“As I lay so sick on my bed, from Christmas till March, I was always praying for poor ole master. ‘Pears like I didn’t do nothing but pray for ole master. ‘Oh, Lord, convert ole master;’ ‘Oh, dear Lord, change dat man’s heart, and make him a Christian.’”
— Harriet Tubman
“You could probably go three or four months without the word ‘God’ coming from my dad’s mouth Mum would pray for a parking space.”
— Laurence Fox
“I pray, read the word, and then creative stuff happens here. Problem-solving and all of that comes into that space. So ‘Da Box’ actually represents my sanctuary and that time. I might look trapped in a box, but I’m actually more free in that box than anyone on the outside looking in or in any other space in my life.”
— Andra Day
“In the digital future, texts will be annotated visually, animated and illustrated like never before. The austere ‘prayer book’ paper that permitted the space for Shepard’s illustrations to Pepys’ diaries is now being recreated in the digital era.”
— Chris Riddell
“I have always been attracted to apostrophe, perhaps because of its resemblance to prayer. A voice reaches out to something beyond itself that cannot answer it. I find that moving in part because it enacts what is true of all address and communication on some level – it cannot fully be heard, understood, or answered.”
— Mary Szybist
“To pray is to have a conversation with Deity. This sacred and supernal communication with Heavenly Father is a divine and delicate process. This crucial communication should be conducted with great care and in compliance with sacred counsel.”
— L. Lionel Kendrick
“I don’t think there’s such a thing as a selfish prayer. Prayer puts you in communication so you can talk about whatever you want to talk about.”
— Iyanla Vanzant
“In my deepest, darkest moments, what really got me through was a prayer. Sometimes my prayer was ‘Help me.’ Sometimes a prayer was ‘Thank you.’ What I’ve discovered is that intimate connection and communication with my creator will always get me through because I know my support, my help, is just a prayer away.”
— Iyanla Vanzant
“You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh
“Prayer is an act of love; words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love.”
— Saint Teresa of Avila
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
— Jesus Christ
“Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.”
— Saint Teresa of Avila
“Joy is prayer joy is strength: joy is love joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.”
— Mother Teresa
“Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.”
— H. Jackson Brown
“We are feeble, weak and impoverished because of our failure to pray. God is restrained in doing because we are restrained by reason of our non-praying. All failures in securing heaven are traceable to lack of prayer or misdirected petition.”
— Edward McKendree Bounds
“The traditional religious right’s failure to restore public-school prayer or pass an antiabortion constitutional amendment has likely helped fuel the spread of the more extreme dominionist school.”
— Jon Meacham
“Most of us spend the first six days of each week sowing wild oats then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.”
— Fred Allen
“An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that deed must be done instead of prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated.”
— Madalyn Murray O’Hair
“In rough times, pathfinders rely on work, friends, humor and prayer. They develop a support network.”
— Gail Sheehy
“I pray to be a good servant to God, a father, a husband, a son, a friend, a brother, an uncle, a good neighbor, a good leader to those who look up to me, a good follower to those who are serving God and doing the right thing.”
— Mark Wahlberg
“Mr. Tennyson has said that more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of, but he wisely refrains from saying whether they are good or bad things.”
— Samuel Butler
“I pray God may preserve your health and life many years.”
— Junipero Serra
“Just as you wouldn’t leave the house without taking a shower, you shouldn’t start the day without at least 10 minutes of sacred practice: prayer, meditation, inspirational reading.”
— Marianne Williamson
“Prayer is man’s greatest power!”
— W. Clement Stone
“We want to uplift the culture of Filipino – our respect to our elders, how we pray before we eat and sleep. These are things the younger generations tend to forget because of our exposure to other cultures.”
— Coco Martin
“If we are going to stay a great power and I hope and pray we will we need the truth. We need to know what is going right and we need to know what is going wrong. There is no greater time than now.”
— Chuck Schumer
“I hope in God, I pray on, and look yet for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be.”
— George Muller
“I can only hope the federal aid made available today will be sufficient in our recovery efforts, and pray that our citizens continue to be safe from the fallout of this dangerous natural disaster.”
— Mike Rogers
“Every year we celebrate the holy season of Advent, O God. Every year we pray those beautiful prayers of longing and waiting, and sing those lovely songs of hope and promise.”
— Karl Rahner
“Ali’s got a left, Ali’s got a right – when he knocks you down, you’ll sleep for the night; and when you lie on the floor and the ref counts to ten, hope and pray that you never meet me again.”
— Muhammad Ali