c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
We act as if it doesn’t matter how we live or what we think or say. We have moved in with the world, and we have allowed the world to penetrate the way we live. So the things that we used to call sin no longer seem to be sin to us.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
We live in a hostile world that constantly seeks to pull us away from God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Far too many young people coming of age today have no spiritual or emotional roots. They have been deprived of values by an agnostic and contemporary culture.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Our magazine shelves are filled with crime and sex pulp-magazines that are being read and devoured by millions of young people . . .Scores are seeing each week the trash that Hollywood produces. Truly our children are “movie mad.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I don’t believe that young people today can live clean, pure lives without the help of God. The peer pressure is too great and the temptations they see in the movies and on television, and what they hear in their music is too much. Only Christ can give them the power to say no.
— Billy Graham
Do you know what nearly all the sociologists say today in their study of young people? The greatest problem facing young people today is not sex—it is boredom.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Our youth are desperately searching for purpose and meaning in their lives. They are searching for fulfillment . . . I believe that a return to biblical conversion, faith, and conviction would have a great impact in our day.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Where students talk about being independent and on their own, you will find them practicing the most rigid conformity in dress, in speech, in moral attitudes, and in thinking. Sometimes they follow fashion at the expense of integrity. They dread to be alone. They do not want to stand out or be different. They want to conform. After they graduate from college, many of these young people want nothing more than a good job with a big firm, and a home somewhere in suburbia. But they don’t find security.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
There is a great identity crisis among students today. Who am I? What is the purpose of life? Where did I come from? Where am I going? The Bible has a direct answer to this great big philosophical question and unless God seals the vacuum among youth today, then some other ideology will, because young people must have a faith. They must believe in something to find fulfillment in their lives.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I have found that most young people really want us to spell out a moral code. They may not accept it or believe it, but they want to hear it, clearly and without compromise.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
In America we have an idolatry called the “adulation of youth.” Apparently distressed by their inability to communicate with the younger generation, many adults simply imitate it.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
If we would take the traits that characterized the Pilgrims and make them our own, we could regain hope. We could recover the spiritual and moral strength that we have lost. We could offer a thrilling challenge to our young people.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Millions of young people are shifting from one side to the other. They are like unguided missiles filled with energy and ambition and yet somehow not “fitting in.” Peer pressure leads them astray . . . [and] in thousands of churches they are led astray theologically.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
All young people sin, and sin produces discord, repellent vibrations which rifle the concert of life until the strings are gutless and flat. The kicks soon lead to kickbacks.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
[Young people,] dress as attractively as you can. You are an aristocrat, a child of God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
In earlier periods of history, adolescence was virtually unknown . . . Today, the span between childhood and adulthood may extend over ten years. Deferred adulthood is synonymous with deferred responsibility.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Young people are experts on leisure, water skiing, dancing, rock music, rapping, TV watching . . . by and large, chores are a thing of the past.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Wherever the Word of God is hidden or ignored, there will be certain destruction.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Young people are caught up in whatever appears to be the most bizarre. They look for truth and settle for folly. False religions and the occult are clever in reaching seekers who want to experience a rush of any kind.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Don’t rebel, but give God the opportunity to change your life and help you over the problems of youth, for they are many.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Parents do overindulge their children, giving them a profusion of material things . . . without the stabilizing effects of earning one’s way, of making decisions, of sweating hard to attain some kind of goal, young people are grievously handicapped.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Do young people have the moral stamina to carry through in case of economic depression? . . . The real tests of the [younger] generations have not yet come, but they are on their way!
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The Bible teaches that there will be a famine of the Word of God in the last days . . . spiritual starvation leads to spiritual death.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Confrontation is the special business of young people. They confront their parents, peers, society, law enforcement officers, and themselves, but primarily they confront God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
What is the most difficult word for young people to pronounce? It’s the word no. When we say no [to what is against God], He will help us to stand by it. He will give us courage.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I am in favor of hanging the Ten Commandments in every schoolroom in the country so young people can know the difference between right and wrong. They don’t know the difference and we’re seeing the evidence of that all around us every day.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I come in contact with mixed-up people, young men and women caught in the anguish of their own unpreparedness, intellectuals who have been seduced by false science, and rich men held in the grip of insecurity. They have no commitment to any goal. They lack an anchorage for their real self. And I long to take every one of them by the hand and lead them into the presence of the One who said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” [Matthew 11:28 KJV].
