Church Quotes

The sexton observed, for one instant, a brilliant illumination within the windows of the church, as if the whole building were lighted up; it disappeared, the organ pealed forth a lively air, and whole troops of goblins, the very counterpart of the first one, poured into the churchyard, and began playing at leap-frog with the tombstones. ~ The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens He had, in fact, got everything from the church and Sunday School, except, perhaps, any longing whatever for decency and kindness and reason. ~ Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis Tom counted the pages of the sermon; after church he always knew how many pages there had been, but he seldom knew anything else about the discourse. ~ The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain His entire system of theology was comprised in the Bible, which he never read, and the Methodist Church, which he rarely attended. ~ The Job by Sinclair Lewis Discovering that priests were infinitely more attentive when she was in process of losing or regaining faith in Mother Church, she maintained an enchantingly wavering attitude. ~ This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald "It seemed to me that where others had prayed before to their God, in their joy or in their agony, was of itself a sacred place." ~ Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell It was a very aged, ghostly place; the church had been built many hundreds of years ago, and had once had a convent or monastery attached; for arches in ruins, remains of oriel windows, and fragments of blackened walls, were yet standing-, while other portions of the old building, which had crumbled away and fallen down, were mingled with the churchyard earth and overgrown with grass, as if they too claimed a burying-place and sought to mix their ashes with the dust of men. ~ The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens And there he sits, munching and gnawing, and looking up at the great cross on the summit of St. Paul's Cathedral, glittering above a red-and-violet-tinted cloud of smoke. From the boy's face one might suppose that sacred emblem to be, in his eyes, the crowning confusion of the great, confused city--so golden, so high up, so far out of his reach. ~ Bleak House by Charles Dickens A brilliant morning shines on the old city. Its antiquities and ruins are surpassingly beautiful, with a lusty ivy gleaming in the sun, and the rich trees waving in the balmy air. Changes of glorious light from moving boughs, songs of birds, scents from gardens, woods, and fields - or, rather, from the one great garden of the whole cultivated island in its yielding time - penetrate into the Cathedral, subdue its earthy odour, and preach the Resurrection and the Life. The cold stone tombs of centuries ago grow warm; and flecks of brightness dart into the sternest marble corners of the building, fluttering there like wings. ~ The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens "Peggotty!" repeated Miss Betsey, with some indignation. "Do you mean to say, child, that any human being has gone into a Christian church, and got herself named Peggotty?" ~ David Copperfield by Charles Dickens