Commandments Quotes

“For there is but one essential justice which cements society, and one law which establishes this justice. This law is right reason, which is the true rule of all commandments and prohibitions. Whoever neglects this law, whether written or unwritten, is necessarily unjust and wicked.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero, Yasalar Üzerine

“If you think that it would be impossible to improve upon the Ten Commandments as a statement of morality, you really owe it to yourself to read some other scriptures. Once again, we need look no further than the Jains: Mahavira, the Jain patriarch, surpassed the morality of the Bible with a single sentence: 'Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being.' Imagine how different our world might be if the Bible contained this as its central precept. Christians have abused, oppressed, enslaved, insulted, tormented, tortured, and killed people in the name of God for centuries, on the basis of a theologically defensible reading of the Bible.”
― Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation

“Christian morality (so called) has all the characters of a reaction; it is, in great part, a protest against Paganism. Its ideal is negative rather than positive; passive rather than action; innocence rather than Nobleness; Abstinence from Evil, rather than energetic Pursuit of Good: in its precepts (as has been well said) 'thou shalt not' predominates unduly over 'thou shalt.”
― John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

“It is easier to tell a person what life is not, rather than to tell them what it is. A child understands weeds that grow from lack of attention, in a garden. However, it is hard to explain the wild flowers that one gardener calls weeds, and another considers beautiful ground cover.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“Those who live as though God sets the rules are not going by their own rules. That is the self-sacrifice, or selflessness, that peace more often than not requires. Those who insist on going by their own rules cannot make that sacrifice. They are the steady adherents of (global) conflict because they are forever fighting both themselves and others to do whatever they think that they want to do.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess over everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breathe at all, or to pay attention, stomp away to brood when people annoy us, and then eat a big bag of Hershey's Kisses in bed?”
― Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

“Thou shalt not use the 140 characters limit as an excuse for bad grammar and/or incorrect spelling.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“This man's spiritual power has been precisely this, that he has distinguished between custom and creed. He has broken the conventions, but he has kept the commandments.”
― G.K. Chesterton, Manalive

“One of the great commandments of science is, 'Mistrust arguments from authority'. (Scientists, being primates, and thus given to dominance hierarchies, of course do not always follow this commandment.)”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

“The only thing I know about Moses is him coming down from the mountain with the commandments and saying 'The good news is I got him down to 10. The bad news is adultery is still in.”
― Steve Kluger, Last Days of Summer

“I have heard the commandments read a great many times and I never noticed that any of them said, "Thou shalt be rich”
― Anna Sewell, Black Beauty

“All the knowledge seekers must pray like this: 'Oh The Creator! Open our eyes to see the truth. Our ears to hear Your Commands and obey with a steadfast heart. Amen!”
― Mwanandeke Kindembo

“The very emphasis of the commandment: Thou shalt not kill, makes it certain that we are descended from an endlessly long chain of generations of murderers, whose love of murder was in their blood as it is perhaps also in ours.”
― Sigmund Freud, Reflections on War and Death

“The forbiddenness of a fruit makes even the taste of a lemon sweet.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Is this good? Is that bad? Asking these questions show that you want to be ruled and commanded by someone from outside. Ask "who am I?" to start getting guidance from inside you.”
― Shunya

“Perhaps the deeper meaning of this commandment is that we should never use the name of God for political interests, economic ambitions, or our personal hatreds. People hate somebody and say "God hates him." People covet a piece of land and say "God wants it." The world would be a better place if we followed the third commandment more devotedly. You want to wage war on your neighbors and steal their land? Leave God out of it and find yourself some other excuse.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

“We take a cavalier approach to Scripture at our own peril. If the scientific and historical accounts are true, then the commandments, promises and penalties are much more so. The Bible is not just a guideline. It is the authoritative Word of God. Disobeying it has consequences. Obeying it has rewards. Yet we fudge. We compromise. We rationalize. We trade away our spiritual integrity for man’s approval and as we do, we gradually erode our ability to distinguish right from wrong, to see our own failings, and to turn back in repentance to God. We simply have no idea how this cavalier attitude towards God’s Word taints our witness and hinders the kingdom of God.”
― Craig Olson

“Thou Shalt Not,” the controllers say. “Thou Shalt, Thou Shalt, Thou Shalt, Thou Shalt, Thou Shalt,” we say. Reject their Mind Control. Their sins are false. Sin for Salvation.”
― Adam Weishaupt, Sin for Salvation

“It is universally better to obey God than Man when the laws of God and Man clash and interfere with one another.”
― Jonathan Mayhew

“Mark 12:30-31 KJV

30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
― Anonymous, Holy Bible, King James Version

“God can restore everything that the devil has stolen from you, Like the key Command-Z, on your computer.”
― Sterry Ks

“Commandments are for those who don't know how to LOVE”
― Srinivart

“What God commands us to do, he alone gives grace to act.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“In a world that was even more chauvinistic than our own, the Torah mandates that the Israelite people love peaceful non-Israelites living among them no less than they love themselves.

The German-Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen rightly identifies this law as the beginning of what is known as 'ethical monotheism': 'The stranger was to be protected, although he was not a member of one's family, clan, religion, community or people, simply because he was a human being. In the stranger, therefore, man discovered the idea of humanity.”
― Joseph Telushkin, Biblical Literacy: The Most Important People, Events, and Ideas of the Hebrew Bible

“19.2. be holy. What is meant here by being holy? The chapter that begins with this statement stands out because, perhaps more than any other in the Torah, it merges major commandments with so many different sorts. It includes most of the Ten Commandments, sacrifices, justice, caring for the poor and the infirm, treatment of women, of the elderly, food, magic, loving one's neighbor as oneself, loving an alien as oneself. If one had to choose only one chapter out of the Torah to make known, it might well be this one.

The strange mixing of so many different kinds of commandments may convey that every commandment is important. Even if we are naturally inclined to regard some commandments as more important than others, and some commandments as most important of all, this tapestry presses us to see what is important and valuable in every commandment, even commandments that one may question.”
― Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah

“The human brain is the leader of body commandments issued from it, and orders returned to it.”
― Kamaran Ihsan Salih

“They come from the part that hates the Other, that will not change. They come from the sum of all your pettiness and stupidity and dullness. You fear tomorrow, and you've made your fear your God”
― Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment

“A crucial commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.

Why is that so difficult?”
― Karah Khalia

“Assent to thy high self, create, endure.

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― Sri Aurobindo, Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol

“God does not tell us to avoid certain activities, substances, habits, and behaviors in order to restrict our choices or exact control over humanity. God tells us to avoid certain things because He knows the hard paths those choices will lead us down. He knows how destructive and unpleasant those paths can be. God warns us through commandments to avoid unnecessary strife and misery. It is solely out of love, nothing more.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Hope Evermore: Quotes, Verse, & Spiritual Inspiration for Every Day of the Year