Quotes from Georgia Harkness

the most common type of pessimism is neither philosophical nor religious: it is the pessimism of thwarted desire. ... It is the cynical sneer of the man who, seeking roses, finds only ashes.

Religion is the most widely debated and least agreed upon phenomenon of human history.

Prayer is the opening of the soul to God so that he can speak to us.

To keep God at the center of one's life requires frequent renewal of power through prayer.

To pray well one must pray much.

The tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world.

One can be coerced to church, but not to worship.

The perpetual danger which besets religion is that it may substitute gentility and aestheticism for prophetic insight and power.

while religion is ethical, it by no means follows that ethics is religion.

churches, like all the rest of our major institutions, are rooted in capitalism. For a church to attack capitalism is to 'bite the hand that feeds it.

Eternal life is personal existence in continuity with the present life, but transfigured.

Life is a continual alternation of rest and action, of the need of comfort and the need of power.

love is always in danger of being sentimentalized.

the truth is seldom found in extremes. Central truths can be revolutionary if put to work.