quotations about sin
The damage a man does to another, he may make amends for by restitution or recompense, but sin cannot be taken away by recompense, for that were to make the liberty to sin a thing vendible. But sins may be pardoned to the repentent either gratis or upon such penalty as God is pleased to accept.
THOMAS HOBBES
Leviathan
Sin and virtue are a game of resistance we play with God in His efforts to draw us towards perfection.
SRI AUROBINDO
Thoughts and Aphorisms
It appears, therefore, that every man lies under a twofold condemnation for his sins: he is sentenced to various temporal sufferings, to be terminated by death; and to eternal misery in another world. And if any one should object to this, on the supposition that his sins do not merit so tremendous a punishment, I would inquire whether human legislators and judges ever think the criminals themselves competent to decide on the equity of their statutes and decisions? and whether we are capable of determining the degree of evil contained in rebellion against the authority of the infinite Creator, and what punishment the glory of his name, and the everlasting advantage of the whole creation, may require him to inflict upon transgressors? In respect of the former part of this sentence, alleviations and respites alone can be expected; but we may hope for the entire abolition of the latter, as we live under a dispensation of mercy, through the great Mediator of the new covenant. Of this salvation we may hereafter enlarge; at present it suffices to say, with the Psalmist, "If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared."
THOMAS SCOTT
"On Man's Situation as a Sinner in this Present World", Essays on the Most Important Subjects in Religion
One carries the sins of his forebears as one carries their features in his face. One bears their blood, and their honor or their blight.
GUILLERMO DEL TORO & CHUCK HOGAN
The Fall
God laid no foundation of wickedness in the principles of His creation; it is an unnatural super-structure of our own, without a foundation.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
I ought to have a number of scriptures marked to bring sin to remembrance. I ought to make use of all bodily affliction, domestic trial, frowns of Providence on myself, house, parish, church, or country, as calls from God to confess sin.
ROBERT MURRAY M'CHEYNE
The Life and Remains, Letters, Lectures, and Poems of the Rev Robert Murray M'Cheyne
Sin in its ordinary progress first deceives, next hardens, and then destroys.
JOHN THORNTON
Maxims and Directions for Youth
Sin is the failure of a fallible creature; and reversible by repentance.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
If God had pardoned Sin without any amends, God would have been thought to countenance Sin: and Man would have thought Sin no great matter.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
For consequences of past sin,
Effect doth ever follow cause;
If we sow tares, we reap not grain,
For such are Nature's laws.
ARDELIA COTTON BARTON
"Sin Will Leave Its Scars"
But the trail of the serpent is over them all.
THOMAS MOORE
Lalla Rookh
Sin is a raven croaking her own fall.
THOMAS DEKKER
The Noble Spanish Soldier
You have seen a ship out on the bay, swinging with the tide, and seeming as if it would follow it; and yet it cannot, for down beneath the water it is anchored. So many a soul sways toward heaven, but cannot ascend thither, because it is anchored to some secret sin.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Life Thoughts
A man by his sin may waste himself, which is to waste that which on earth is most like God. This is man's greatest tragedy and God's heaviest grief.
A. W. TOZER
And He Dwelt Among Us: Teachings From the Gospel of John
Robes and furr'd gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,
And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks;
Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw doth pierce it.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
King Lear
God planteth in mortal men the cause of sin whensoever he wills utterly to destroy a house.
AESCHYLUS
fragment, Niobe
Sin is the exact opposite of love. Love means harmony; sin, discord. Love is constructive; sin, destructive. Love clings to God as a Father, as Jesus did. Sin would murder God if it could, as it murdered Jesus on Calvary.
REUEN THOMAS
Thoughts for the Thoughtful
Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
FRANCIS QUARLES
Emblems
God is the creditor of that punishment which is due upon Sin; and He has the right of abating, as well as the right of exacting.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
Sin first is pleasing, then frequent, then habitual, then confirmed; then the man is impenitent, then he is obstinate, then he is resolved never to repent, and then he is ruined.
ROBERT LEIGHTON
attributed, Day's Collacon