Anna Julia Cooper Quotes

Religion must be life made true; and life is action, growth, development - begun now and ending never. And a life made true cannot confine itself - it must reach out and twine around every pulsing interest within reach of its uplifting tendrils.

I didn't come to Christianity for money, I came to Christianity because this is the way we can live a better life.

As a child that is born into the world requires nourishment, so also the Christ that is born within is a babe and requires to be nourished to the full stature of manhood.

There is this difference between the growth of some human beings and that of others: in the one case it is a continuous dying, in the other a continuous resurrection.

We do well to remember that the Bible has far more to say about how to live during the journey than about the ultimate destination.

All religion relates to life, and the life of religion is to do good

Spiritual growth is marked by a growing realization of just how much grace you need.

Each one of us has our own evolution of life, and each one of us goes through different tests which are unique and challenging. But certain things are common. And we do learn things from each other's experience. On a spiritual journey, we all have the same destination.

Let everyone try and find that as a result of daily prayer he adds something new to his life, something with which nothing can be compared.

Learning how to operate a soul figures to take time.

What the purpose of my life is about is I want to become the kind of person that God wants me to become, and through my study of the scriptures, I can articulate the kind of person that God would be happy if I become.

I decided years ago that if I'm going to keep teaching contemplation, then the last years of my life should be contemplative.

There has already been the karmic work: that what life has transformed in me, this initiation brought on, of necessity, by trials.

Developing Christlike attributes in our lives is not an easy task, especially when we move away from generalities and abstractions and begin to deal with real life. The test comes in practicing what we proclaim.

You don't become a saint until you lead a good life whether in Tibet or Italy or America.

Spiritual formation is for everyone. Just as there is an 'outer you' that is being formed and shaped all the time, like it or not, by accident or on purpose, so there is an 'inner you.' You have a spirit. And it's constantly being shaped and tugged at: by what you hear and watch and say and read and think and experience.

We are not born all at once, but by bits. The body first, and the spirit later; and the birth and growth of the spirit, in those who are attentive to their own inner life, are slow and exceedingly painful.

God lets everything happen for a reason. It's all a learning process, and you have to go from one level to another.

Spiritual formation is character formation. Everyone gets a spiritual formation. It's like education. Everyone gets an education; it's just a matter of which one you get.

Eventually, I joined a church. I didn't go there to find a boyfriend; I truly wasn't looking for anyone other than the person I wanted to be.

I find that my upbringing in the Church and my relationship with God are huge benefits to me in helping me become the kind of person that I want to become.

I'm not big on faith rules, but if I had to choose one, it would be that every person must choose a faith issue upon which to hang her hat that requires her to change - not somebody else.

We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something.

The relation of redemption and sanctification would be the ongoing relationship between the driver and God who is directing her. Now, if God isn't directing him, he may go wild and do all sorts of things criminal and crazy.

The problem with Western Christians is not that they aren't where they should be but that they aren't what they should be where they are.