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
It is strange that the world accepts enthusiasm in every realm but the spiritual.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
We don’t live in an ideal world, but in a world dominated by sinful, selfish desires.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Much of the world believes little or nothing. People are broad but shallow. Agnosticism, anxiety, emptiness, and meaninglessness have gripped much of the world—and even the church . . . By contrast, our Pilgrim forebears stand as shining examples of men who were narrow but deep, certain of what they believed, unswerving in their loyalty, and passionately dedicated to the God they trusted, and for whom they would willingly have died.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Worldliness is an inner attitude that puts self at the center of life instead of God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Too many times we are concerned with how much, instead of how little, like this [world] we can become.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The saddest words I can ever imagine would be to hear the Lord say, “I never knew you. Away from Me” [Matthew 7:23 NIV].
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
It often takes a tragedy to open our hearts, minds, and wills to the truth of God’s Word.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
While those around you are filling their minds with the bad news about man in their daily papers, steep yourself in the good news about God in His precious Word!
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Don’t argue with [a professor], but test everything he says in the light of God’s Word.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
We need to fortify ourselves with the Word of God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Some, who doubt that the Bible is the true Word of God, doubt it because they are unwilling to ascribe to God anything they cannot themselves achieve.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
[God the Spirit] will never lead you contrary to the Word of God. I hear people saying, “The Lord led me to do this . . .” I am always a little suspicious unless what the Lord has said is in keeping with His Word.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Your spiritual life needs food . . . where do you find [this]? In the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible reveals Christ, who is the Bread of Life for your hungry soul, and the Water of Life for your thirsty heart.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God has not promised to bless my thoughts, but He has promised to bless His Word.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Faith grows when it is planted in the fertile soil of God’s Word.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
As Christians, we have only one authority, one compass: the Word of God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Nothing will help us grow spiritually more than spending time alone with God every day, reading His Word and praying. Time alone with God is essential to our spiritual welfare.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God’s Word not only gives authority to one’s ministry
—  it provides a solid foundation for one’s life.
The Old Testament may not seem relevant to us today—but it is, because it is part of God’s Holy Word, and He has much to teach us through its pages.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Through the written Word we discover the Living Word—Jesus Christ.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God never leads us to do anything that is contrary to His Word. But the opposite is also true: God always leads us to do everything that is in agreement with His Word.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The Word of God hidden in the heart is a stubborn voice to suppress.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Who can tell us how to get along with each other better than God? Where can we turn for wisdom better than God’s Word, the Bible?
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
O God! There are many things in [the Bible] I do not understand . . . I am going to accept this as Thy Word—by faith! I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be Your inspired Word.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
A computer . . . has no worth unless it is programmed . . . The believer has tremendous potential, but that potential cannot be used until he is programmed with the Word of God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The Spirit of God takes the Word of God and makes the child of God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
When I quote Scripture, I know I am quoting the very Word of God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Scientific discoveries (not theories) are found more and more to fit into the record God has given us in His Word.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The fact that God is infinite makes the study of His Word a lifetime occupation.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Oh that we would hunger to be filled with the Word of God; for there is no greater armor, no greater strength, no greater assurance that He is with us, and in us, when we go forth in battle equipped and nourished by His instruction and determined to stand firm on His promises.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God and God’s Word are inseparable.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I have never known a man who received Christ and ever regretted it.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Compared to when I was a boy, we now live in reverse. The people are locked up in their homes at night and criminals are outside on the loose! When I was young, the criminals were locked up and the people were free to move about. That time has passed for many cities.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The central theme of the universe is the purpose and destiny of every individual. Every person is important in God’s eyes.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
In our day many people are broad but shallow. Agnosticism, anxiety, and emptiness have gripped much of our world.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
No area of human life is so full of difficulties and heartaches as relationships. If you listed everything that upset you during the past week, I suspect most had to do with other people. People can be selfless and kind, but they can also be difficult, stubborn, ego-driven, thoughtless, mean, selfish, manipulative. But the problem is not just other people; it’s also ourselves.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Man is not growing better! Man is not climbing upward. Instead of progress in man himself there is degeneracy—degeneracy of body, mind, and spirit. Man is going downhill.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Success stories may be great motivational material for sales seminars, but we are not always successful.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Time and tide and the ravages of sin take their toll on the most noble achievements of man.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Our job in life is not to be successful, but to be faithful.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
This age is interested in success, not suffering . . . Our Lord was ridiculed, insulted, persecuted, and eventually killed. In the face of opposition, He went about “doing good.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Many of the wicked are receiving their wages now. Many Christians who may not be succeeding according to the world’s standards now, will reap great rewards in heaven.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The Western world’s sole objective seems to be success, status, security, self-indulgence, pleasure, and comfort.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Success or failure cannot be measured by any human standard.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God measures people by the small dimensions of humility and not by the bigness of their achievements or the size of their capabilities.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God can take anything that happens to us—even bad things—and use it to shape us and make us into a better, more Christlike person—if we will let Him.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
There are three of you. There is the person you think you are. There is the person others think you are. There is the person God knows you are and can be through Christ.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Our personalities, our intelligence, and our capabilities are gifts from [God’s] own bountiful hand. If we divert their use for our own profit, we become guilty of selfishness.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Almost nothing is as complex as the human personality, and no simple formula will ever cover every situation or every relationship.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
People are little creatures with big capacities, finite beings with infinite desires, deserving nothing but demanding all. God made people with this huge capacity and desire in order that He might come in and completely satisfy that desire.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
A true servant of God is someone who helps another succeed.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I am becoming aware of the truth that people change people as much as ideas change people.The power of personality is strong . . . often personality is greater than the idea.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The Bible says that God sees two classes of men. He sees the saved and the lost, those who are going to heaven and those who are going to hell.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Lying is one of the worst of all sins and can be committed by a thought, word, or deed. Anything that is intended to deceive another person is lying.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
As men and women seek to find independence from God, they have lost a sense of purpose in life. The worth of human personality is often equated with what we do for a living. However, a person’s occupation, community standing, or bank account is not what is important in God’s eyes.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Tell me why the gardener trims and prunes his rosebushes, sometimes cutting away productive branches, and I will tell you why God’s people are afflicted. God’s hand never slips.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
All around you are people who need Christ: your family, your neighbors, people you work with or go to school with every day. Are you praying for them, asking God to open the door of their hearts to His truth?
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Someday all of us will give account of the way we have used the gifts God has given. The person to whom much has been given will find much required of him.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I have never met a person who didn’t have problems of some kind. This is why we need one another’s encouragement.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
In our desire to achieve success quickly it is easy to get our values mixed up and call evil good and good evil.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Instead of manipulating [people] for our own purposes, we’d help them achieve what is best for them. We’d also try to see life through their eyes. Treat others the way you would want them to treat you.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
If the other person would just do things my way, we could get along,” one says, when the other person is probably thinking the same about us—that leads to conflict. Our deepest problems are within ourselves.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Man boasts of his nobility, his ideals, and his progress. Man’s goal is imitation, not redemption.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Man persists in waywardness. If one institution fails [he says], try another—anything but God’s plan.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Some of the most miserable people I have ever met have been people who are very popular with the public, but down inside are empty and miserable.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Proclaiming “the whole will of God” should be the goal—and the joy—of every church and every preacher.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Our souls have a disease. It causes all the troubles and difficulties in the world. It causes all the troubles, confusions, and disillusionments in your own life. The name of the disease is . . . sin.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
We spend all our time and energy pampering our bodies and minds, but if we ignore our souls, we will end up spiritually starved and malnourished.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Take care of your soul—your inner self—by feeding on the Word of God and letting His Spirit transform you from within.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Christ taught that in the sight of God one soul is worth the entire materialistic world! In God’s sight the individual is all-important. When Christ calls a man to follow Him, He calls him “out” from the “group.” Christ can fill the vacuums. He can restore your personal identity. He can become the truth to your generation.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Nothing can calm our souls more or better prepare us for life’s challenges than time spent alone with God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
You should no more allow sinful imaginations to accumulate in your mind and soul than you would let garbage collect in your living room.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I have not known of too many people who found Christ on their deathbeds. When we come to Christ in our youth, a life is saved. When we come in old age, a soul is salvaged and life eternal is assured; but the opportunity to live a life for Christ has been lost.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Someday your life will be over, no matter how much attention you give to your health. Will you look back with regret, because you nourished your body but starved your soul?
