COMMONPLACE BOOK

A Commonplace Book is a collection of quotes, aphorisms, and thoughts of all kinds that shape or form the compiler. I preach and teach so a notebook like this one, digital though it may be, is of real value to me. It’s organized to suit me so some categories may seem ill-suited to other’s sensibilities.

What follows may or may not be interesting to you. One might be shocked by some of the authors included below so don’t assume that the inclusion of a quote is an unquestioned endorsement of the person.

“I shall not find Christ at the end of my journey unless he accompanies me along the way.” – Esther De Waal, Celtic Way of Prayer

“it is better to be wrong than to be vague.” – Freeman Dyson, in The Sun, The Genome and the Internet

“When we confess our virtues to one another we become competitors; when we confess our sins with one another we become brothers.” – Karl Barth

“We are exiles in the far end of solitude, living as listeners,
With hearts attending to the skies we cannot understand:
Waiting upon the first far drums of Christ the Conqueror,
Planted like sentinels upon the world’s frontier.” – Thomas Merton

“Our chance to be healed comes when the waters of our life are disturbed.” – Elizabeth O’Conner from the Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C.

“…being a Christian always involves becoming a Christian.” – Peter Rollins in How (Not) to Speak of God

“You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people if you don’t serve the people.” – Cornell West; from a Starbucks cup

“Past is past. Past is not present. Did is not do. Was is not is.”
-    John Wesley Weasel in Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin.