Quotessence
Home / Authors / Fulton J. Sheen
Fulton J. Sheen

Fulton J. Sheen Quotes

Televangelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenWorldIfsCatholicEvilSinEconomyLiberalismPoliticsSoul

Famous Fulton J. Sheen Quotes

“Never will we be able to understand our times if we naively 'think' of this system of self Government as the work of a few gangsters or the creation of a pack of criminals we call a political party. The appeal of Socialism, Fascism and communism was principally negative; they were protests against a live and let live anything goes liberalism, a spineless indifference to causes, a failure to recognize that nothing was evil enough to hate, and nothing was good enough to die for.”

IfsThinkingSelfEnoughGovernmentAblePoliticalHateDiesEvilCausesPartyCreationNegativeCriminalsSocialismCommunismAppealsIndifferenceOur TimeLiberalismProtestGood EnoughFascismPacksPolitical PartiesGangstersSelf-governmentAnything GoesLive And Let LiveSpineless
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“If we had intellectual vigour enough to ascend from effects to causes, we would explain political, economical and social phenomena less by credit sheets, balance of trade and reparations than by our attitude towards God.”

IfsEnoughPoliticalSocialCausesAttitudeEffectsBalanceIntellectualTradeCreditPositive AttitudeSheetsReparations
Book:God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy: A Critical Study in the Light of the Philosophy of Saint Thomas
Create image

“The world is rapidly being divided into two camps, the comradeship of anti-Christ and the brotherhood of Christ. The lines between these two are being drawn. How long the battle will be we know not whether swords will have to be unsheathed we know not whether blood will have to be shed we know not whether it will be an armed conflict we know not. But in a conflict between truth and darkness, truth cannot lose.”

KnowsWorldLongTwoTruthChristLosesLinesDarknessBloodBrotherBattleConflictDividedCampsBrotherhoodShedComradeshipAnti ChristArmed Conflict
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“Advertising tries to stimulate our sensuous desires, converting luxuries into necessities, but it only intensifies man's inner misery. The business world is bent on creating hungers which its wares never satisfy, and thus it adds to the frustrations and broken minds of our times.”

MenWorldTryingMindDesireBrokenCreatingAddMiseryHungerAdvertisingLuxuryOur TimeFrustrationIntensityConsumerismBentOverconsumptionStimulationConvertingBusiness WorldSensuous
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“Lenten practices of giving up pleasures are good reminders that the purpose of life is not pleasure. The purpose of life is to attain to perfect life, all truth and undying ecstatic love - which is the definition of God. In pursuing that goal we find happiness. Pleasure is not the purpose of anything; pleasure is a by-product resulting from doing something that is good. One of the best ways to get happiness and pleasure out of life is to ask ourselves, 'How can I please God?' and, 'Why am I not better?' It is the pleasure-seeker who is bored, for all pleasures diminish with repetition.”

WayGivingLife IsPurposeAsksGoalPerfectPleasurePracticeProductsPleaseGiving UpDefinitionsBest WayBoredPurpose Of LifeRepetitionDiminishRemindersSeekersFinding HappinessEcstaticPerfect LifeLentenEcstatic Love
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“One of the greatest disasters that happened to modern civilization was for democracy to inscribe "liberty" on its banners instead of "justice." Because "liberty" was considered the ideal it was not long until some men interpreted it as meaning "freedom from justice"; then when religion and decent government attempted to bring them back to justice, organized into "freedom groups" they protested that their constitutional and natural rights were being violated.”

MenLongWisdomGovernmentPoliticsNaturalJusticeLibertyEconomyDemocracyRightsHappenedGroupsModernCivilizationIdealsDisasterOrganizedDecentLiberalismBannerNatural RightsModern Civilization
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“The industrial and social injustice of our era is the tragic aftermath of democracy's overemphasis on freedom as the "right to do whatever you please." No, freedom means the right to do what you ought, and ought implies law, and law implies justice, and justice implies God. So too in war, a nation that fights for freedom divorced from justice has no right to war, because it does not know why it wants to be free, or why it wants anyone else to be free.”

KnowsWantMeanDoeWarWisdomLawFightingPoliticsNationsSocialJusticeEconomyDemocracyOughtPleaseInjusticeErasLiberalismTragicDivorcedAftermathFighting For FreedomSocial Injustice
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“The basic struggle today is not between individualism and collectivism, free enterprise and socialism, democracy and dictatorship. These are only the superficial manifestations of a deeper struggle which is moral and spiritual and involves above all else whether man shall exist for the state, or the state for man, and whether freedom is of the spirit or a concession of a materialized society.”

