My Quotes

QUOTES, PROVERBS & EPIGRAMS COMPOSED and COLLECTED

by David Lee Hatton
chapter 1 - chapter 2 - chapter 3 - chapter 4 - chapter 5
chapter 6 - chapter 7 - chapter 8 - chapter 9 - chapter 10 -

Chapter 1

1. Always take sides with God, for He forever has the winning side.

2. Anyone can learn from the pain of making mistakes, but a wise person avoids the pain altogether by learning from the mistakes of others. (adapted from Jack Hatton -- my dad)

3. A few moments of indulging in pride or lust may cost you pain or shame the rest of your life. (DLH)

4. The most violent sin of pride is an uncontrolled temper; the most destructive is bitterness. (DLH)

5. The fear of death is a prison; the fear of God is a fortress. (DLH)

6. Light accepted brings more light; light rejected brings the night.

7. For a holy life, pray daily: "By Your divine light, Lord, show me the world inside my own heart." (DLH)

8. Wisdom speaks a world of thought in a few words; foolishness uses many words to say nothing. (DLH)

9. Silence digests wisdom; uncontrolled talk regurgitates foolishness. (DLH)

10. Repent quickly when awakened under God's conviction, before the waves of dark reasoning rock your conscience back to sleep. (DLH)

11. Worry sets our problems above God's promises; faith places them into God's hands.

12. Invest every "today" in eternity, and after your last "tomorrow" you will never regret any "yesterday". (DLH)

13. Fearing God is divine wisdom; repenting of sin is new life.

14. God gives the very best to those who leave the choice with Him. (J. Hudson Taylor)

15. Follow the path of Christ and people may throw stones; throw stones in return and you've already left that path.

16. Fear the Lord truly and other fears disappear; trust Him fully and all worry withers. (DLH)

17. If, in loving the Lord, you do not fear Him, then you do not really know the Lord you claim to love. (DLH)

18. It's better to teach nothing other than what you have lived yourself.

19. There is no curse of man or demon that cannot be broken by a contrite heart of repentance toward God. (DLH)

20. Escape from the bondage of toys and take refuge in the safety of God's work. (DLH)

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Chapter 2

1. Those who build through prayer have the best job, for the Father is their Architect, Jesus their Contractor, and the Holy Spirit their Foreman.

2. When we work, we work; when we pray, God works.

3. The most powerful people are reduced to slavery through lack of self-control.

4. All other religions must halt before the Cross of Christ; before His Resurrection they disintegrate.

5. The Gospel commandments are two: love God and love others; keep both or you will soon keep neither.

6. God has a purpose for your life; finding it is life's greatest treasure, fulfilling it is life's greatest adventure.

7. God heals all wounds; time gives us space to experience God during the process.

8. The widow who gave her last penny stands forever as God's judgment on our hoarding stinginess.

9. An uncontrolled television set is like a crowded six-lane freeway running through your brain's living room. (DLH)

10. Hollywood's sewage system often overflows from your living room video player.

11. If the Holy Spirit hasn't yet made you sinless, He can at least help you sin less.

12. "Maybe" is the only return on worldly stocks; but "absolutely" is the guarantee of investing with God. (DLH)

13. Wealth that blesses the poor is the only kind that makes a person really rich.

14. Not enough time to finish your work means that you spent not enough time finding out if the work was chosen for you by God.

15. The efforts of godly parents are not paid back except when they see the raising of godly grandchildren.

16. If "whitewashed" sin is not placed under God's light, Jesus' blood can never wash it from the heart.

17. An uncontrolled temper betrays many human faults; a proud tongue exposes the rest.

18. God's servant Job had no more questions about human calamity when he saw God for Who He really was. (DLH)

19. Love without action is empty sentimentality; love at work is true compassion.

20. True worship begins by holding God in awe, and true praise follows by expressing that awe with our whole being.

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Chapter 3

1. Divorce awaits the marriage ruled by feelings; lasting happiness belongs to the couple who determine to work at love.

2. Joy is the fruit in a life where praise tills and waters the heart.

3. Following Jesus is dying to self before earthly death and living to God before heavenly life. (DLH)

4. The one who keeps planning without beginning and the one who begins new projects without finishing old ones are twins. (DLH)

5. When the hand of God is neither felt nor seen, God is pruning the branches of faith to help it grow and be more fruitful.

