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Self Righteousness Quotes

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Self Righteousness Quotes

“The greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation.”

MenHumansLooksSoulSelfSpiritEnemySalvationRighteousnessRighteousHuman SoulSelf RighteousSelf Righteousness
Book:Spurgeon at His Best: Over 2200 Striking Quotations from the World's Most Exhaustive and Widely-read Sermon Series
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“You don't read Gatsby, I said, to learn whether adultery is good or bad but to learn about how complicated issues such as adultery and fidelity and marriage are. A great novel heightens your senses and sensitivity to the complexities of life and of individuals, and prevents you from the self-righteousness that sees morality in fixed formulas about good and evil.”

SaidSelfEvilIndividualNovelIssuesMoralityComplicatedSensesFixedComplexityGood And EvilRighteousnessFormulasSensitivityAdulteryFidelitySelf RighteousSelf RighteousnessTehranGreat Novels
Book:Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
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“If each side had been frankly contending for its own real wish, they would all have kept within the bounds of reason and courtesy; but just because the contention is reversed and each side is fighting the other side’s battle, all the bitterness which really flows from thwarted self-righteousness and obstinacy and from the accumulated grudges of the last ten years is concealed from them by the nominal or official "Unselfishness" of what they are doing or, at least, held to be excused by it.”

IfsYearsRealSelfReasonLastsFightingWishSidesBattleTenFlowBoundsOfficialsRighteousnessBitternessCourtesyConcealedGrudgeContentionSelf RighteousnessUnselfishnessObstinacyContending
Book:The Screwtape Letters & Screwtape Proposes a Toast
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“The second item in the liberal creed, after self-righteousness, is unaccountability. Liberals have invented whole college majors--psychology, sociology, women's studies--to prove that nothing is anybody's fault. No one is fond of taking responsibility for his actions, but consider how much you'd have to hate free will to come up with a political platform that advocates killing unborn babies but not convicted murderers. A callous pragmatist might favor abortion and capital punishment. A devout Christian would sanction neither. But it takes years of therapy to arrive at the liberal view.”

YearsSelfWholeMightActionChristianPoliticalHateViewsResponsibilityStudyPsychologyCollegeBabyProveMajorsFaultsKillingCome UpFavorsPunishmentTherapyAbortionFree WillRighteousnessPlatformsCreedsSociologyTaking ResponsibilityMurdererItemsSanctionsUnbornSelf RighteousnessCapital PunishmentCallousPragmatistsUnborn Baby
Book:Give War a Chance: Eyewitness Accounts of Mankind's Struggle Against Tyranny, Injustice, and Alcohol-Free Beer
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“If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them is lies. The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred and self-righteousness on which his morale depends might evaporate.”

IfsWorldMayHas BeensSelfHandsMightWould BeLyingSidesBrokenDependsCreaturesHatredContactBombsDeceitRighteousnessEgyptFrontiersForeignersMoraleSelf RighteousnessJavaPersia
Author:George Orwell
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“It seems to me there is less meanness in atheism, by a good measure. It seems that the spirit of religious self-righteousness this article deplores is precisely the spirit in which it is written. Of course he's right about many things, one of them being the destructive potency of religious self-righteousness. (p. 146)”

SelfSeemsSpiritCoursesReligiousWrittenAtheismAtheistDestructiveRighteousnessArticlesMeannessSelf RighteousnessPotency
Author:Marilynne Robinson
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“People need a moral code, to help them make decisions. All this bio-yogurt virtue and financial self-righteousness are just filling the gap in the market. But the problem is that it's all backwards. It's not that you do the right thing and hope it pays off; the morally right thing is by definition the thing that gives the biggest payoff.”

PeopleNeedsGivingSelfHelpingProblemDecisionPayMoralVirtueMoralityFinancialDefinitionsCodeRight ThingRighteousnessGapsBackwardsFillingSelf RighteousnessPayoffMoral CodeYogurtBios
Author:Tana French
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“The deceitfulness of the heart of man appears in no one thing so much as this of spiritual pride and self-righteousness. The subtlety of Satan appears in its height, in his managing persons with respect to this sin. And perhaps one reason may be that here he has most experience; he knows the way of its coming in; he is acquainted with the secret springs of it: it was his own sin. Experience gives vast advantage in leading souls, either in good or evil.”

KnowsMenWayGivingHeartMayPersonsSoulSelfReasonSpiritualEvilSinSecretOne ThingPrideSpringAdvantageHeightSatanRighteousnessSubtletySelf RighteousnessSpiritual Pride
Book:A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections: In Three Parts ...
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“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”

NeedsWellsSelfKnownMarriageRelationshipCommitmentDifficultyCommitRighteousnessSuperficialComfortingPretenseBeing LovedSelf RighteousSelf RighteousnessGreatest FearOur Greatest FearCommitted RelationshipLove And CommitmentFear Of Commitment
Book:The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God
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“We are all members of the same flawed species. Putting our moral vision into practice means imposing our will on others. The human lust for power and esteem, coupled with its vulnerability to self-deception and self-righteousness, makes that an invitation to a calamity, all the worse when the power is directed at a goal as quixotic as eradicating human self-interest.”

HumansMeanSelfGoalInterestMoralVisionPracticeMembersSpeciesLustEsteemDeceptionVulnerabilityRighteousnessFlawedInvitationsCalamitySelf InterestSelf DeceptionImposingSelf RighteousnessLust For PowerQuixotic
Author:Steven Pinker
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“We need a type of patriotism that recognizes the virtues of those who are opposed to us..... The old "manifest destiny" idea ought to be modified so that each nation has the manifest destiny to do the best it can - and that without cant, without the assumption of self-righteousness and with a desire to learn to the uttermost from other nations.”

