Isaac Watts Quotes

Genuine religion is not about speculating about God or the soul or about what happened in the past or will happen in the future; it cares only about one thing—finding out exactly what should or should not be done in this lifetime.

There are moral religious people and moral secular people, immoral religious people and immoral secular people.

Sin ought to be something exquisite, my dear boy.

Ye must leave righteous ways behind, not to speak of unrighteous ways.

Vice is a dreary business. And virtue is not a lot of fun, either.

Whatever efforts one may make, one must revert to the realization that religion is the real basis of morality; religion is the real and perceptible purpose within us, which alone, can turn aside our attention from things. ... The science of morality can no more teach human beings to be honest, in all the magnificence of this word, than geometry can teach one how to draw.

Tis certain that Morality is an indispensable Requisite of true Religion, and there can be none without it. But it would become the Pride and Ignorance of Pagans only, to magnify it, as the Whole of what is necessary.

Morality, taken as apart from religion, is but another name for decency of sin.

The idea of right and wrong, being righteous, acknowledging when you make a mistake, repentance - all these important things I got from my Catholic background.

I do not want to suggest that you have to be religious to be moral.

I will be guided by the Christian ethic and an awareness that human action is by nature transient.

In the end, religion teaches us to value truth, justice and freedom.

Blessedness is not the reward of virtue but virtue itself.

Most of us want to have enough... good works to get into heaven, but enough bad works to be fun.

Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual.

The religious man fears, the man of honor scorns, to do an ill action.

Religion is rather the attempt to express the complete reality of goodness through every aspect of our being.

It is not difficult to avoid death. It is much more difficult to avoid wickedness, for it runs faster than death.

The rewards of integrity are immeasurable. One is the indescribable inner peace and serenity that come from knowing we are doing what is right; another is an absence of the guilt and anxiety that accompany sin. Another reward of integrity is the confidence it can give us in approaching God. When virtue garnishes our thoughts unceasingly, our confidence is strong in the presence of God.

Prudence is a quality incompatible with vice, and can never be effectively enlisted in its cause.

Piety and morality are but the same spirit differently manifested. Piety is religion with its face toward God; morality is religion with its face toward the world.

Sin can bring pleasure, but never happiness.

One path alone leads to a life of peace. The path of virtue.