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
We spend enormous amounts of time and money on fad diets, expensive exercise machines, and health clubs. For many people, these things only demonstrate their preoccupation with the physical side of life . . . but even more important is taking care of our souls.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Partial education throughout the world is far worse than none at all if we educate the mind but not the soul.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Unless the soul is fed and exercised daily, it becomes weak and shriveled. It remains discontented, confused, restless.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God requires something of us. We must confess our spiritual poverty, renounce our sins, and turn by faith to His Son, Jesus Christ. When we do that, we are born again. He gives us a new nature. He puts a little bit of heaven down in our souls.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The Bible teaches that whether we are saved or lost, there is conscious and everlasting existence of the soul and personality.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
May we all storm the gates of heaven for the souls of the anguished, that in their greatest time of need they will hear the gentle voice of God’s Spirit calling them to repentance.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The Bible teaches that you are an immortal soul. Your soul is eternal and will live forever . . . the real you—the part of you that thinks, feels, dreams, aspires; the ego, the personality—will never die . . . your soul will live forever in one of two places—heaven or hell.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Even in the darkest moment, before death snatches man’s last breath, God is willing to save a lost soul.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
It is a time for soul-searching, a time to see if our anchor holds.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The soul actually demands as much attention as the body . . . the soul was made for God, and without God it is restless and in secret torment.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The searchlight of [God’s] Spirit will probe the inner depths of your soul and reveal things that you think you have already yielded, but you have not.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The Bible teaches whether we are saved or lost, there is an everlasting existence of the soul.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Hardship is not our choice; but if we face it bravely, it can toughen the fiber of our souls.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Our soul is that part of our being which possesses intelligence, conscience, and memory—the real personality. Your body will die, but your soul lives on. And that soul has a “sixth sense”—the ability to believe, to have faith.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Our souls set us apart from every other living creature, and that makes us unique. It also makes us fully human.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Let [Christ] transform your life so that you will have a glow on your face, a spring in your step, and joy in your soul.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Where do we get the notion that our idea of success and God’s are the same? You have written a book; you are a clever manager and promoter; you are a talented artist; you are independently wealthy; you have achieved fame and fortune. Without the gifts of intelligence, imagination, personality, and physical energy—which are all endowed by God—where would you be?
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Our world is obsessed with success. But how does God define success? Success in God’s eyes is faithfulness to His calling.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Regardless of our cleverness, our achievements, and our gadgets, we are spiritual paupers without God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Preach with authority. The authority for us is the Word of God. Preach with simplicity . . . Preach with urgency . . . heaven and hell are at stake. Preach for a decision.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Thousands of pastors, Sunday school teachers, and Christian workers are powerless because they do not make the Word the source of their preaching or teaching.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Nowhere in Mark 16:15—“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” [KJV] — nor in any similar Scripture did Christ command us to go only into the Western or capitalist world. Nowhere did He say to exclude the Communist world.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I have had the privilege of preaching the Gospel on every continent in most of the countries of the world, and I have found that when I present the simple message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with authority, quoting from the very Word of God—He takes that message and drives it supernaturally into the human heart.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
When I preach—no matter where it is in the world—I can always count on five areas of human need that afflict all peoples. Emptiness, loneliness, guilt, fear of death, deep-seated insecurity.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. The weaker I became, the more powerful became the preaching.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Preachers are not salesmen, for they have nothing to sell. They are bearers of Good News.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I’m not a great preacher, and I don’t claim to be a great preacher . . . I’m an ordinary preacher, just communicating the Gospel in the best way I know how.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
We preach Christ crucified. The cross is the focal point in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. It was no afterthought or emergency measure with God. Christ was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” [Revelation 3:8 KJV].
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Oh God, if You want me to preach, I will do it.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
As the people came to a desert place to hear John the Baptist proclaim, “Thus saith the Lord,” so [man] in his confusions, frustrations, and bewilderment will come to hear the minister who preaches with authority.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I preach a Gospel not of despair but of hope for the individual, hope for society, and hope for the world.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I am counting totally and completely on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not on Billy Graham. I am not going to heaven because I’ve read the Bible, nor because I’ve preached to a lot of people. I’m going to heaven because of what Christ did.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I know that many of the things I have said from the Scriptures have offended some, but I cannot afford to tone down the message. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:17, “I have a stewardship entrusted to me” (nasb), and that is to preach the pure and simple Gospel in whatever culture I am in.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Many churches have their eyes on the culture instead of on Christ. Many pastors preach on common unity instead of calling the community to repent.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
When we preach or teach the Scriptures, we open the door for the Holy Spirit to do His work. God has not promised to bless oratory or clever preaching. He has promised to bless His Word.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I must ask myself, “Billy Graham, are you prepared to meet the Master at any moment?” Yes, I am—but not because I have preached or tried to help people, but solely because I am trusting Christ as my Lord and Savior. Stop right now and ask yourself that question.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Effective preaching must be biblical preaching, whether it is the exposition of a single word in the Bible, a text, or a chapter. The Word is what the Spirit uses.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
How marvelous it was to stand in a place like the Soviet Union and talk about the coming kingdom and to tell them that Communism will not win. I told them capitalism would not win either
—  it’s the kingdom of God that is going to win.