NeedsIdeasSelfDesireNationsDestinyVirtueTypeOughtAssumptionPatriotismRighteousnessOld ManManifestCantDo The BestSelf RighteousnessAmerican PatrioticDesire To LearnManifest Destiny
Author:Francis John McConnell
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“Most soulish believers assume an attitude of self-righteousness, though often it is scarcely detectable. They hold tenaciously to their minute opinions we ought to lay aside the small differences and pursue the common objective.”

SelfDifferencesCommonAttitudeOpinionMinutesOughtLaysAssumingBelieverObjectivesPursueRighteousnessSelf RighteousGood ChristianSelf RighteousnessSmall Differences
Book:Journeying Towards the Spiritual: A Digest of the Spiritual Man in 42 Lessons
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“But the greatest menace to our civilization today is the conflict between giant organized systems of self-righteousness - each system only too delighted to find that the other is wicked - each only too glad that the sins give it the pretext for still deeper hatred and animosity.”

GivingStillsSelfTodaySinCivilizationConflictHatredDeeperGladGiantsOrganizedWickedRighteousnessDelightedMenacePretextSelf RighteousnessAnimosity
Book:Christianity, Diplomacy and War
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“I can honestly say that there are many forms of atheism that I find far more admirable than many forms of Christianity or of religion in general. But atheism that consists entirely in vacuous arguments afloat on oceans of historical ignorance, made turbulent by storms of strident self-righteousness, is as contemptible as any other form of dreary fundamentalism. And it is sometimes difficult, frankly, to be perfectly generous in one’s response to the sort of invective currently fashionable among the devoutly undevout, or to the sort of historical misrepresentations it typically involves.”

MadeI CanSelfSometimesFormDifficultChristianityAtheismIgnoranceOceanArgumentHistoricalResponseStormHonestlyGenerousRighteousnessFundamentalismFashionableAdmirableDrearySelf RighteousnessMisrepresentationVacuous
Author:David Bentley Hart
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“We were greeted by the minister whose inclusive, non-judgemental smile was no more than a whisker away from a smirk. Have I made it clear? I don't like belief systems and even less like those that peddle self-righteousness. I have no doubt the minister was a sincere man, but I am not as impressed by the idea of sincerity as the sincere seem to be.”

MenMadeIdeasSelfSeemsBeliefClearDoubtMade ItMinistersNo DoubtRighteousnessSincereSincerityImpressedBelief SystemsSelf RighteousnessJudgementalSmirkWhiskersNon Judgemental
Author:Jenny Diski
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“You accept certain unlovely things about yourself and manage to live with them. The atonement for such an acceptance is that you make allowances for others - that you cleanse yourself of the sin of self-righteousness.”

SelfCertainSinAcceptingAcceptanceManageRighteousnessAbout YourselfAtonementSelf RighteousnessAllowance
Book:Working and Thinking on the Waterfront: A Journal, June 1958-May 1959
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“Jesus is not your accuser. He’s not your prosecutor. He’s not your judge. He’s your friend and your rescuer. Like Zacchaeus, just spend time with Jesus. Don’t hide from him in shame or reject him in self-righteousness. Don’t allow the opinions of other people to shape your concept of him. Get to know him for yourself, and let the goodness of God change you from the inside out.”

PeopleKnowsSelfJesusOpinionJudgingShapesGoodnessConceptsShameRejectsRighteousnessEnd TimesSpend TimeSelf RighteousnessProsecutorGoodness Of GodAccusers
Book:Jesus Is: Find a New Way to Be Human
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“The human species was too fond of lying, cheating, envy, ignorance, self-pity, self-righteousness, and utopian visions that always led to mass murder-but until and if it destroyed itself, it harbored the potential to become nobler, to take responsibility for its actions, to live and let live, and to earn the stewardship of the earth.”

IfsHumansSelfActionEarthLyingResponsibilityVisionIgnoranceMassMurderSpeciesEnvyPityDestroyedCheatingRighteousnessTaking ResponsibilityStewardshipSelf PityUtopianHuman SpeciesSelf RighteousnessLive And Let LiveLying Cheating
Author:Dean Koontz
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“The targets of this story are not wayward sinners but religious people who do everything the Bible requires. Jesus is pleading not so much with immoral outsiders as with moral insiders. H wants to show them their blindness, narrowness, and self righteousness, and how these things are destroying both their own souls and the lives of the people around them.”

PeopleWantSoulSelfStoriesShowsJesusReligiousMoralSinnerTargetRighteousnessDestroyingOutsidersBlindnessImmoralSelf RighteousSelf RighteousnessPleadingInsiders
Author:Timothy Keller
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“The more we have given to ourselves, the more we have to give to others. When we find that place within ourselves that is giving, we begin to create an outward flow. Giving to others comes not from a sense of sacrifice, self-righteousness, or spirituality, but for the pure pleasure of it, because it's fun. Giving can only come from a full, loving space.”

GivingSelfSpiritualityGivenFunSpacePleasureSacrificePureFlowRighteousnessSelf RighteousnessGiving To Others
Book:Reflections in the Light: Daily Thoughts and Affirmations
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“The saints are sinners still. Our best tears need to be wept over, the strongest faith is mixed with unbelief, our most flaming love is cold compared with what Jesus deserves, and our intensest zeal still lacks the full fervor which the bleeding wounds and pierced heart of the crucified might claim at our hands. Our best things need a sin offering, or they would condemn us.”

NeedsHeartStillsHandsMightJesusSinLove IsTearsColdDeserveClaimsSaintWoundsBest ThingsSinnerRighteousnessStrongestOfferingZealBleedingUnbeliefSelf RighteousSelf RighteousnessFervor
Book:Spurgeon at His Best: Over 2200 Striking Quotations from the World's Most Exhaustive and Widely-read Sermon Series
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