6. Those who refuse to forsake all and take up the cross are doomed to die repeatedly with every human loss on their way to the grave. (DLH)

7. God's measure of success in anything is the level of holiness and love in which it is done.

8. Do not break the laws of the land unless keeping them prevent you from obeying the law of God.

9. Aging guarantees a decrease in health and strength, but not an increase in knowledge and wisdom.

10. Foolish words shoot from our lips faster than thought: their shame sticks to our lives faster than glue.

11. Remembering that you will die helps you remember how you should live.

12. A Christian couple will never divorce as long as they keep Jesus as their Marriage Counselor as well as their Lord. (DLH)

13. Youth outlives old age when a person never tires of learning.

14. There is some good even in the worst of humanity, because every human is still graced with the image of the Creator.

15. We meet a little of ourselves in every other person; so, we pray best for ourselves when we include all humanity.

16. Total knowledge of the "what" about God doesn't compare with the smallest portion of experiencing the "Who" of God. (DLH)

17. Times of sickness are reminders of our mortality, signposts on the road of life to warn us that eternity is coming up soon.

18. Two secrets of happy marriage are marrying your best friend and always being best friends with your spouse; success in doing the second cancels failure in doing the first. (DLH)

19. If the devil is keeping you from sleep, see how long you can stay awake praying for the needs of others.

20. Boastful words are as welcome as the noise of fingernails scratching a chalkboard. (DLH)

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Chapter 4

1. Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers. (J. Sidlow Baxter)

2. Studying the text is helpful, but applying the text in context is the true way of learning.

3. People who are extremely happy often cry for joy with tears; people who are extremely distressed often cry for help with laughter. (DLH)

4. Spouses can destroy their marriage by expecting from their mate the love they need but haven't sought from God. (DLH)

5. On America's day in God's court, the evidence for conviction will be the fingerprints on credit cards and shopping carts.

6. Nourishing food, exercise, and proper rest are important, but without prayer and love there is no true health.

7. The humble heart hides with love a multitude of others' sins; but the proud mind hides with excuses a multitude of personal sins. (DLH)

8. The greatest "peace movement" is moving our own will off life's throne for Christ to sit there as King.

9. Only the anger of God is holy and pure, any other kind springs from pride.

10. Humility and self-esteem become friends when others are esteemed better than self.

11. Fear of God is really fear of the sin that displeases Him; therefore, fear sin! (DLH)

12. Do not fear the darkness of night---fear the darkness that assails your heart in broad daylight. (DLH)

13. We may not steal money or possessions from others, but have we stolen time and glory from God?

14. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. (Jim Eliot -- missionary martyr)

15. Flatterers seem to have no enemies, but really they have no friends.

16. The more we know and serve Jesus as Lord the better we will know and walk with Him as Friend. (DLH)

17. We remember our birthdays each year, but to live sober, holy lives, we should contemplate the hour of our death each day. (DLH)

18. Most marriages that start in bed end in court.

19. How will God judge a nation with a ratio of one guilty murderer getting the death penalty for every one million innocent babies getting slaughtered by abortion? (DLH)

20. Gossipers beg for attention out of their poverty of having nothing really important to say.

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Chapter 5

1. Satan's voice is detected by two extremes: flattery and condemnation.

2. We hear good in one ear, evil in the other, but the words of our mouth show which ear is listening.

3. If we could see our thoughts, words, and actions as God does, it would be easy to pray without ceasing. (DLH)

4. The drippings from a gossip's tongue is as destructive as caustic acid, and the odor of his words as foul as the gas bubbling up from a cesspool. (DLH)

5. Where perfect words spoken harshly fail, awkward words spoken gently will succeed.

6. The encouragement you give to others may turn out to be your own.

7. The Holy Spirit speaks peace; Satan speaks haste.

8. Life isn't fair; so, it takes a lot of unjust spankings in life to grow up. (Jack Hatton -- my dad)

9. The only sure protection of the mind from Satan's thoughts is the Cross of Christ.

10. The boxer who stands up after a fall may still win the match; so may a Christian who gets back up afer falling into sin.

11. Thinking about heaven's eternity brings the shortness of earthly life into a holy perspective.

12. Self-made individuals must ignore their faults, deny their faults, blame someone else, or repent and seek their real Maker... (DLH)

13. Poor atheist on Thanksgiving Day: all dressed up with no One to thank! (DLH)

14. Marriage in America is being destroyed by the whims of individuals committed to "self" rather than to "family."

15. The first step in victory over Satan is acknowledging his existence; the second step is ignoring him.

16. The rebellious heart is easy prey to false doctrine, for falsehood is rebellion against truth. (DLH)

17. The war between good and evil is fought on the battlefield of the human mind.

18. A good teacher is a facilitator of learning, not an instructor in facts.

19. One good question is worth a dozen good answers.

20. A good leader is not a critic but a coach, is positive about the negative, and emphasizes responsibility instead of rights.

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Chapter 6

1. Ultimate freedom is man's right to choose his attitude. (Victor Frankl -- Man's Search for Meaning)

2. The insecure person is one who has not found the security that comes from being loved.

3. The frustrated person either has unreal expectations of life or has a life that is not disciplined to achieve realistic goals.

4. Jesus is our best Friend, but true friendship with Christ grows out of recognizing first that He is Lord. (DLH)

5. A person who feels accepted usually responds with a commitment to leadership, not with rebellion.

6. Solving problems in relationships starts with listening to the other person's opinions and perceptions.

7. Fix the children's toys today; tomorrow they will be fixing their own toys.

8. Prayer is unholy when we forget the Holy One we pray to.

9. If Satan was able to stick around when God is being praised, he wouldn't try so hard to stop us from starting to do it. (DLH)

10. It's sobering to realize that when you are distracted from praying to God it's because you have listened to a demon that was praying to you. (DLH)

11. This present life is a shadow cast by our eternal soul in the search light of God.

12. Death can take the Christian from earthly pains to heavenly life, but the second death forever locks the unconverted soul in the torments of hell. (DLH)

13. When you are free to be nothing, God can use you for anything.

14. The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. (Edmund Burke)

15. Some see the bush the rose adorns,
Others see nothing but prickly thorns. (Fred Bauer)

16. Even the fire of hell cannot change the stubborn opinions of some people.

17. No man was ever wise by chance. (Seneca)

18. We find comfort among those who agree with us -- growth among those who don't. (Frank A. Clark)

19. Living for Christ is hard; living without Him is hopeless.

20. Pain in the Christian life reminds us that we haven't yet reached heaven. (DLH)

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Chapter 7

1. Love on earth brings tears, but Love in heaven will wipe them away. (DLH)

2. You prepare to live by preparing to die.

3. You can't keep from growing old, but you can always stay immature.

4. Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. (St. Francis of Assisi)

5. A man may admire any number of attractive women, but he's a fool unless he marries his best friend, no matter how beautiful her face or form. (DLH)

6. The only point of contact between Heaven and Hell is the Cross of Jesus Christ. (DLH)

7. Virtues are more often seen in discussion than in practice, but more often understood in lives than on lips.

8. Broadmindedness is often just the stretching apart of a person's conscience.

9. Don't ever run ahead of the Lord; He may decide not to catch up to you.

10. The more a man possesses over and above what he uses, the more careworn he becomes. (George Bernard Shaw)

11. A simple life discards whatever is not necessary to live, grow, and get the job done.

12. If you haven't used it in a year, it's only clutter.

13. Never react to a person based on the word of another: if the other's word is inaccurate, you lose credibility with the person, and your subsequent anger at the other's inaccuracy damages that relationship as well. (DLH)

14. The wind of God is always blowing, but we must hoist our sails. (Fenelon)

15. There is nothing like the light of eternity to show us what is real and what is not. (Catherine Booth)

16. If you don't act on what you do know, what difference does it make what you don't know?

17. Holiness is giving all that you know of yourself to all that you know of God.

18. Obedience is the one qualification for further vision. (G. Campbell Morgan)

19. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies. (Hudson Taylor)

20. Holiness without love is harshness; love without holiness is compromise. (Francis Schaeffer)

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Chapter 8

1. Beware the barrenness of a busy life. (Corrie ten Boom)

2. Work as if you did not believe in prayer, but pray as if you did not believe in work.

3. The world has lost the power to blush over its vice; the Church has lost her power to weep over it. (Leonard Ravenhill)

4. If you want to know God's secrets, you must gain God's confidence.

5. By falling before God, we rise toward Him. (I. Panin)

6. Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. (Jaroslav Pelican)

7. Do your givin' while you're livin', so you're knowin' where it's goin'.

8. An extraordinary God is looking for ordinary people through whom He can do extraordinary things. (Wayne West)

9. God doesn't call the prepared but prepares those He calls.

10. People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care.

11. Live that those who know Him not, but know you, may know Him.

12. You live in one of two tents: content or discontent.

13. God's grace keeps pace with all we face.

14. Sympathy is no substitute for action.

15. Say what you mean, and mean what you say, but don't say it mean. (A.A.)

16. We are not merely imperfect creatures who must be improved; we are . . . rebels who must lay down our arms. (C.S. Lewis)

17. There are always strings attached to God's gifts--the strings of divine love.

18. The Son of God became man to enable men to become sons of God. (Augustine)

19. How proper it is that Christmas should follow Advent -- for him who looks toward the future, the Manger is situated on Golgotha, and the Cross has already been raised in Bethlehem. (Dag Hammarskjöld)

20. True devotion never causes harm, but rather perfects everything we do; a devotion which conflicts with anyone's state of life is undoubtedly false. (Francis de Sales)

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Chapter 9

1. Christianity is always crucified between two thieves: false creed and false conduct.

2. Yesterday is history; tomorrow is mystery; today is gift, and that's why it's called "the present."

3. Devotion makes the care of family peaceful, the love of husband and wife more sincere, the service of one's king more faithful, and every task more pleasant. (Francis de Sales)