MenStatesWisdomTodaySpiritualSpiritPoliticsMoralStruggleEconomyDemocracyDeeperSocialismManifestationLiberalismEnterpriseIndividualismDictatorshipSuperficialCollectivismFree EnterpriseConcessions
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“If a man surrenders all power of self-determination in regard to the profits, management or ownership of the place where he works, he not only loses that special prerogative which marks him off from a cow in a pasture, but what is worse, he loses all capacity for determining any work. This is the beginning of a slavery which sometimes goes by the name of security.”

IfsMenSelfSometimesWisdomPoliticsNamesLosesEconomySpecialSecurityCapacityDeterminationMarkRegardManagementSlaveryProfitSurrenderLiberalismCowsSelf DeterminationOwnershipPrerogativePasturesTime Goes By
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“The Western world generally has lost the concept of man as a creature made to the image and likeness of God, and reduced him either to a component part of the universe, to an economic animal or to a "physiological bag filled with psychological libido." Once man became materialized and atomized in Western thinking, it was only natural for a totalitarianism to arise to gather up the fragments into a new totality and substitute the collective man for the individual man who was isolated from all social responsibilities.”

ThinkingMenWorldMadeWisdomUniversePoliticsIndividualLostSocialNaturalAnimalResponsibilityEconomyEconomicCreaturesConceptsFilledWesternArisePsychologicalLiberalismBagsCollectivesSubstitutesIsolatedSocial ResponsibilityComponentsFragmentsTotalitarianismTotalityWestern WorldPhysiologicalLibido
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“There are three ways in which a man becomes a slave. He may be born into slavery, or forced into it, or he can deliberately accept his servitude. All three forms flourish in the modern world. Men are born and forced into slavery in Russia and her satellites states. Men in the free world invite slavery when they ask the government to provide complete security, when they surrender their freedom to the "Welfare State."”

MenWorldWayMayStatesWisdomGovernmentFormThreeAsksPoliticsBornAcceptingEconomyModernSecuritySlaverySlaveSurrenderRussiaWelfareLiberalismInvitesModern WorldServitudeSatellitesWelfare StateFree WorldThree Ways
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“The slave states of Western world are an outgrowth of monopolistic capitalism - an economic system which is opposed to the wide distribution of private property in many hands. Instead, monopolistic capitalism concentrates productive wealth among a few men, allowing the rest to become a vast proletariat.”

MenWorldStatesWisdomHandsPoliticsWealthEconomyEconomicCapitalismPropertySlaveWesternWideLiberalismProductiveAllowingDistributionPrivate PropertyEconomic SystemsProletariatWestern WorldMany Hands
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“Some representatives of monopolistic capitalism, sensing this evil in their system, have tried to silence criticism by pointing to the diffused ownership in the great corporations. They advertise, "No one owns more than 4 percent of the stock of this great company." Or they print lists of stockholders, showing that these include farmers, schoolteachers, baseball players, taxi drivers, and even babies.”

EvilPoliticsSilenceCompanyEconomyPlayerBabyPercentCapitalismCriticismBaseballListsCorporationsLiberalismPrintDriversFarmersRepresentativesOwnershipPointingTaxiBaseball PlayerGreat CompanySensing
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“Possession properly has two faces, two aspects: we all have a right to private property, but this is accompanied by our responsibility for its righteous use. These two things (which should be inseparable) are frequently divided today. Everyone admits that the farmer who own a horse is obligated to feed and care for it, but in the case of stocks and bonds, we often forget that the same principle should prevail.”

ShouldTwoUseWisdomCareTodayFacesPoliticsForgetResponsibilityPrinciplesCasesEconomyAspectHorsePropertyPossessionTwo ThingsLiberalismDividedFarmersRighteousInseparablePrivate Property
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“Monopolistic capitalism is to blame for this; it sunders the right to own property from responsibility that owning property involves. Those who own only a few stocks have no practical control of any industry. They vote by postcard proxy, but they have rarely even seen "their" company. The two elements which ought to be inextricably joined in any true conception of private property - ownership and responsibility - are separated. Those who own do not manage; those who manage; those who manage and work do not control or own.”

