James Runcie Quotes

#1. He remembered his old tutor at theological college telling him, 'There is something in each of us that cannot be naturally loved. We need to remember this about ourselves when we think of others.' On

James Runcie

#2. There is only one religion - it is a way a man dies.

James Runcie

#3. Don't write to impress. Write to entertain.

James Runcie

#4. God's grace comes first. His love is prevenient to our response;his forgiveness awakens our repentance.

James Runcie

#5. But then, he continued, the idea of duality was also at the heart of Christianity. You had to be both a man and a Christian, and if there was ever a conflict between the two then it was his duty as a priest to put his acquired identity, as a man of faith, above his own essential nature. Sidney

James Runcie

#6. First you get a dog, and then you develop a taste for wine. God knows what might happen next.

James Runcie

#7. Only people with money can afford to say they have no need of it.

James Runcie

#8. Keating had the appearance of a man who was reluctant to say what he had to say

James Runcie

#9. Body is a home, a prison and a grave.

James Runcie

#10. Sidney remembered how strikingly original the poem was. For George Herbert, the time we spend on earth is not all too brief and transient but too long: because it detains human beings from a life outside time and with God.

James Runcie

#11. That's the wonder of jazz, Mary," Johnny explained. "There's no right way and there's no order.

James Runcie

#12. He believed that the secret of happiness was to concentrate on things outside oneself. Introspection and self-awareness were the enemies of contentment, and

James Runcie

#13. One of the tutors let it slip when we were talking about the difference between revelation, inspiration, creativity and madness. How can we know which is which?

James Runcie

#14. You know what they say about marriage? A man can either be right or happy.

James Runcie

#15. There is always a future for our deepest loves.

James Runcie

#16. Sidney was beginning to feel uncomfortable. As a priest he was used to informal confession, but he could never quite reconcile himself to the fact that it often contained quite a lot of detail. There were times when he wished people wouldn't tell him so much.

James Runcie

#17. The truest test of character is how we behave towards people who can do nothing for us.

James Runcie

#18. St John of the Cross once wrote: "In the evening of our life, we shall be judged by our loving.

James Runcie

#19. He had never taken such dislike to a man before and immediately felt guilty about it. He remembered his old tutor at theological college telling him, 'There is something in each of us that cannot be naturally loved. We need to remember this about ourselves when we think of others.

James Runcie

#20. He liked washing up; the simple act of cleanliness had immediately visible results.

James Runcie

#21. I don't mean religious faith. I mean faith in our own abilities. We have to do the best we can with the talents we have, Geordie. The future is too unpredictable for anxiety.

James Runcie

#22. Introspection and self-awareness were the enemies of contentment,

James Runcie

#23. Love can be about more than attraction. I sometimes think it is more a question of sanctuary, a case of unassailable friendship.

James Runcie

#24. In France this does not happen,' he began. 'We are careful in our passions. When people are angry they drink some wine and they find another woman.

James Runcie

#25. Sidney had never been very good at differentiating between tasks that were urgent and those which were important, and often those tasks that seemed urgent, but were not important, took precedence over the duties that were important, but not urgent.

James Runcie

#26. There are no absolutes.' 'I think there are,' said Sidney. 'Fairness, justice, toleration, support for the weak, care for those in need, truth and love.

James Runcie

#27. Sidney was annoyed. What business was it of anyone else? His relationship with Amanda was private. He hated the idea of anyone talking about them. Now he would have to explain something that he didn't want to explain because he liked it all being vague and inexplicable.

James Runcie

#28. Do you know that line of Kierkegaard's, Canon Chambers? "There are many people who reach their conclusions about life like schoolboys: they cheat their master by copying the answer out of a book without having worked the sum out for themselves."

James Runcie

#29. You can't always enjoy writing. But you can enjoy having written.

James Runcie

#30. Sometimes,' he observed, 'things can be rather too clear.

James Runcie

#31. Here Sidney sat, with the ham sandwich and flask of tea that Mrs Maguire had prepared, and let thoughts come to him. It was a form of prayer, he decided. It was not asking or talking but waiting and listening. The

James Runcie