Did you notice that trials do not test our character, they test our faith? Faith is fundamentally a relational term—it is not first a matter of what you believe, but of whom you trust. The battle for our trust is as old as Adam and Eve. In the midst of battle, it can seem so complex, but when the dust settles and the smoke clears, the real war is always over the same question—whom will we believe? Whom will we listen to, God or the devil?

I'd like to propose to you that revelation is not the product of laborious study, but it is the fruit of friendship with God.

And what is faith?" "The deliberate confidence in the character of God whether we understand or not.

God is not a statistical truth, hence it is just as stupid to try to prove the existence of God as to deny him.

Any theory based on experience is necessarily statistical; that is to say, it formulates an ideal average which abolishes all exceptions at either end of the scale and replaces them by an abstract mean.

So far as we have any information about man, we know that he has always and everywhere been under the influence of dominating ideas. Any one who alleges that he is not can immediately be suspected of having exchanged a known form of belief for a variant which is less known both to himself and to others. Instead of theism he is a devotee of atheism, instead of Dionysus he favours the more modern Mithras, and instead of heaven he seeks paradise on earth.

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?

Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

Do I think faith will be an important part of being a good president? Yes, I do.

People make suggestions on what to say all the time. I'll give you an example I don't read what's handed to me. People say, 'Here, here's your speech, or here's an idea for a speech.' They're changed. Trust me.

You know what's interesting about Washington It's the kind of place where second-guessing has become second nature.