". Address at the U.S. Naval Academy, April 5, 1973.

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• I thought: pity the poor in spirit who know neither the enchantment nor the beauty of language.

  Muriel Barbery

  Enchantment, Spirit, Language

  "The Elegance of the Hedgehog". Book by Muriel Barbery, August 31, 2006.

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