John Bunyan Quotes

Every contrition for sin is apt to encourage a not quite charitable wish that other people should exhibit a similar contrition.

Self-righteousness is the fruit of a low view of God's law and a lite view of your own sin.

Sinners think they are saints, but saints know they are sinners.

A cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to Hell than a prostitute.

If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all. ... How can I possibly serve another person in unfeigned humility if I seriously regard his sinfulness as worse than my own?

I will not say it is not Christian to make beads of others faults, and tell them over every day; I say it is infernal. If you want to know how the Devil feels, you do know, if you are such an one.

Vanity, showing off, is an attitude that reduces spirituality to a worldly thing, which is the worst sin that could be committed in the church.

Most people repent their sins by thanking God they ain't so wicked as their neighbors.

The hardest people to reach with the love of God are not the bad people. They know they are bad. They have no defense. The hardest ones to win for God are the self-righteous people.

'Bloody do-gooders' is my expression for people who are nicer than me, who are better than me.

God has nothing to say to the self-righteous.

Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us.

Jesus is never upset at sinners; he is only upset with people who do not think they are sinners.

Pharisaism is not a degeneration in a good man: a large portion of it is rather the condition of all being-good.

The operation of the Church is entirely set up for the sinner; which creates much misunderstanding among the smug.” (August 9, 1955)

He always had a problem with the purity of others. Never his own.

Sometimes we emulate the Pharisees more than we imitate Christ.

The act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others. The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is that the surrendering and humbling of the self breed pride and arrogance. The true believer is apt to see himself as one of the chosen, the salt of the earth, a prince disguised in meekness, who is destined to inherit this earth and the kingdom of heaven, too. He who is not of his faith is evil; he who will not listen shall perish.

A preacher who doesn't believe he's that bad will attract people who don't think they're that bad. And that's bad.

People who parade their holiness are operating dangerously close to the sin of pride.

What he says, even on his knees, about his own sinfulness is all parrot talk. At bottom, he still believes he has run up a very favorable credit-balance in the Enemy's ledger by allowing himself to be converted, and thinks that he is showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these 'smug', commonplace neighbors at all.

Give a man religion without reminding him of his filth, and the result will be arrogance in a three- piece suit.

It is a cheap zeal that reserves its passions to combat only the sins and temptations of others.

We are apt to be very pert at censuring others, where we will not endure advice.

Self-righteousness is unavoidable. You can either be a self-righteous Pharisee where you think you are better than everyone else or you can be a self-righteous pagan who thinks you are better than the Pharisee. If you are a self-righteous person, I could become very self-righteous thinking that you're self-righteous and you think you're so good but I know you're bad. I know I'm bad so that makes me better than you.