Open your mind (and heart) with these profound and inspirational spiritual quotes
54 Best Spiritual Quotes That Will Lift Up Your Soul
Updated on Dec. 19, 2024
It’s a rough time to be alive. Watching the news can be overwhelming, as it can feel as though the world is crumbling around us. But some people have a secret weapon to help get them through tough times: their spirituality and gratitude practice. Many people turn to spiritual quotes and practices for guidance, and to feel more connected at a time when separation and solitude are the norm. Whether you’re devout in your faith, a dabbler or a skeptic, read on for some inspirational spiritual quotes that offer a broad perspective on life.
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The best spiritual quotes
1. “Yes, you must live life beautifully and not allow the spirit of the world that makes gods out of power, riches, and pleasure make you to forget that you have been created for greater things.” —Mother Teresa
2. “Practice the pause. When in doubt, pause. When angry, pause. When tired, pause. When stressed, pause. And when you pause, pray.” —Toby Mac
3. “When you accept that there are certain truths in your life that you can’t change, it allows you to embrace your new reality and move forward.” —Amy Purdy
4. “You will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated.” —Maya Angelou
5. “I have been asked hundreds of times in my life why God allows tragedy and suffering. I have to confess that I really do not know the answer totally, even to my own satisfaction. I have to accept, by faith, that God is sovereign, and he is a God of love and mercy and compassion in the midst of suffering.” —Billy Graham
6. “We have a saying in Tibet: If a problem can be solved, there is no use worrying about it. If it can’t be solved, worrying will do no good.” —Heinrich Harrer
7. “God will test you because he wants you to grow up. He wants you to mature. He wants you to develop a walk with him that is not based on your fluctuating emotions but on your commitment to him as you learn to walk by faith.” —Greg Laurie
8. “Know what sparks the light in you so that you, in your own way, can illuminate the world.” —Oprah Winfrey
9. “Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.” —Wayne Dyer
10. “When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don’t seem to matter very much, do they?” —Virginia Woolf
11. “God put us here on this carnival ride. We close our eyes, never knowing where it’ll take us next.” —Carrie Underwood
12. “I don’t want to cover up anymore. Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing.” —Alicia Keys
13. “However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.” —Stephen Hawking
14. “A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.” —Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert
15. “Happiness is spiritual, born of truth and love. It is unselfish; therefore, it cannot exist alone but requires all mankind to share it.” —Mary Baker Eddy
16. “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
Spiritual motivational quotes
17. “To make life a little better for people less fortunate than you. That’s what I think a meaningful life is, living not for oneself but for one’s community.” —Ruth Bader Ginsburg
18. “If you’re willing to put yourself and your dreams on the line, at the very least you’ll discover an inner strength you may not have known existed.” —Kurt Warner
19. “We are not punished for our anger; we are punished by our anger.” —Eknath Easwaran
20. “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” —Princess Diana
21. “I attack ideas. I don’t attack people. Some very good people have some very bad ideas. And if you can’t separate the two, you gotta get another day job.” —Antonin Scalia
22. “Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.” —Yoda, Star Wars
23. “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.” —Psalm 147:4
24. “Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity, and you are the mirror.” —Kahlil Gibran
25. “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” —Dolly Parton
26. “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” —C.S. Lewis
27. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” —J.R.R. Tolkien
28. “The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” —Lois Lowry
29. “Even though you don’t know what will happen tomorrow, you can absolutely be sure of your ultimate destination. I will hold you by your right hand, and afterward I will take you into glory.” —Sarah Young (referencing Psalm 73: 23–28)
30. “If you seek peace, be still. If you seek wisdom, be silent. If you seek love, be yourself.” —Becca Lee
31. “Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.” —Immanuel Kant
32. “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist.” —Stephen Hawking
33. “We’re an impossibility in an impossible universe.” —Ray Bradbury
34. “The Word of God is like an anchor. Each time you read it, you are putting your anchor in the ground and holding on.” —Kelly Needham
35. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” —Philippians 4:8
36. “How do we change the world? One random act of kindness.” —Morgan Freeman as God in Evan Almighty
37. “You either believe God knows what He’s doing or you believe He doesn’t. You either believe He’s worth trusting or you say He’s not. And then, where are you? You’re at the mercy of chaos not cosmos. Chaos is the Greek word for disorder. Cosmos is the word for order. We either live in an ordered universe or we are trying to create our own reality.” —Elisabeth Elliot
38. “After ten thousand affronts, he loves you as infinitely as ever.” —Charles Spurgeon
39. “Lord God, you know what you’re doing!” —Gladys Aylward
40. “Something revolutionary happens in the heart when you recognize that every single person you will ever meet is made in the image of God.” —Jackie Hill Perry
41. “Good humor and laughter are far too wonderful not to come straight from the heart of God.” —Beth Moore
42. “One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” —Friedrich Nietzsche
43. “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” —Carter Crocker
44. “That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.” —Emily Dickinson
Inspirational spiritual quotes
45. “In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.” —Fred Rogers
46. “Everyone deserves a second-second chance.” —Steve Carell as Michael Scott
47. “God seldom calls us for an easier life but always calls us to know more of him and drink more deeply of his sustaining grace.” —John Piper
48. “You’re lovely even with your scars, lovely the way you are. So open up your lovely heart and don’t try so hard.” —Amy Grant
49. “We should definitely instruct and teach those who are growing. We want to build them up and show them what God’s word says.” —Tony Dungy
50. “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel his pleasure.” —Ian Charleson as Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire
51. “Life’s barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you get good at.” —Matthew McConaughey as Rust Cohle in True Detective
52. “The supreme happiness of life consists in the conviction that one is loved; loved for one’s own sake, let us say rather, loved in spite of one’s self.” —Victor Hugo
53. “If the sun comes up, I have a chance.” —Venus Williams
54. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, ‘Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.'” —Matthew 5:48
Why trust us
At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite quotes for over 100 years. The sayings and quips that appear in the magazine’s “Quotable Quotes” (formerly “Remarkable Remarks”) are curated from interviews and essays originally published in the magazine, reprints from trusted titles and other verified sources. For this piece, Dianne Bright tapped her experiences as a lifestyle writer to ensure that all information is accurate. We’ve gone the extra step and had Christine Coppa, a fact-checker with 20-plus years of experience, including serving as staff research editor at Philadelphia magazine and at Essence, verify that all quotes are attributed correctly and have credible sourcing. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