Double-mindedness means the faculty of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind and accepting both of them. We talk out of both corners of our mouths at once.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
My visits to Hungary over the past twelve years absolutely fixed my conviction that God’s Holy Spirit was releasing a spiritual force in that part of the world that was bound to challenge the atheistic philosophy that had dominated nations in that region for decades.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Only God knows when the alarm will sound, ending the work and ministry of evangelism as we have known it.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I’ve never seen such a hunger in people for spiritual things . . .People realize the past is gone, the future is uncertain, and the present seems to be hopeless. As a result, many [in Moscow] were open to God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
My visit to Auschwitz will certainly be one of the most unforgettable events of my life. It is a blot on the whole human race. It was the invention of minds so depraved and demonic that they defy any rational explanation. It reminds us of the terrible potential man has for violence and inhumanity.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I wept more in Korea than in all the past several years put together. These experiences changed my life. I could never be quite the same again . . . I felt sadder, older. I felt as though I had gone in a boy and come out a man.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Nations and civilizations rise, flourish for a time, and then decay. Eventually each comes to an end. This, because of sin, is the decree of history and the way of life on this planet.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Each of us has a tongue and a voice. These instruments of speech can be used destructively or employed constructively.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Some of the most healing words in any language are, “I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?” How much more we need that confession to our Father in heaven.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Our daily conversation when we meet each other, whether it be in the office or on the campus or in the shop, should be concerned with the things of God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
We should say nothing that we would not wish to say in His Presence. We should do nothing that we would not do in His Presence.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The Scripture warns about evil communications that corrupt good manners. Off-color jokes and dirty stories have no place in the Christian life. Thousands of people are engaging in immorality by the way they talk. Keep your talk pure. Ask God to purify your tongue.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
You can use your tongue to slander, to gripe, to scold, to nag, and to quarrel; or you can bring it under the control of God’s Spirit and make it an instrument of blessing and praise.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Cursing, telling smutty stories, smearing the good name of another, and referring irreverently to God and the Scriptures may be considered as coming under the expression corrupt speech. Our speech is to be clean, pure, and wholesome.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I have walked down jungle trails in Africa where I met fellow Christians; and immediately we were brothers even though we were separated by language, race, and culture.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
We insult God by speaking to Him with our lips while our hearts are far from Him.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The Bible teaches that a man who can control his tongue can control his whole personality.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God speaks to those who are prepared in their hearts to listen. Discern the voice from heaven above the noisy din of earth’s confusion.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Suppose there was no anger, no profanity, no lying, no grumbling or complaining; suppose there were no dirty stories told, no unjust criticism—what a different world this would be!
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Pain has many faces . . .the unseen part of man is often the victim of the most debilitating of pains . . . a man can endure excruciating physical pain, and yet he can be felled by one unkind word.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Are you willing to follow [Christ] with a disciplined mind and tongue?
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
How many relationships have broken down because of gossip or a word spoken thoughtlessly or in anger? A harsh word can’t be taken back
—  no apology can fully repair its damage.
