R. A. Torrey

There are some of us who set much store by our morality, our culture, and our refinement; but if we knew how little we weighed in the balances of the eternal and all holy God, we would fall on our knees and cry, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!”

—R. A. Torrey

Our studied speeches do not reveal what we are, but what we would like to be; but our idle words, that we drop accidentally, they are the best revelation of what is there in our hearts.

—R. A. Torrey

It is not needful to be on your knees all the time, but the heart should be on its knees all the time.

—R. A. Torrey

I have found that the man who believes in the Bible always comes out ahead in the long run, and that the man who is too wise and too advanced to believe the Word of God come out behind, in the long run, every time.

—R. A. Torrey

Do not engage in any amusement that you cannot make a matter of prayer, that you cannot ask God’s blessing upon. Pray before your play just as much as you would pray before your work.

—R. A. Torrey

Oftentimes, that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

—R. A. Torrey

The gossip, the slanderer, is viler than the vilest thief that walks your streets. The thief only steals money; the slanderer steals what money cannot buy – reputation.

—R. A. Torrey

The church is made up men and women, imperfect men and women, and consequently it is an imperfect institution, but none the less it is of divine origin and God loves it, and every believer should realize that he belongs to it and should openly take his place in it.

—R. A. Torrey

Go to your pastor and ask him if there is some work he would like to have you do for him in the church. Be a person that your pastor can depend upon.

—R. A. Torrey

I would rather believe and preach unpleasant truth than to believe and preach pleasant error.

—R. A. Torrey

Christ’s words must abide or continue in us. We must study His words, fairly devour His words, let them sink deep into our thought and into our heart, keep them in our memory, obey them constantly in our life, let them shape and mold our daily life and our every act.

—R. A. Torrey

Do you say, “Have you never sinned?” Alas, I have. Sinned so deeply that none of you will ever know, thank God. But thank God still more, when Jesus Christ was nailed to yonder Cross of Calvary, all my sins were settled.

—R. A. Torrey

Never let the rush of business crowd out prayer. Prayer is the greatest time saver known to man. The more work crowds you, the more time you should take for prayer.

—R. A. Torrey

There is a place where strength can always be renewed; that place is the presence of the Lord.

—R. A. Torrey

Many attempt to be disciples of Jesus and not let the world know it. To be a secret disciple means to be no disciple at all. If one really has received Christ he cannot keep it to himself.

—R. A. Torrey

The church is a divine institution, built by Jesus Christ Himself. It is the one institution that abides. Other institutions come and go; they do their work for the day and disappear, but the church will continue to the end.

—R. A. Torrey