Spiritual Writing Quotes

I should like to think how we write as theologians would reflect our confidence in the One who makes that writing possible. That is one of the reasons, moreover, that the scriptures remain paradigmatic for how we are to write.

I brought all the instincts of a writer with me into the monastery.

I did not write it. God wrote it. I merely did his dictation.

I don't claim anything of the work. It is his work. I am like a little pencil in his hand. That is all. He does the thinking. He does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it.

I don't write the books. God writes the books and delivers the speeches.

Our lives are greatly enriched when we immerse ourselves in literature and spiritual writing, not because we are going to be tested but purely for the sake of enrichment.

I never set out to write prayers at all. But there was a span of time when I didn't find it easy to pray, but, when I went to write one of the things I had to write, a prayer would come.

I went before the Lord, and I wrote what the Lord told me to write . . . .

I've always wondered, am I a writer who preaches or a preacher who writes? I don't know. I love them both.

I have never separated the writing of poetry from prayer. I have grown up believing it is a vocation, a religious vocation.

The Holy Spirit ain't got a pen.

For me writing isn't a mental exercise, it's barely even a literary exercise, it feels like a spiritual experience.

All writing is by the grace of God. People do not deserve to have good writing, they are so pleased with bad. In these sentences that you show me, I can find no beauty, for I see death in every clause and every word. There is a fossil or a mummy character which pervades this book. The best sepulchers, the vastest catacombs, Thebes and Cairo, Pyramids, are sepulchers to me. I like gardens and nurseries. Give me initiative, spermatic, prophesying, man-making words.

The four rules of writing... 1. Write to discover. 2. There is no greater discovery than love. 3. All love comes from the Creator. 4. Write what you will.

Writing is like praying, because you stop all other activities, descend into silence, and listen patiently to the depths of your soul, waiting for true words to come. When they do, you thank God because you know the words are a gift, and you write them down as honestly and cleanly as you can.

I think I've been very lucky all my life because the writing and the faith seem to go together.

I'm a writer of faith. I was raised Catholic, and I have a deeply Catholic imagination.

I don't think I could write a novel that wasn't theological.

All of my writing is God-given.

That is one of the reasons I write: to feel the Presence of God and know He is speaking to me in a very personal way, instructing me, correcting me, redirecting me.

I have finally decided to write my book on the spiritual life. I mean to put down as simply as possible the sort of ascetical or mystical teaching that I have been living and preaching so long. I call it 'Le Milieu Divin,' but I am being careful to include nothing esoteric and the minimum of explicit philosophy.

Kabuki is the way that I so often write; Noh is how I would write if I were more 'spiritual,' more understated, or perhaps just older.

I couldn't bear to see a chapter of the gospel turned into a chapter of Trollope.