Discernment Quotes

He was the perfect soldier: he went where you sent him, and stayed where you put him, and had no idea of his own to keep him from doing exactly what you told him.

~ Dashiell Hammett

It's remarkable how very many things there are that a king may not do.

~ Geraldine Brooks

Real life applications get tricky when we think about them.

~ Kevin Deyoung

To discern profits only when it is within the ken of the market herd is not the acme of investing excellence

~ Amah Lambert

A leader should accurately discern deceit.

~ Sunday Adelaja

My wisdom absent of God’s wisdom is nothing more than a best-guess.

~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

St. John's eyes, though clear enough in a literal sense, in a figurative one were difficult to fathom. He seemed to use them rather as instruments to search other people's thoughts, than as agents to reveal his own: the which combination of keenness and reserve was considerably more calculated to embarrass than to encourage.

~ Charlotte Brontë

The wisdom to be on the throne of one’s life must surpass the wisdom of the one being ruled, otherwise I will squander the whole of my life in the most appalling ways. By virtue of that reality, I would be wise to get out of the chair and invite God to have a seat.

~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

And, to be true, an enemy's lair is an enemy's lair, no matter how comfortable or fancy it might appear.

~ Steven J. Carroll

When focusing only on one's credentials one boasts his own incompetence in his capacity for discernment of the individual.

~ Criss Jami

Discernment is the son of good judgment and the father of self-control. When mixed with an already clear conscience, the ability to read the true motives of a critic keeps one's conscience both clear and at ease.

~ Criss Jami

In the divine Scriptures, there are shallows and there are deeps; shallows where the lamb may wade, and deeps where the elephant may swim.

~ John Owen

It is a good rule of thumb for spiritual directors to ask themselves, What truly constitutes our spiritual concern here? Am I really being attentive to the Lord in this? What things are getting in the way of our simple, humble intention towards the working of the Holy Spirit in this person's life? All human experience can be said to be spiritual in the largest sense, but spiritual direction should deal primarily with those qualities that seem most clearly and specifically spiritual, those that reveal the presence or leadings of God, or evidence of grace, working most directly in a person's life. This becomes increasingly important as spiritual direction progresses over time with any given individual. In the course of spiritual maturation, concern with superficial psychological experience must give way to a much more basic concern for the discernment of good and evil.

~ Gerald G. May

If you wish to see God; look people in the eye, listen to them, and see how they treat other people.

~ Stacy Snapp Killian: Stacyk

The infant New York Times boasted that no newspaper printing what was really worth reading ever perished for lack of readers.

~ Harold Holzer

…what have you accumulated from the past—what are you in the process of accumulating that will be passed on, if not deliberately, then accidentally? Is this accumulation the best of what has been and the best of what is currently being written, sung, and created? Is it wise? And if not, what will be the next generation’s inheritance, your children’s legacy?

~ Rosalie De Rosset