"In books lies the soul of the whole past time, the articulate, audible voice of the past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream."

Inscribed on the wall in the Public Library of NSW

"The devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still"

A. W. Tozer

"To be joyful is to experience the power of the Holy Spirit within us and to say to a watching world, “Our God reigns."

Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness. 
I think I’ve hardly ever thought about the purpose of joy. Yet that’s half of what Bridges discussed in this chapter. Excellent!

"Suppose you read at about 250 words a minute. Now the reason I wanted to make this 250 words a minute is because the average American reads between 300- 350 words a minute. So what I’ve tried to do is pull you down to a fourth grade elementary school reading level. I’m saying if you want to try to use the “I don’t read well” excuse, I’ve just stolen it from you. I’ve literally just taken from you the “I don’t read well” because I’m giving you fourth grade reading level. Okay?

Suppose you read about 250 words a minute and you resolve to devote just 15 minutes a day to serious theological reading to deepen your grasp of biblical truth. In one year, you would have read for 5,475 minutes. This means that at 250 words a minute for 15 minutes a day, you would have read 20 average-sized books a year. So let’s look at small seeds becoming big trees. You now add 15 minutes of prayer, five minutes of Bible reading, and 15 minutes of serious theological reading around the biblical text and we’re now at what? Thirty-five minutes. At the end of the year, you have 365 bits of Scripture that you’ve meditated on, you’ve thought on, and you’ve read 20 serious theological books. So this is not complex.

Here’s what the math does. The math shows me we’re lazy idolaters, because you can read. You’re just not fascinated enough with God to read about him. Because, man, when we get into your little projects, I bet you read, man. When it comes to your sports team, you read. I bet you when it comes to fitness, you read. I bet you when it comes to diet, you read. I bet you when it comes to health, you read. See, what gets revealed when you look at the math. See, I love math for only this reason: it doesn’t have an agenda.

"

Matt Chandler (via jasminecrystal)

(via sejtraav)

"There are no faster or firmer friendships than those formed between people who love the same books."

Irving Stone

"Closing the book, I find I have left my head inside."

William Stafford, as quoted in “Hamlet’s Blackberry” by William Powers (source: quotes.paulvaartj.es)

(via sejtraav)

"We are more British than the people of Great Britain."

Australian PM Billy Hughes, Sept 1919. How ridiculous. I have trouble believing he really said this. Classic Hughes

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Why [memorise] passages, not just verses? Because they are more useful to remember. Instead of a single nail, they give you a shelf to rest your thoughts on. Instead of a dot point, they give you an argument to wend your way through. Instead of a hut, they give you a mansion where you can lay your anxieties down to rest. They give you expressions for your praise and poetry for your laments and words for your encouragement."

Jean Williams (via sejtraav)

(Source: matthiasmedia.com, via sejtraav)

"All science is either physics or stamp collecting."

Ernest Rutherford. I love this guy. Particularly because he said this. There’s a certain friend who should never know I posted this publicly.

My, what a writer Chesterton is. Quite apart from what he writes, I’m stunned by the way he writes: his ability to cleverly frame discussions; to rapidly conclude so many pages with one breathtaking sentence that says it all; to make stunning, crystal clear analogies; and despite all this, he still leaves you feeling you’ve not quite got it all under your belt.
(The quote is totally unrelated to the Chesterton I’m reading, but I like it, and pictures are nice occasionally)

(Source: jennaleeschilling)

"Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you—Is your delight in the law of God? Do you study God’s Word? Is it your best companion and hourly guide?"

C. H. Spurgeon (via sejtraav)

(Source: sejtraav)