TwoWisdomPoliticsResponsibilityCompanyEconomyIndustryOughtElementsCapitalismVoteBlamePropertyPracticalsManageLiberalismConceptionOwnershipPrivate PropertyPostcardsProxyProperty Ownership
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“The workmen in a factory may have a shadowy, unknown absentee "employer" - the thousands of individual owners of stock - whom "management" represents and tries to please by extra dividends. The workman's livelihood is at the disposition of strangers who make a single demand of their representatives: higher profits.”

TryingMayWisdomPoliticsIndividualEconomyHigherPleaseDemandManagementProfitStrangerExtrasLiberalismOwnersFactoriesRepresentativesDispositionEmployersLivelihoodDividendsWorkmen
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“Faced with such insecurity, labor unions seek a solution in demands for higher wages, shorter hours, pensions, and such things. But this approach takes monopolistic capitalism for granted, and accepts the unnatural division between property and responsibility as permanent. A much more radical solution is apt to come, and this may take either of two forms.”

MayTwoWisdomFormPoliticsHoursResponsibilityAcceptingEconomyHigherDemandApproachSolutionsCapitalismLaborPropertyUnionsGrantedRadicalPermanentLiberalismInsecurityDivisionWagesUnnaturalPensionLabor Union
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“A democracy flirts with the danger of becoming a slave in direct ratio to the numbers of its citizens who work, but do not own / or who own, but do not work; or who distribute, as politicians do, but do not produce. The danger of the "slave state" disappears in ratio to the numbers of people who own property and admit its attendant responsibilities under God. They can call their souls their own because they own and administer something other than their souls. Thus they are free.”

PeopleSoulStatesWisdomPoliticsNumbersResponsibilityEconomyDemocracyDangerProduceBecomingCitizensPoliticianDirectPropertySlaveDisappearLiberalismFlirtingRatios
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“It is a characteristic of any decaying civilization that the great masses of the people are unconscious of the tragedy. Humanity in a crisis is generally insensitive to the gravity of the times in which it lives. Men do not want to believe their own times are wicked, partly because it involves too much self-accusation and principally because they have no standards outside of themselves by which to measure their times.”

PeopleMenWantBelieveSelfHumanityToo MuchCivilizationMassStandardsTragedyCrisisCharacteristicsUnconsciousWickedGravityAccusationInsensitive
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“It is not easy to explain why God permits evil; but it is impossible for an atheist to explain the existence of goodness. How could a spiritless, soul-less, cross-less, Godless universe become the center of faith, purity, sacrifice, and martyrdom? How can decency be the decent thing if there is no God? Since God is love, why should we be surprised that want of it should end in pain, hate, broken hearts, and war?”

IfsWantShouldHeartWarSoulEndsPainHateUniverseEvilEasyExistenceImpossibleSacrificeBrokenGoodnessCrossesAtheistPurityDecentPermitDecencyThere Is No GodMartyrdomGod Is Love
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“Evil is thus a kind of parasite on goodness. If there were no good by which to measure things, evil could not exist. Men sometimes forget this, and say, there is so much evil in the world that there cannot be a God. They are forgetting that, if there were no God, they would have no way of distinguishing evil from goodness. The very concept of evil admits and recognizes a Standard, a Whole, a Rule, an Order. Nobody would say that his automobile was out of order if he did not have a conception of how an automobile ought to run.”

IfsMenWorldWayKindSometimesWholeRunningOrderEvilForgetOughtGoodnessStandardsConceptsConceptionAutomobileParasitesSure Thing
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“The nearer Christ comes to a heart, the more it becomes conscious of its guilt; it will then either ask for his mercy and find peace, or else it will turn against Him because it is not yet ready to give up its sinfulness. Thus He will separate the good from the bad, the wheat from the chaff. Man's reaction to this Divine Presence will be the test: either it will call out all the opposition of egotistic natures, or else galvanize them into a regeneration and a resurrection.”

MenGivingHeartTurnsAsksChristDivineReadyGiving UpConsciousTestsMercyGuiltReactionsOppositionResurrectionWheatFinding PeaceRegenerationSinfulnessReady To Give Up
Book:Life of Christ
Create image

“Buddha wrote a code which he said would be useful to guide men in darkness, but he never claimed to be the Light of the world. Buddhism was born with a disgust for the world, when a prince's son deserted his wife and child, turning from the pleasures of existence to the problems of existence. Burnt by the fires of the world, and already weary with it, Buddha turned to ethics.”

MenWorldChildrenSaidProblemLightWould BeBornPleasureExistenceDarknessFireWifeSonBuddhismEthicsGuidesCodeDisgustingWearyDesertedGuide MeLight Of The World
Book:Life of Christ
Create image