4. When sin and selfishness rule in the heart, a person's prayers go naturally to the throne of the king of sin and selfishness, and not into the ears of the Almighty. (DLH)

5. Lying is collaborating with Satan in his attempt to manipulate and control the thinking, decisions and actions of others by painting a false, imaginary world. (DLH)

6. Sin holds those most tightly who look for it outside themselves.

7. God enlightens the path of those who live up to the light He has already given them.

8. CHURCH-HOPPING is that perennial fruit of spiritual discontent where Christians relocate their posteriors from one church pew to another, instead of relocating their knees to a praying position, their feet to going on mission, and their hands to sacrificial service. (DLH)

9. When we look at God, our problems may not disappear, but they do take on a whole new appearance.

10. The Creator's intimacy with physical matter in Christ's Incarnation not only set Planet Earth center-stage in the universe, but opened to Earth's spirit-in-flesh inhabitants potential co-rulership of it in union with Him. (DLH)

11. Sometimes God calms the storm, and sometimes He calms the child in the midst of the storm.

12. Be prepared to meet your Maker by meeting with Him every week in church and every day in prayer. (DLH)

13. Who are those people kneeling, bending their heads into the toilet bowl of our nation's moral diarrhea, sniffing the putrid odor with delight? Fans of the Jerry Springer Show. (DLH)

14. Human imagination and creative energy was entrusted to us by our Creator for investment in real work with real things for real values in a real world; the Father of Lies knows that no demon can drain off those powers more effectively than by addicting a human mind to a make-believe world of adventures that lead nowhere and fantasy characters that become little gods. (DLH)

15. He stands erect who bends to help a friend... he rises by lifting others. (cltd. by LAH)

16. Success comes in CANs, failure in CAN'Ts--- so get hold of a CAN-opener and start to use it! (cltd. by LAH)

17. A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on. (cltd. by LAH)

18. Life is short, time is precious, and if our desire is to achieve something, we must learn to choose between the husk and the kernel. (cltd. by LAH)

19. Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the apples in a seed. (cltd. by LAH)

20. There is a sharp severity in God, because LOVE, the identifying essence of His very nature, is absolutely committed to TRUTH, whose LIGHT forever pronounces a passionate and dispelling "NO" to darkness. (DLH)

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Chapter 10

1. Perpetual, unchanged habits of irresponsibility have annoying, long-term consequences. (DLH)

2. Christ's Cross and Resurrection transformed human death from an abrupt "period" in a brief sentence into a mere "comma" in an eternal, divine biography. (DLH)

3. If believers in "intelligent design" have millions of supporting illustrations from real life, while believers in evolution haven't even a single one, which group is obviously under the spell of superstition? (DLH)

4. It becomes blatantly apparent who the religious fanatics are when you witness the hot reaction that believers in evolution display when "intelligent design" scientists attempt to get the public to bring evolutionary theory under critically rational scrutiny. (DLH)

5. Involvement in trivia wouldn't be so foolish if God hadn't told us the matters for real concern.

6. To wage war with darkness, walk in the light; when you do, the war comes to you.

7. To be rewarded abundantly when suffering wrongfully, take it patiently. (1 Peter 2:19-20)

8. God's Holy Love is so passionately committed to Truth that unrepentant sinners shun it as Divine Wrath, while repentant believers embrace it as the Cross of Christ. (DLH)

9. Simple, child-like acceptance of the Gospel is salvation; ingrown addiction to skepticism and excuses is damnation. (DLH)

10. Just as there is no basis for mutual union in marriage without a husband and wife freely giving themselves up to each other, so there is no perfect union in Christ when the Bride of Christ doesn't surrender herself fully to the Bridegroom who so freely gave Himself up for her. (DLH)

11. If we play shepherd to the wind, we find pasture for demons, for by straying from the truth we give them food for laughter and fill their cup of pleasure. (Augustine, Confessions)

12. If the things of this world delight you, praise God for them, but turn your love away from them and give it to their Maker, so that in the things that please you you may not displease Him. (Augustine, Confessions)

13. Death is a confirmation of the believer's creed. For the skeptic it is discovery, immense and late. (Calvin Miller, The Finale)

14. God doesn't always call the equipped, but He will always equip the called.

15. Faith is that confident trust which joins us to the very life of God, while love is the demonstration of that trust in the complicated network of human life. (Larry D. Smith, When Steeples Are Falling)

16. But too many people now climb onto the cross merely to be seen from a greater distance, even if they have to trample somewhat on the one who has been there so long. (Albert Camus)

17. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you. (C. S. Lewis)

18. God is so important that the closer you get to Him the less important everything else seems.

19. Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.

20. Burning the candle at both ends really isn't that bright.

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