When worry is present, trust cannot crowd its way in.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Worries flee before a spirit of gratitude.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Our worship must be directed to the One who holds the world in His hands.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
We face a dark time in the history of God’s people . . . the forces of evil seem to be gathering for a colossal assault on the work of God in the world. In the darkest hour God can still revive His people, and by the Holy Spirit breathe new vigor and power into the body of Christ.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The devil’s overriding goal is to block God’s work— and if he can convince you God doesn’t really love you, or that you can’t fully trust Him, then he has blocked God’s work in your life and achieved his goal.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Do your work with honesty and integrity, and don’t compromise God’s moral standards. It may be difficult, but it’s far better to do right than to do wrong. God is with you, and He will not abandon you.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Christians at work in the world are the only real spiritual light in the midst of great spiritual darkness. This places a tremendous responsibility on all of us.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Any work done by a follower of Christ to the glory of God is “gold, silver, precious stones.” But if any follower of Christ works with any self-interest or personal ambition involved, it will be “wood, hay, and stubble” and will be burned.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Worship in the truest sense takes place only when our full attention is on God—on His glory, power, majesty, love and compassion.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Learn to shut out the distractions that keep you from truly worshiping God.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
We have come to worship things, status, fame, popularity, money, security. Anything that comes between God and ourselves is idolatry. Jesus demands Lordship over all such things.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Many believe that pagan worship is a thing of the past, but it is ever present—we have just given it a new name: pop culture.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The true child of God will have a hunger for worship and God’s Word.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
We are to till the soil and work the land—not worship it.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God is more concerned about the attitude of our hearts than the way we express it. Worship isn’t supposed to be entertainment.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Many people who have lost jobs . . . find that this was God’s way of redirecting their lives.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Jesus used the carefree attitude of the birds to underscore the fact that worrying is unnatural. I am learning in my own life, day by day, to keep my mind centered on Christ.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
As long as you look only at the situation in the world today, it will be very hard . . . to overcome your worries because it is true that there are many problems and the future is unknown to us. Lift your eyes beyond your circumstances and learn instead to trust God. Worrying . . . won’t change anything.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Often our self-esteem is tied to our work. In our culture, men and women often define themselves by the jobs they hold . . . But a person’s job tells you nothing about a person’s character or value.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Man has always been beset by worry, and the pressures of modern life have aggravated the problem . . . Many . . . are filled with a thousand anxieties. Bring them to Jesus Christ by faith. He will bring peace to your soul and your mind.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Memorizing the Bible is most important. “Thinking God’s thoughts” will take the place of worried, anxious concerns.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Only the Holy Spirit can give us peace in the midst of the storms of restlessness and despair. We should not grieve our Guide by indulging in worry or paying undue attention to self.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Pray for wisdom to deal with whatever is worrying you. Pray that God will act to change the circumstances according to His will. He doesn’t always do what we want Him to—but He knows what’s best for us, and He can be trusted.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Some people spend so much time worrying about what might happen that they never enjoy what is happening [now] . . . Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Ask God to help you see the world the way He sees it.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
One of the great joys of my life has been to travel around the world and meet thousands of Christians in every country.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
We must warn the nations of the world that they must repent and turn to God while there is yet time. We must also proclaim that there is forgiveness and peace in knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
I have stood in the places where history was made. I have seen with my own eyes the part that men and women of faith have played in these earthshaking events, and I have heard with my own ears their cries for freedom.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
All over the world God is opening doors of opportunity, making it possible for us to take the Gospel to millions who have never heard of Christ.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The greatest tribute a boy can give to his father is to say, “When I grow up, I want to be just like my dad.” It is a convicting responsibility for us fathers and grandfathers.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
In searching for ways to bridge the generation gap, there is no doubt that we, as parents, will have to practice what we preach, by striving more to bring our conduct into line with our code of beliefs.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
If ever we needed to put the Golden Rule into action, it’s with our aging parents.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Although the testimony of my mother’s life helped mold me and taught me how to live, the testimony of her last years and her death gave me insight into how to die.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
What a comfort it was for me to know that no matter where I was in the world, my mother was praying for me.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
If God gives you responsibility for aging parents, seek what is best for them, not what is most convenient for you. And keep contact with them!
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Parents have bought into the world’s pastimes chock-full of pop culture, and it is searing the souls of our children. Parents have allowed electronic babysitters to infiltrate their homes and minds; young people’s sense of right and wrong is being choked by wild and rank weeds in a moral wasteland.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The influence of a mother upon the lives of her children cannot be measured. They know and absorb her example and attitudes when it comes to questions of honesty, temperance, kindness, and industry.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Many parents preach to their children but do not set good examples. Parents want the children to do as they say, not as they do.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Parenting is the most important responsibility most of us will ever face, and none of us does it perfectly.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
My father-in-law . . . was a great inspiration to me both in life and in his preparation for death.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
What a blessing it is for parents to believe in their children.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Parents, pray that God may crown your home with grace and mercy.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Jesus worked all His life. But the greatest work that Jesus did was not in the carpenter’s shop . . .His greatest work was achieved in those three dark hours on Calvary . . . dying for us.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Calloused hands were the badge of the pioneer, while furrowed brows are the insignia of modern man.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
[Every] believer will receive a reward for his works. The New Testament teaches these rewards are called “crowns.” We will surely be surprised to note who receives the crowns and who doesn’t. The lowliest servant may sparkle with more jewels than the philanthropist who endowed the church and whose name is engraved on the plaque in the narthex.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Work isn’t only earning a living
—  work gives us a sense of purpose and worth and opportunities for companionship.
