quotations about piety
In periods that are wanting in inspiration piety always assumes the character of caution. It degenerates from a free and joyful devotion to a melancholy and anxious slavery.
J. H. SEELYE
attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers
Mindfulness ... is not concerned with anything transcendent or divine. It serves as an antidote to theism, a cure for sentimental piety, a scalpel for excising the tumor of metaphysical belief.
STEPHEN BATCHELOR
Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist
The gods know what sort of person every one really is; they take notice with what feelings and with what piety he attends to his religious duties, and are sure to make a distinction between the good and the wicked.
CICERO
attributed, Day's Collacon
The piety that keeps the Sabbath with a great zeal of devotion, yet fails to keep its possessor honest on Monday, is not the kind that is stamped in the mint of heaven.
HERRICK JOHNSON
attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers
Short devotions are the bane of deep piety. Calmness, grasp, strength, are never the companions of hurry.
E. M. BOUNDS
Power Through Prayer
No happiness or solid comfort can be found in this vale of tears, like living a pious life.
WILLIAM MOMPESSON
letter, September 1, 1666
Piety is the realization and verification of the transcendent in human life.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL
Man Is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion
Piety consists in worshipping the ancestral gods according to ancestral customs. This may be true, but piety is supposed to be a virtue. It is supposed to be a good. But is it truly good? Is worshipping gods according to ancestral custom good?
LEO STRAUSS
The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism
Practical piety may be defined as living not according to self-will, impulse, passion, or temptation, but it is living according to God's rules.
J. STOUGHTON
attributed, Day's Collacon
Piety is a discipline of the will through respect. It admits the right to exist of things larger than the ego, of things different from the ego.
RICHARD M. WEAVER
Ideas Have Consequences
The pleasures of piety are infinitely more exquisite than those of fashion and of sensual pursuits. They consist in one even tenor of mind, a lightness of heart and sober cheerfulness which none but those who have experienced can conceive; but they leave no sting behind them; they give pleasure on reflection, and will soothe the mind in the distant prospect. And who can say this of the world or its enjoyments?
HENRY KIRKE WHITE
Poetical Works and Remains