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To rely on intellectual methods for the direct advance of devout thought is to mistake philosophy for religion… Who does not know, out of his own heart, that he never was reasoned into holy wonder, love, or reverence? and who can fail to observe that there is no fixed proportion between force of understanding and clearness or depth of religion?

— James Martineau Hours of Thoughts on Sacred Things Vol. 2 (1879)

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Religion

More quotes by James Martineau

There is no room in the universe for the least contempt or pride; but only for a gentle and a reverent heart.

Hours of Thought on Sacred Things (1879)

There is no human life so poor and small as not to hold many a divine possibility.

Trust arises from the mind's instinctive feeling after fixed realities, after the substance of every shadow, the base of all appearance, the everlasting amid change.

Hours of Thought on Sacred Things (1879)

God loves our mercy to one another; but not upon conditions at variance with sanctity to Him.

Religion is no more possible without prayer than poetry without language, or music without atmosphere.

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Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

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The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

John Adams A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787)

The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

Thomas Babington Macaulay History of England (1849)

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