Man does not have the power to begin by himself any change in spiritual things ... There is no limit or boundary within human nature beyond which we can find some last human reserve untouched by sin.

Men have tried to construct abstract and causal answers to this question of sin's origin and have violated the very limits of objectivity. Whoever reflects on the origin of cannot engage himself in a merely theoretical dispute; rather he is engaged intimately, in the problem of sin's guilt.

Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed. Whilst

I promise nothing complete; because any human thing supposed to be complete must for that very reason infallibly be faulty.

There howl your pagans; where you ever find them, next door to you; under the long-flung shadow, and the snug patronizing lee of churches. For by some curious fatality, as it is often noted of your metropolitan freebooters that they ever encamp around the halls of justice, so sinners, gentlemen, most abound in holiest vicinities.

My lord, it is easier for some men to be saints, than for others not to be sinners.

I think the key to passion, to zeal, is gratitude. Or to put it another way, the fuel to motivate is gratitude, and gratitude comes by just backing up a little and realizing how much you've sinned against God.

Our natural virtues can never come anywhere near what Jesus Christ wants.

Every time we sin in thought, word, or deed, we're essentially saying in that moment that, "I don't need you God. I don't want you God. I like my way better than your way."

As human beings we have the most extraordinary capacity for evil. We can perpetrate some of the most horrendous atrocities.

This is why we believe in Jesus Christ—to help us see that we are not what we ought to be and to help us become what we ought to be.

Every human being must be viewed according to what it is good for. For not one of us, no, not one, is perfect. And were we to love none who had imperfection, this world would be a desert for our love.