Quotessence
Home / Authors / Barbara Brown Taylor
Barbara Brown Taylor

Barbara Brown Taylor Quotes

Priest

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleWayChurchIfsKnowsHumansWorldCommunityRealThinking

Famous Barbara Brown Taylor Quotes

“Because I'm a "strong person," the symptoms hit me by surprise. It was, as I write in the book, stinging in my eyes after Sunday that I thought was an allergy, until one day I sat in the car and decided to just let my eyes tear up so that whatever was in them would come out, and what came out were tears that wouldn't stop. It was literally a physical reaction that was my first indication there was anything wrong.”

WritingFirstsPersonsBookEyeStrongCarTearsOne DayDecidedSurpriseReactionsSatSundaySymptomsIndicationAllergiesStrong Person
Author:Barbara Brown Taylor
Create image

“No one longs for what he or she already has, and yet the accumulated insight of those wise about the spiritual life suggests that the reason so many of us cannot see the red X that marks the spot is because we are standing on it. The treasure we seek requires no lengthy expedition, no expensive equipment, no superior aptitude or special company. All we lack is the willingness to imagine that we already have everything we need. The only thing missing is our consent to be where we are.”

NeedsReasonSpiritualCompanyWiseImagineSpecialMissingRedStandingMarkInsightTreasureSuperiorsSpotsExpensiveWillingnessSpiritual LifeImagine ThatConsentEquipmentAptitudeExpeditionsLengthy
Author:Barbara Brown Taylor
Create image

“What is saving my life now is the conviction that there is no spiritual treasure to be found apart from the bodily experiences of human life on earth. My life depends on engaging the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention I can give them. My life depends on ignoring all touted distinctions between the secular and the sacred, the physical and the spiritual, the body and the soul. What is saving my life now is becoming more fully human, trusting that there is no way to God apart from real life in the real world.”

WorldWayGivingHumansI CanRealSoulBodyEarthSpiritualFoundAttentionDependsBecomingActivityOrdinarySacredConvictionTreasureReal LifeSavingHuman LifeDistinctionReal WorldSecularEngagingExquisiteBecoming MorePhysical Activity
Author:Barbara Brown Taylor
Create image

“What I noticed at Grace-Calvary is the same thing I notice whenever people aim to solve their conflicts with one another by turning to the bible: defending the dried ink marks on the page becomes more vital than defending their neighbor. As a general rule, I would say that human beings never behave more badly toward one another than when they believe they are protecting God. In the words of Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas, 'People of the Book risk putting the book above people.”

PeopleBelieveHumansBookHuman BeingsGraceRiskConflictPagesMarkAimSolveNeighborBehaveInkCalvaryGrandson
Author:Barbara Brown Taylor
Create image

“If churches saw their mission in the same way, there is no telling what might happen. What if people were invited to come tell what they already know of God instead of to learn what they are supposed to believe? What if they were blessed for what they are doing in the world instead of chastened for not doing more at church? What if church felt more like a way station than a destination? What if the church’s job were to move people out the door instead of trying to keep them in, by convincing them that God needed them more in the world than in the church?”

PeopleIfsKnowsWorldWayTryingBelieveMightHappensJobsMovingFeltChurchSawsDoorsNeededBlessedMissionsWhat IfDestinationStationsInvitedConvincing
Book:Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith
Create image

“I discovered a version of the sinner's prayer that increased my faith far more than the one that I had said years earlier...In this version, there were no formulas, no set phrases that promised us safe passage across the abyss. There was only our tattered trust that the Spirit who had given us life would not leave us in the wilderness without offering us life again.”

YearsSaidSpiritGivenPrayerSafeVersionsPhrasesSinnerWildernessFormulasPassagesOfferingAbyss
Author:Barbara Brown Taylor
Create image

“I have learned to prize holy ignorance more highly than religious certainty and to seek companions who have arrived at the same place. We are a motley crew, distinguished not only by our inability to explain ourselves to those who are more certain of their beliefs than we are but in many cases by our distance from the centers of our faith communities as well.”

WellsCertainBeliefCommunityReligiousCasesIgnoranceHolyDistanceCertaintyPrizeCompanionI Have LearnedCrewInabilityDistinguishedFaith Community
Book:Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith
Create image

“All I am saying is that anyone can do this. Anyone can ask and anyone can bless, whether anyone has authorized you to do it or not. All I am saying is that the world needs you to do this, because there is a real shortage of people willing to kneel wherever they are and recognize the holiness holding its sometimes bony, often tender, always life-giving hand above their heads. That we are able to bless one another at all is evidence that we have been blessed, whether we can remember when or not. That we are willing to bless one another is miracle enough to stagger the very stars.”

PeopleWorldNeedsGivingHas BeensRealSometimesEnoughHandsAbleRememberAsksStarsCan DoWillingEvidenceMiracleBlessedHolinessBlessRemember WhenNeed YouShortage
Author:Barbara Brown Taylor
Create image

“Salvation is a word for the divine spaciousness that comes to human beings in all the tight places where their lives are at risk, regardless of how they got there or whether they know God's name. Sometimes it comes as an extended human hand and sometimes as a bolt from the blue, but either way it opens a door in what looked for all the world like a wall. This is the way of life, and God alone knows how it works.”

KnowsWorldWayHumansSometimesHandsNamesHuman BeingsKnow HowRiskDoorsDivineWallBlueSalvationKnowing GodBoltsHuman HandsSpaciousness
Author:Barbara Brown Taylor
Create image