One of the Christian’s responsibilities in following Christ is to have a new attitude toward work. So many young people want Christ without responsibility . . . whatever work a Christian does . . . he should do his best.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Think of working forever at something you love to do, for [the] one you love with all your heart, and never getting tired! We will never know weariness in heaven.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God did not intend for us to be idle and unproductive. There is dignity in work.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Both my parents had a great influence on me. I never heard my father use a profane or even a slang word. I always respected him because of his complete integrity. In his business dealings his handshake was like a contract. He was as good as his word. Of all the people I have ever known, my mother had the greatest influence on me.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Society has become so obsessed with sex that it seeps from all the pores of our national life.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
In the face of legalized pornography, the conscience of America seems to be paralyzed. More serious than our fakery in art, literature, and pictures is the collapse of our moral standards and the blunting of our capacity as a nation for righteous indignation.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
The word lust [can] mean “selfish desire.” . . .It is wanting something so badly you will do anything to get it. That is one of the tricks of the devil. It is too high a price to pay.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
It is a source of encouragement that many homosexuals report being transformed through the power of the Gospel.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
No matter how we may rationalize the practice [of homosexuality] . . . Romans 1 makes it clearly the product of a reprobate mind . . .I am not exonerating all heterosexual activity . . . When we come to Christ, we are called upon to repent of our sins and no longer to practice the ungodly patterns of living.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God has not changed. His laws have not changed. He is still a God of love and mercy But He is also a God of righteousness and judgment.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God is sending forth His message of love, but you must tune in. You must be willing to listen and to receive His message and then to obey it.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because God is love everything is going to be sweet, beautiful, and happy and that no one will be punished for his sins . . . God’s love provided the cross of Jesus, by which we can have forgiveness and cleansing.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
A God of love must be a God of justice. It is because God loves that He is just. His justice balances His love and makes His acts of bothlove and justice meaningful.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God could not consistently love men if He did not provide for the judgment of evildoers.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
[The] love of God that reaches to wherever man is, can be entirely rejected. God will not force Himself upon anyone against his will. It is your part to believe. It is your part to receive. Nobody else can do it for you.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God’s love is unchangeable
—  He knows exactly what we are and loves us anyway.
God’s love did not begin at the cross. It began in eternity before the world was established, before the time clock of civilization began to move.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
It was God’s love which knew that men were incapable of obeying His law, and it was His love which promised a Redeemer, a Savior, who would save His people from their sins.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
No one can grasp the love of the God of the universe without knowing His Son.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Speak about the love of God and faces light up, but speak of God as a Judge, and our attitudes change.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
There is one thing God’s love cannot do. It cannot forgive the unrepentant sinner.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Our popular music talks constantly about love, and yet divorce rates skyrocket.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
God is love” means that He tries constantlyto block your route to destruction.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
What relationships need strengthening in your life? Don’t wait for them to grow cold or bitter, but ask God to help you strengthen them by putting God’s love into action—begin today.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
[Christians] are commanded to love our neighbors, and the first step in doing this is to show a watching world that Christ reigns within us.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Agape love is selfless love . . . the love God wants us to have isn’t just an emotion but a conscious act of the will—a deliberate decision on our part to put others ahead of ourselves. This is the kind of love God has for us.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Until the Good News of Jesus Christ burst onto the human scene,the word love was understood mostly in terms of seeking one’s own advantage. Loving the unlovely was incomprehensible A loving God reaching down to sinful humans was unthinkable.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Scripture makes it clear that our first love is always to be for our Lord.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
When you truly love someone, you want to please and honor them by the way you act. How you treat someone shows whether or not you really care about them.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
If we truly love Christ, we will want to please and honor Him by the way we live. Even the thought of hurting Him or bringing disgrace to His name will be abhorrent to us.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
True love is an act of the will—a conscious decision to do what is best for the other person instead of ourselves.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
An unbelieving world may say otherwise, but so-called “sexual liberation” is actually sexual slavery—slavery to our own lusts.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes
Pornography is anything that depicts lewdness in such a way as to create impure thoughts and lusts. However, the sewers continue to flow, destroying the moral fabric of our society.
— Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes