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The ceremony of lifting up our hands in prayer is designed to remind us that we are far removed from God, unless our thoughts rise upward.

— John Calvin Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)

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Prayer

More quotes by John Calvin

There is also an old proverb, that they who pay much attention to the body generally neglect the soul.

We should never insult others on account of their faults, for it is our duty to show charity and respect to everyone.

We must resist wandering thoughts in prayer. Raising our hands reminds us that we need to raise up our minds to God, setting aside all irrelevant thoughts.

Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)

It is easy to see how superstition, with its false glosses, mocks God, while it tries to please him.

Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)

There is not one little blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make men rejoice.

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When the mind is not dissipated upon extraneous things, nor diffused over the world about us through the senses, it withdraws within itself, and of its own accord ascends to the contemplation of God.

Basil of Caesarea

Oh dear Pan and all the other Gods of this place, grant that I may be beautiful inside.

Plato

To feel the supreme and moving beauty of the spectacle to which Nature invites her ephemeral guests! … that is what I call prayer.

Claude Debussy Claude Debussy: His Life and Works (1933)

"O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small."

John F. Kennedy

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Calvin (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.