Quotessence
Home / Authors / Donald Miller
Donald Miller

Donald Miller Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsStoriesPeopleThinkingWantKnowsPersonsBelieveBookWorld

Famous Donald Miller Quotes

“I will love you like God, because of God, mighted by the power of God. I will stop expecting your love, demanding your love, trading for your love, gaming for your love. I will simply love. I am giving myself to you, and tomorrow I will do it again. I suppose the clock itself will wear thin its time before I am ended at this altar of dying and dying again. God risked Himself on me. I will risk myself on you. And together, we will learn to love, and perhaps then, and only then, understand this gravity that drew Him, unto us.”

GivingTogetherRiskDyingLove YouTomorrowClockGravityExpectingTradingAltarsPower Of GodGamingLove You LikeSimply Love
Book:Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
Create image

“The truth is there are a million steps, and we don't even know what the steps are, and worse, at any given moment we may not be willing or even able to take them; and still worse, they are different for you and they are always changing. I have come to believe the sooner we will fall in love with the God who keeps shaking things up, keeps changing the path, keeps rocking the boat to test our faith in Him, teaching us to not rely on easy answers, bullet points, magic mantras, or genies in lamps, but rather in His guidance, His existence, His mercy, and His love.”

KnowsBelieveMayStillsDifferentMomentsAbleFallGivenEasyAnswersExistenceStepsMillionsPathMagicTeachingWillingTruth IsTestsMercyFalling In LoveBoatGuidanceRelyBulletsHis LoveLampsShakingMantrasGeniesEasy AnswersRocking The Boat
Author:Donald Miller
Create image

“But playing your music as loud as you want and coming home drunk aren't real life. Real life, it turns out, is diapers and lawnmowers, decks that need painting, a wife that needs to be listened to, kids that need to be taught right from wrong, a checkbook, an oil change, a sunset behind a mountain, laughter at a kitchen table, too much wine, a chipped tooth, and a screaming child.”

WantNeedsChildrenRealHomeKidsTurnsBehindsToo MuchWifeTaughtPaintingMountainLaughterTablesWineOilReal LifeTeethDrunkLoudKitchenSunsetComing HomeDeckDiapersKitchen TableOil Change
Author:Donald Miller
Create image

“The real voice is stiller and smaller and seems to know, without confusion, the difference between right and wrong and the subtle delineation between the beautiful and profane. It's not an agitated voice, but ever patient as though it approves a million false starts. The voice I am talking about is a deep water of calming wisdom.”

KnowsRealSeemsBeautifulVoiceWaterDifferencesTalkingMillionsPatientConfusionSubtleCalmingProfaneDeep Water
Book:A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Create image

“Here's the truth about telling stories with your life. It's going to sound like a great idea, and you're going to get excited about it, and then when it comes time to do the work, you're not going to want to do it. It's like that with writing books, and it's like that with life. People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen. But joy costs pain.”

PeopleWantWritingBookIdeasStoriesHappensPainJoySoundCostExcitedWorking ItWriting A BookGreat IdeaMake It HappenTelling Stories
Author:Donald Miller
Create image

“When I walked into the Christian section of a bookstore, the message was clear: Faith is something you do alone. Rick does not have much tolerance for people living alone. He's like Bill Clinton in that he feels everyone's pain. If Rick thinks somebody is lonely, he can't sleep at night. He wants us all to live with each other and play nice so he can get some rest. Tortured soul.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWantFeelsDoeSoulPlayChristianPainNightCommunitySleepClearNiceMessagesLonelyBillsClintonToleranceSectionsWant UBookstoresCan't SleepLiving AloneTortured Souls
Book:Miller 3-in-1: Blue Like Jazz, Through Painted Deserts, Searching for God
Create image

“I listened so hard because it felt like, while she was telling me stories, she was massaging my soul, letting me know that I was not alone, that I will never have to be alone, that there are friends and family and churches and coffee shops. I was not going to be cast into space.”

KnowsSoulHardStoriesFeltCommunityChurchSpaceCastsCoffeeMy SoulShopsFamily And FriendsNot AloneCoffee Shop
Book:Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
Create image

“If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation. If I got any comfort as I set out on my first story, it was that in nearly every story, the protagonist is transformed. He's a jerk at the beginning and nice at the end, or a coward at the beginning and brave at the end. If the character doesn't change, the story hasn't happened yet. And if story is derived from real life, if story is just condensed version of life then life itself may be designed to change us so that we evolve from one kind of person to another.”

IfsFirstsKindMayPersonsRealEndsCharacterStoriesLife IsNiceHappenedComfortTransformationBraveReal LifeVersionsEvolveCowardTransformedJerkProtagonists
Book:A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Create image

“And there is something profoundly humbling about knowing God. I’m not talking about the trinket God or the genie-in-a-lamp God. I mean the God who invented the tree in my front yard, the beauty of my sweetheart, the taste of a blueberry, the violence of a river at flood. There are a lot of religious trends that would have us controlling God, telling us that if we do this that and the other, God will jump through our hoops like a monkey. But this other God, this real God, is awesome and strong, all-encompassing and passionate, and for reasons I will never understand, he wants to father us.”

IfsWantMeanRealReasonFatherStrongReligiousTalkingKnowingViolenceTreeFrontsTasteRiversPassionateGods WillTrendsFloodYardsMonkeysLampsKnowing GodNot TalkingHumblingSweetheartGeniesBlueberriesTrinketsMy Sweetheart
Author:Donald Miller
Create image

“Sometimes I wish I could go back in time, sit down with myself and explain that things were going to be okay, that everybody loses ground sometimes and it doesn’t mean anything. It’s the way life works. This is hard to understand in the moment. You get to thinking about the girl who rejected you, the job you got fired from, the test you failed, and you lose sight of the big picture — the fact that life has a beautiful way of remaking itself every few weeks.”

ThinkingWayMeanSometimesHardMomentsFactsBigsJobsBeautifulGirlWishLosesWeekTestsOkaySightRejectedBig PictureBack In TimeGo Back In Time
Author:Donald Miller
Create image

“If I have a hope, it's that God sat over the dark nothing and wrote you and me, specifically, into the story and put us in with the sunset and the rainstorm as though to say, “Enjoy your place in my story. The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it even as I have created you.””

IfsMeanMatterStoriesEnjoyDarkSatSunsetRainstorms
Book:A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Create image

“What I’m saying is I think life is staggering and we’re just used to it. We all are like spoiled children no longer impressed with the gifts we’re given—it’s just another sunset, just another rainstorm moving in over the mountain, just another child being born, just another funeral.”

ThinkingChildrenMovingLife IsUsedGivenBornMountainSunsetFuneralImpressedSpoiledMoving InStaggeringSpoiled ChildrenRainstorms
Book:A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Create image

“It's not what people do that scares me. It's what they hide. It's the secrets that keep us from bonding and create distrust. If we were more willing to accept each other's depravity we'd be more united, we'd be more honest. If you hide two things from me, I'll assume you're hiding a million. And I'll keep you at a distance. I'm not afraid of the evil in you. It's in me too.”

PeopleIfsTwoEvilUnitedSecretAcceptingMillionsHonestWillingDistanceAssumingTwo ThingsHidingScareNot AfraidDistrustBondingDepravity
Author:Donald Miller
Create image

“I kept imagining these people, just living their daily lives, and then having them suddenly ended in unjust tragedy. When we watch the news, we grieve all of this, but when we go to the movies, we want more of it. Somehow we realize that great stories are told in conflict, but we are unwilling to embrace the potential greatness of the story we are actually in. We think God is unjust, rather than a master storyteller.”

PeopleThinkingWantStoriesRealizingWatchesGreatnessMastersConflictNewsTragedyEmbraceGrievingDaily LifeUnjustStorytellerUnwilling
Book:A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Create image

“If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn’t tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen. The truth is, you wouldn’t remember that movie a week later, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.”

IfsThinkingWantFeelsYearsEndsStoriesHomeWantedBeautifulRememberGuyRecordsSawsWeekCryTruth IsThousand YearsTestingVolvo
Book:A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Create image

“Do I still think there will be a day when all the wrongs are made right, when our souls find the completion they are looking for? I do. But when all things are made right, it won’t be because of some preacher or snake-oil salesman or politician or writer making promises in his book. I think, instead, this will be done by Jesus. And it will be at a wedding. And there will be a feast.”

ThinkingMadeStillsBookSoulDoneJesusPoliticianPromiseAll ThingsOilPreacherSnakesSalesmanCompletion
Book:A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Create image

“What I believe is not what I say I believe; what I believe is what I do. I used to say that I believed it was important to tell people about Jesus, but I never did. A friend kindly explained that if I do not introduce people to Jesus, then I don't believe Jesus is an important person. It doesn't matter what I say. We live for what we believe.”

PeopleIfsBelievePersonsImportantMatterUsedReligionJesusI BelieveDon't BelieveIntroducingImportant Person
Book:Blue Like Jazz: Movie Edition: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
Create image

“I am early in my story, but I believe I will stretch out into eternity, and in heaven I will reflect upon these early days, these days when it seemed God was down a dirt road, walking toward me. Years ago He was a swinging speck in the distance; now He is close enough I can hear His singing. Soon I will see the lines on His face.”

YearsBelieveI CanEnoughStoriesFacesI BelieveHeavenLinesWalkingSingingYears AgoEternityDistanceThese DaysDirtSpecksDirt Roads
Book:Blue Like Jazz: Movie Edition: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
Create image

“When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are. And when you stop expecting material possessions to complete you, you'd be surprised at how much pleasure you get in material possessions. And when you stop expecting God to end all your troubles, you'd be surprised how much you like spending time with God.”

PeopleEndsPerfectPleasureTroubleMaterialsPossessionSpendingExpectingSpending TimeMaterial PossessionsTime With God
Book:A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Create image