Wise stuff They Say …

I really dig quotes and I’m hoping you’ll like these too. This is the first of what I imagine will be many. I also dig having multiple parts to blog entries. Don’t be afraid to comment or add your own favorite quote in a comment.

It starts out as a bit of a Bono-palooza but moves on … some of my favs are at the bottom.

 

Bono, Singer, Philanthropist & HERO!

“I love the bit when Christ asked for his greatest hits and he says, ‘OK, love God, and love your neighbours as yourself.’ Christianity is not complicated, that’s what it is.” -Bono

I was born, I was born to sing for you
I didn’t have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice from the womb
My first cry, it was a joyful noise, oh, oh -U2, from the song Magnificent

“Isn’t equality a son of a bitch to follow through on. Isn’t “Love thy neighbour” in the global village so inconvenient?” -Bono

I often wonder if religion is the enemy of God. It’s almost like religion is what happens when the Spirit has left the building. -Bono

“I am a friend to God, a sworn enemy of the saccharine and a believer in grace over karma.” -Bono

“At a certain point, I just felt, you know, God is not looking for alms, God is looking for action.” -Bono

“To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.” -Bono

“It’s not enough to rage against the lie…you’ve got to replace it with the truth.” -Bono

“But with Christ, we have access in a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship. The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at a Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combination is what makes the Cross.” -Bono

“But I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I’d be in deep shit. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace.” -Bono 🙂

“I’m not doubting. I don’t doubt God. I have firm faith absolutely in God. It’s religion I’m doubting.” -Bono

“You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “as you reap, so you will sow” stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.”  -Bono

“The music that really turns me on is either running toward God or away from God. Both recognize the pivot, that God is at the center of the jaunt. So the blues, on one hand — running away; gospel, the Mighty Clouds of Joy — running towards. And later you came to analyze it and figure it out.” -Bono

“If I could put it simply, I would say that I believe there’s a force of love and logic in the world, a force of love and logic behind the universe. And I believe in the poetic genius of a creator who would choose to express such unfathomable power as a child born in “straw poverty”; i.e., the story of Christ makes sense to me.” -Bono

“I will admit that we are attracted to issues that unify people rather than divide them.” -Bono

“As an artist, I see the poetry of it. It’s so brilliant. That this scale of creation, and the unfathomable universe, should describe itself in such vulnerability, as a child. That is mind-blowing to me. I guess that would make me a Christian. Although I don’t use the label, because it is so very hard to live up to. I feel like I’m the worst example of it, so I just kinda keep my mouth shut.” -Bono

“I love the bit when Christ asked for his greatest hits and he says, ‘OK, love God, and love your neighbours as yourself.’ Christianity is not complicated, that’s what it is.” -Bono

“But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths, all ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and the poor. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.” -Bono

alright that’s enough Bono for a bit.

“There’s none to poor, too dirty, too broken. Too naked, too stupid, too drunken, to be thrown outside His love!”
—Aaron Strumpel,  from his song, “Give Me Your Hand” about the Love of God

“I want to know a person like you. Who’s not afraid to love the wicked and the poor.
I want to know a person like you
Who’s not afraid to touch the crooked and the whore”
—Aaron Strumpel, in his song “Dove” and he’s talkin’ bout Jesus

A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. -C. S. Lewis

Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. -C. S. Lewis …think “Awesome”.

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may just never be enough;
Give the world the best you have anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it’s all between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway. -Mother Teresa