Quotes About Discernment

It is the work of fancy to enlarge, but of judgment to shorten and contract and therefore this must be as far above the other as judgment is a greater and nobler faculty than fancy or imagination.

How little do they see what is, who frame their hasty judgments upon that which seems.

Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to bother with.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the people you need to concentrate on.

Lester Sumrall told a story of a conference he and Smith Wigglesworth were part of. It was the first time Sumrall had met Wigglesworth. Sumrall got up to preach. And he preached and preached. After a while, Wigglesworth came up behind him, put his hand on his shoulder, and said, "Son, it would have been wise for you to have ended fifteen minutes ago, when the Holy Ghost ended." And he shut down the meeting. So many people go beyond the Holy Spirit.

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's a duck!

You won't even see what is put right on the table before you. Men. If it was raining soup you'd be out there with a fork.

I was as foolish as I had ever been, no, even stupider, for the gullibility of a boy is fatuousness in a man.

There is power in the keeping of a secret, and power in the revelation of a secret. Sometimes it takes very wise man to discern which is the path to greater power.

Vultures and peacocks might both have feathers and beaks, but one did not confuse the two creatures.

And while you're 'hearing' all this vital gossip, I might point out to you that no wise man tells all he knows. And that he who carries tales has little else in his head...

It was better to leave the space empty of words than to choose the wrong ones.

Be very chary of telling your hoarded secrets. Many lose all power once they have been divulged.

I don't finish books I don't like. There's too many good ones out there waiting to be found.

Burrich the Stablemaster, the man who raised me, once warned me, "When you cut pieces from the truth to avoid sounding like a fool, you end up sounding like a moron instead." I

And while you're 'hearing' all this vital gossip, I might point out to you that no wise man tells all he knows. And that he who carries tales has little else in his head. Do you understand me, Brant?

What is a secret? It is much more than knowledge shared with only a few, or perhaps only one other. It is power. It is a bond. It may be a sign of deep trust, or the darkest threat possible. There is power in the keeping of a secret, and power in the revelation of a secret. Sometimes it takes a very wise man to discern which is the path to greater power.

Bad friends could ruin your whole life. Be wise when it comes to choosing your friends. You set the standard. You be the one who stands strong. Don't be a follower.

This is a quote from C. S. Lewis. It helped me a lot when I was trying to decide God's will fro me when my emotions were overruling my logic. Feelings come adn go, and when they come, a good use can be made of them, but they cannot be our regular spiritual diet.

Typically, the louder a voice gets, the bigger the knot in my gut grows. So I have to turn my heart and mind toward our Heavenly Father and ask, "Is this pit in my stomach about today or is it about what already happened in the past or about what I'm afraid might happen in the future?

Satan's strategy is effective because he sprinkles his poisonous brew with just enough veracity that we'll swallow it.

I've been praying for that same kind of discernment lately. I want to recognize the dangerous, potentially biting characters in my story: the people who create constant emotional debris with their destructive personalities or who refuse to shed the skin of deception, the ones who threaten the God-with-me peace in my life. I'm learning to keep my distance and to pray for snakes, but not make a habit of getting down in the dirt to play with them.

I know that you guys decide who you 'like' and who you don't, then confirmation bias sets in and before you know it, the wrong person has been suspected of murder, even charged.

When fortune comes, do not enjoy all of it; when advantage comes, do not take all of it