quotations about Heaven
Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
JESUS
Matthew 13:47-50
Union with God is the only heaven there is, and it begins here on earth.
MACRINA WIEDERKEHR
A Tree Full of Angels
The light of Heaven isn't light, exactly -- it's a radioactive bludgeoning of purity; a bright, punishing ubiquity. It doesn't illuminate so much as incinerate: burning away darkness, and shadow, and ambiguity.
RAMSEY SHEHADEH
"The Diner on the Edge of Hell,", Weird Tales, Summer 2011
If we would know what heaven is before we come thither, let us retire into the depths of our own spirits, and we shall find it there among holy thoughts and feelings.
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
American Note-Books, 1841
Joy is the serious business of Heaven.
C. S. LEWIS
Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
Heaven and hell seem out of proportion to me: the actions of men do not deserve so much.
JORGE LUIS BORGES
attributed, Borges Verbal
A holy and useful life does not purchase heaven for a christian, but prepares him for heaven.
JOHN THORNTON
Maxims and Directions for Youth
It is said that there is no reason that we should not be contented in heaven while others suffer in hell, since we know how much misery there is in this world and yet enjoy ourselves in spite of the knowledge. I say, deliberately, of every one who does realise the misery of this world and remains indifferent to it, who enjoys his own share of the good things of this life, without helping his brother, who does not stretch out his hand to lift the fallen, or raise his voice on behalf of the down-trodden and oppressed, that that man is living a life which is the very antithesis of a Divine life--a life which has in it no beauty and no nobility, but is selfish, despicable, and mean. And is this the life which we are to regard as the model of heavenly beauty? Is the power to lead this life for ever to be our reward for self-devotion and self-sacrifice here on earth? Is a supreme selfishness to crown unselfishness at last? But this is the life which is to be the lot of the righteous in heaven. Snatched from a world in flames, caught up in the air to meet their descending Lord, his saints are to return with him to the heaven whence he came; there, crowned with golden crowns, they are to spend eternity, hymning the Lamb who saved them to the music of golden harps, harps whose melody is echoed by the curses and the wailings of the lost; for below is a far different scene, for there the sinners are "tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night."
ANNIE BESANT
My Path to Atheism
We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners.
DESMOND TUTU
Sunday Times, April 15, 2001
See you in heaven, if you make the list.
R.E.M.
"Man on the Moon"
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.
THOMAS MOORE
"Come Ye Disconsolate"
Earth's crammed with heaven.
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes.
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING
Aurora Leigh
Heaven may have happiness as utterly unknown to us, as the gift of perfect vision would be to a man born blind. If we consider the inlets of pleasure from five senses only, we may be sure that the same being who created us, could have given us five hundred if he had pleased.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Hatred unlocks no doors in heaven.
WILLIAM F. DEVAULT
"idol of Clay"
You must receive something of heaven into the soul, before the soul can be received into heaven.
JOHN THORNTON
Maxims and Directions for Youth
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?
ROBERT BROWNING
"Andrea Del Sarto"
Heaven is commonly conceived of as a place, a locality; and somewhere in God's universe it is supposed there is a spot where elemental storms never deform the sky, where inward sorrow never cankers the heart. There is rest after labor, peace after conflict, smiles after tears, and such happiness as quenches all fiery memories of former pain; and the common or popular notion is, that when good men leave this world, they are translated, that is, transported to heaven, as an aeronaut sails off in a balloon. The falsity of this view Christ exposes, when he says, "The kingdom of heaven is within you." In the words of Holy Writ, the kingdom of heaven is to fear God, and keep his commandments. It is to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and our neighbor as ourselves. It is to do to others as we would be done by.
HORACE MANN
Thoughts
Entrance into Heaven is not at the hour of death, but at the moment of conversion.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
When the world frowns, heaven smiles.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
If you die in an elevator, be sure to push the up button.
SAM LEVENSON
attributed, Dictionary of Humorous Quotations