quotations about miracles
A man who saw a miracle would reject his eyes' witness, if those with him saw nothing.
URSULA K. LE GUIN
The Lathe of Heaven
Truly miracles are like wine, and vastly improve with age.
LUCIANUS
Progress, August 1886
I don't believe in miracles, but if the need is great, a girl might make her own miracle.
JULIE BERRY
All the Truth That's in Me
The miracles of earth are the laws of heaven.
JEAN PAUL RICHTER
attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words
Miracles are propitious accidents, the natural causes of which are too complicated to be readily understood.
GEORGE SANTAYANA
introduction, The Ethics of Spinoza
To deny that a miracle is capable of proof, or to deny that it may be proved by evidence of the same nature as establishes the truth of other events, is, in effect, as I have said, to deny the existence of God. A miracle can be incapable of proof only because it is physically or morally impossible, since what is possible may be proved. To deny that the truth of a miracle may be established involves the denial of creation, for there can be no greater miracle than creation. It equally implies that no species of being that propagates its kind ever had a commencement; for if there was a first plant that grew without seed, or a first man without parents, or if of any series of events there was a first without such antecendents as the laws of nature require, then there was a miracle.
ANDREWS NORTON
"A Discourse on the Latest Form of Infidelity"
Miracles, when considered in a general, abstract manner--that is, when divested of all circumstances, and supposed to occur as disconnected facts, to stand alone in history, to have no explanations or reasons in preceding events, and no influence on those which follow--are indeed open to great objection, as wanton and useless violations of nature's order; and it is accordingly against miracles, considered in this naked, general form, that the arguments of infidelity are chiefly urged. But it is great disingenuity to class under this head the miracles of Christianity. They are palpably different. They do not stand alone in history, but are most intimately incorporated with it. They were demanded by the state of the world which preceded them, and they have left deep traces on all subsequent ages. In fact, the history of the whole civilized world, since their alleged occurrence, has been swayed and colored by them, and is wholly inexplicable without them.
WILLIAM E. CHANNING
Thoughts
It was possible that a miracle was not something that happened to you, but rather something that didn't.
JODI PICOULT
The Tenth Circle
In those parts of the world where learning and science has prevailed, miracles have ceased; but in such parts of it as are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue; which is of itself a strong presumption that in the infancy of letters, learning and science, or in the world's non-age, those who confided in miracles, as a proof of the divine mission of the first promulgators of revelation, were imposed upon by fictitious appearances instead of miracles.
ETHAN ALLEN
Reason: The Only Oracle of Man
Like the biblical Christ who sometimes comes in the stranger's guise, or the angels who visit us unawares, some of the miracles are unrecognizable when they come into our lives, but if we're lucky, they remain with us long enough so we finally know the magnitude of the gift and the courage of the giver.
CATHY CASH SPELLMAN
"A Christmas Story", Huffington Post, December 22, 2017
Miracles are marvelous works, but that which is marvelous to one, may not be so to another.
THOMAS HOBBES
Leviathan
Miracles don't have to be huge and dramatic. They can be small and beautiful like flowers blooming in March, right after a snowfall. They can be a snowflake falling during a summer rain storm. It could be a lost cat finding refuge at your home.
STEPHEN J. NAPOLITANO
Bob Frost
In our advanced technological age, most people deny the possibility of miracles.... Miracles don't happen, we are told, because they contravene the laws of nature and worse, they sound religious! Yet we live and move in a sea of miracle.
JAMES BROWN
You Shall See His Glory in the Morning!
For we cannot listen to those who maintain that the invisible God works no visible miracles; for even they believe that He made the world, which surely they will not deny to be visible. Whatever marvel happens in this world, it is certainly less marvelous than this whole world itself.
ST. AUGUSTINE
The City of God
If you have been asking for a miracle with no results, remember that God still loves you and hasn't forgotten you. Nor is he indifferent to your suffering. Don't let your faith depend on miracles, but instead, ask God to accomplish his purposes even if he doesn't answer your prayers in precisely the way you hope he will.
ANN SPANGLER
When You Need a Miracle
A miracle is when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. A miracle is when one plus one equals a thousand.
FREDERICK BUECHNER
The Alphabet of Grace
Miracles are like Bigfoot, thousands of people claim to see them, but no one seems to be able to video tape the damn things.
ADAM COCHRAN
Still Pitying the Fool
If you hold this
Dazzling emerald
Up to the sky,
It will shine a billion
Beautiful miracles
Painted from the tears
Of the Most High.
SUZY KASSEM
Rise Up and Salute the Sun
Miracles are like all the other phenomena of nature, viz. that they are the effects of a will that possesses a creative energy and universal sovereignty; in other respects they differ widely from the ordinary operations of nature--as the sudden stoppage or reversal of a steam engine differs from its ordinary motion. They are effects aside from common occurrences, attracting attention by their novelty. Their design is to prove that God is interposing, or has interposed; and to this end, they must bear the unmistakable divine signature.
LEMUEL PORTER
The Christian Review, June 1847
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
attributed, Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing