Sermon quotes on excellence

Richard Chase

A Christian should constantly seek … highest standards and employ the most demanding comparisons for [his self-] evaluations.

Oliver Cromwell 

Qui cessat esse melior cessat esse bonus (He who ceases to be better ceases to be good)

Albert Einstein

There is only one road to true human greatness: the road through suffering.

John W. Gardner

An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher.

Excellence: Can We Be Equal and Excellent Too?

T.R. Glover 

The early Christian church conquered because the Christians of those days out-thought, out-lived, and out-died the pagans.

Kenneth Grider 

It is particularly significant that Christ’s people, who have tasted immortal knowledge, serve him with excellence.

Jon Johnston 

What T. H. Huxley said about education is true concerning Christian excellence. To paraphrase: It motivates us to do what we should do, when it should be done, as it should be done, whether it is convenient or not. 

Jon Johnston, Christian Excellence: Alternative to Success, Baker Publishing, 1985.

Dorothy Sayers

No crooked table legs or ill-fitting drawers ever, I dare swear, came out of the carpenter’s shop at Nazareth.

Creed or Chaos?, (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1949), 56–57. 

Jan Johnson

God’s ideas are not always obvious, and are always more clever than we can imagine. Even though the circumstances may be the same as many times before, God may have a different and better idea. So we are wise to ask for guidance each time.

When the Soul Listens

John Maxwell

Until I understand where I am, I can’t get to where I am going. This is the value of a compass when we are out walking or hiking and need to know we’re going in the right direction. But we also have an internal North Star. It’s that little nudge that tells us if we are on the right path to fulfilling our potential, or on the wrong path wasting energy traveling somewhere we don’t need to go. So my advice to you is, pull out that compass every once in a while and make sure you are navigating in the right direction on your journey.

Baruch Spinoza 

Excellent things are as difficult as they are rare. 

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