Charles R. Swindoll Quotations

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.

I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun.

We cannot change our past. We can not change the fact that people act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.

When you have a sense of calling, whether it's to be a musician, soloist, artist, in one of the technical fields, or a plumber, there is something deep and enriching when you realize it isn't just a casual choice, it's a divine calling. It's not limited to vocational Christian service by any means.

Prejudice is a learned trait. You're not born prejudiced; you're taught it.

I think it is important to begin with a statement in your speech that grabs the attention of the audience. I try to make my opening line 15 words or less.

There is nothing more fearful for the average person in our society than to stand before a group of people and speak.

A teardrop on earth summons the King of heaven.

The world has changed and it's going to keep changing, but God never changes; so we are safe when we cling to Him.

It's the most exciting thing to watch God work when I've asked him about something, to listen to him and watch him work. It's like this friendship, and it just grows and grows and grows and grows.

Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitudes toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.

A family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living.

The remarkable thing is, we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.

One of my great goals in life is to live long enough to where I am in the pulpit, preaching my heart out, and I die on the spot, my chin hits the pulpit - boom! - and I'm down and out. What a way to die!

I'm here today to warn you: I want you to watch out for the adversary. Guard yourself from any spirit of entitlement. Restrain any and all subtle temptation to gain attention or to find ways to promote yourself.

I know of nothing more valuable, when it comes to the all-important virtue of authenticity, than simply being who you are.

There is plenty of television. There are plenty of talk shows. There are plenty of comedians. But there is not plenty of worship of the true and living God.

Alleged 'impossibilities' are opportunities for our capacities to be stretched.

You and I are, by birth, by nature, and by choice, inwardly depraved, which is to say that we are entirely corrupt. That's not to say that we have no good in us; we do. However, anything good in us has been tainted with evil. It touches everything. Without the redeeming power of Christ we cannot halt our own moral slide.

The difference between something good and something great is attention to detail.

Because God gave you your makeup and superintended every moment of your past, including all the hardship, pain, and struggles, He wants to use your words in a unique manner. No one else can speak through your vocal cords, and, equally important, no one else has your story.

The secret of living a life of excellence is merely a matter of thinking thoughts of excellence. Really, it's a matter of programming our minds with the kind of information that will set us free.

We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.

When you have vision it affects your attitude. Your attitude is optimistic rather than pessimistic.

I am a preacher. I'm involved in many other things, but, mainly, I preach. And I love it!

We can't solve modern problems by going back in time. Retreating to the safety of the familiar is an understandable response, but God has called us to a life of faith. And faith requires us to face the unknown while trusting Him completely.

Not every Christian finds it easy to believe.

The swift wind of compromise is a lot more devastating than the sudden jolt of misfortune.

I'm not against screens, or new songs, or innovation. I just don't like the gimmicks. I want to know when worship is over that that leader's sole purpose was to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.

If I ever wrote a book on preaching, it would contain three words: Preach the Word. Get rid of all the other stuff that gets you sidetracked; preach the Word.

We need discernment in what we see and what we hear and what we believe.

I am often the brunt of my own humor.

When a church is spending more of its budget on media than shepherding, something is out of whack. We have gotten things twisted around.

One of the worst things you can give to your people is someone you're not.

When I think of vision, I have in mind the ability to see above and beyond the majority.

The wonderful thing about God is he knows what we need to persuade us.

Sometimes I wake up before dawn, and I love sitting up in the middle of the bed with all the lights off, pitch-black dark, and talking to the Father, with no interruptions and nothing that reminds me that there's anything in life but me and Him.

As far back as I can remember, my mother would have me down by the bed at night with her, praying. I can still hear her voice calling my name to God and telling him that she wanted me to follow him in whatever he called me to do.

When you are giving people the gospel, you are giving them something to believe, and you have to set the stage for that. You don't just drive up and dump the truck and drive off.

I let people see the cracks in my life. We can't be phony. We've got to keep it real.

I have no interest in returning to yesteryear. I love the conveniences and delights of today's time. I wouldn't go back if I could.

I want to preach till the last breath in my lungs runs out.

It is easy for Christians to have the false impression that once we have established a relationship with Christ, which we believe sets us right with God, the problems of life will somehow scoot away or they will slowly be removed from our lives.

We want a crowd to make us feel important and liked. But why is getting a crowd our focus? Jesus never suggested that crowds were the goal. He never addresses getting your church to grow. Never.

'We really shouldn't look like a church.' I've heard that so much I want to vomit. 'Why?' I ask. 'Do you want your bank to look like a bank? Do you want your doctor's office to look like a doctor's office, or would you prefer your doctor to dress like a clown?'

While I was raised around churches and had gotten to know a few preachers fairly well, the thought never entered my head that I would one day stand and deliver. Not only was I not interested, I lived with a major struggle: I stuttered.

Nothing is more bothersome to me than retiring. Weird things happen when you disengage; first you get negative, then you start telling people about your latest surgeries, and eventually you lose touch. I want to stay in touch.

I believe firmly in God's control in life.

If God awarded us medals, as they do in the Olympics, love would win the gold, joy the silver, and peace the bronze.

Some folks serve the almighty dollar far more faithfully than the Almighty God. They get greater delight out of balancing the budget than watching the Lord multiply the loaves and fishes.

God's forgiveness extends to the worst offenders and to anyone who wishes to receive it-not because of who we are, but because of who He is.

Jesus didn't come to earth to establish a new religion. He came to restore a broken relationship. He came to make the primary, primary again. The secondary activity of obedience to the law of God was always intended to serve the primary activity: to love God and enjoy Him forever. When that is primary, the secondary becomes a labor of love, a joyful, and "easy" burden to bear. (Matthew 11:28-30

The skeptic may deny your doctrine or attack your church but he cannot honestly ignore the fact that your life has been changed.

When we arrive at dilemmas in life and we are unable to decipher the right direction to go, if we hope to maintain our confidence in the process, we must (repeat must) allow the Lord to be our Guide, our Strength, our Wisdom - our all!

God's timing is always on time.

Pride leaves no room for grace.

God also allows suffering so that we might learn what it means to depend on Him, not on our own strength and resources.

Leadership is influence. To the extent we influence others, we lead them.

When it seems like that's all there is, remember all you have in Him.

Learning more truth is a poor and cheap substitute for stopping and putting into action the truth already learned

Any idol, regardless of its beauty or usefulness or original purpose, is to be set aside so that Christ might reign supreme, without a single competitor.

In spite of our high-tech world and efficient procedures, people remain the essential ingredient of life.

That's what this thing called Christian life is all about, isn't it. Going . . . yet not knowing. As followers of our Lord we believe He leads us in a certain direction . . . or in pursuit of a precise goal.

10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react.

Do you need strength? Peace? Wisdom? Direction? Discipline? Ask for it! God will hear you.

Anyone who influences others is a leader.

It is a pity that many Christians have the TV schedule better memorized than a single chapter for God's precious Word.

God seems to reward us with good, delightful experiences when we move with joy through the less-than-delightful times.

If our perfect Lord is gracious enough to take our worst, and ugliest, our most boring, our least successful, and forgive them, burying them in the depths of the sea, then it's high time we give each other a break.

The longer I live the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company . . . a church . . . a home.

Our minds can be kept free of anxiety as we dump the load of our cares on the Lord in prayer.

If you're running a 26-mile marathon, remember that every mile is run one step at a time. If you are writing a book, do it one page at a time. If you're trying to master a new language, try it one word at a time. There are 365 days in the average year. Divide any project by 365 and you'll find that no job is all that intimidating.

The happiest people I know are the ones who have learned how to hold everything loosely and have given the worrisome, stress-filled, fearful details of their lives into God's keeping.

Servants must be big people. Big enough to go on, remembering the right and forgetting the wrong.

What is God looking for? He is looking for men and women whose hearts are completely His - completely.

More than once Jesus deliberately addressed certain issues that quickly diminished the number of onlookers. It was commitment that thinned the ranks.

Because the Holy Spirit is God, we feel Him as He controls our circumstances and transforms our lives. When He does that, He uses us. He melts us in relationships. He molds us in the pursuit and the direction of His will. He fills us with power and the perseverance to keep at it. He uses as He controls our circumstances and transforms our lives. Ask the Spirit of God to use you, just as you are, with the gifts and abilities that He's given you. Secure in the confidence that God is in control of your life, you will be free to serve Him with joy and effectiveness.

It helps me if I remember that God is in charge of my day - not I.

We must cease striving and trust God to provide what He thinks is best and in whatever time He chooses to make it available. But this kind of trusting doesn't come naturally. It's a spiritual crisis of the will in which we must choose to exercise faith.

God is a specialist at making something useful and beautiful out of something broken and confused.

Please, put aside all excuses and ask yourself, "What should I be doing?" Yes, you alone can make a difference. The question is, will you?

Thanksgiving speaks in clear, crisp tones of forgotten terms, like integrity - bravery - respect - freedom - discipline - sacrifice - godliness.

God doesn't work on our timetable. He has a plan that He will execute perfectly and for the highest, greatest good of all, and for His ultimate glory.

There is an enormous difference between growing old in the Lord and growing up in Him. One is automatic and requires no effort at all ... just aging. But the other is never automatic, or easy. It calls for personal discipline, continual determination, and spiritual desire. Churches are full of sleepy saints who are merely 'logging time' in God's family.

Only grace-large doses, frequently displayed, released-will restore the wounded.

If God's people are to be living examples of one thing, that thing ought to be - it must be - compassion.

The decision to give ourselves to others is a daily taking up of the cross.

God's word is tailor-made for gray-slush days. It sends a beam of light through the fog. It signals safety when we fear we'll never make it through.

Real integrity stays in place whether the test in adversity or prosperity.

If you are having difficulty loving or relating to an individual, take him to God. Bother the Lord with this person. Don't you be bothered with him - leave him at the throne.

It's the nature of the beast within us to keep going back to the familiar rather than to strap on faith and face the future.

Excellence-moral, ethical, personal excellence-is worth whatever it costs.

God uses those who seem ill-fitted for a significant life.

What sets Christian spiritual activity apart from all other religions is that they have knowledge of Christ as their goal; not moral perfection (although you will become more moral), not tranquility (although your life will be remarkably more peaceful). And because of the grace you have in Christ, the disciplines will do nothing to make you more accepted by the Father. You cannot be more accepted than you already are in Christ, since He has already done it all for you!

Strength comes from choosing to fully trust, pray, and praise. Our circumstances may not change, but in the process we change.

[God] is able to take your life, with all of the heartache, all of the pain, all of the regret, all of the missed opportunities, and use you for His glory.

When you pray, pray so that you may know Him. When you seek to simplify, do it as a means of knowing Him more. When you surrender, or behave with humility or sacrifice, do it with the sole purpose in mind to know Him.

An anniversary says, "Think of the dreams you have weathered together. They are intimate accomplishments."

God often does His best work in us when He catches us by surprise and introduces a change that is completely against our own desire.