Sayings of John Bunyon (1628–1688)

1. Afflictions make the heart more deep, more experimental, more knowing and profound, and so, more able to hold, to contain, and beat more.
2. I never knew all there was in the Bible until I spent those years in jail. I was constantly finding new treasures.
3. He wrestled with justice, that thou mightest have rest; he wept and mourned, that thou mightest laugh and rejoice; he was betrayed, that thou mightest go free; was apprehended, that thou mightest escape; he was condemned, that thou mightest be justified, and was killed, that thou mightest live; he wore a crown of thorns, that thou mightest wear a crown of glory; and was nailed to the cross with his arms wide open, to show with what freeness all his merits shall be bestowed on the coming soul, and how heartily he will receive it into his bosom.
4. Christ did not only come into our flesh, but also into our condition, into the valley and shadow of death, where we were, and where we are, as we are sinners.
5. Dost thou see a soul with the image of God in him? Love him, love him. Say to thyself, "This man and I must go to heaven together someday."
6. If we have not quiet in our minds, outward comfort will do no more for us than a golden slipper on a gouty foot.
7. Let dissolution come when it will, it can do the Christian no harm, for it will be but a passage out of a prison into a palace; out of a sea of troubles into a haven of rest; out of a crowd of enemies into an innumerable company of true, loving and faithful friends; out of shame, reproach and contempt, into exceeding great and eternal glory.
8. Weep not for me, but for yourselves.
9. I would say to my soul, O my soul, this is not the place of despair; this is not the time to despair in. As long as mine eyes can find a promise in the Bible, as long as there is a moment left me of breath or life in this world, so long will I wait or look for mercy, so long will I fight against unbelief and despair.
10. He that is down need fear no fall, He that is low, no pride.
11. Our heart oft times wakes when we sleep, and God can speak to that, either by words, by proverbs, by signs and similitudes, as well as if one was awake.
12. A man there was, and they called him mad; The more he gave, the more he had.
13. He who bestows his goods upon the poor, Shall have as much again, and ten times more.
14. A little from God is better than a great deal from men. What is from men is uncertain and is often lost and tumbled over and over by men; but what is from God is fixed as a nail in a sure place.
15. God has set a Savior against sin, a heaven against a hell, light against darkness, good against evil, and the breadth and length and depth and height of grace that is in himself for my good, against all the power and strength and subtlety of every enemy.
16. Grace can pardon our ungodliness and justify us with Christ's righteousness; it can put the Spirit of Jesus Christ within us; it can help us when we are down; it can heal us when we are wounded; it can multiply pardons, as we through frailty multiply transgressions.
17. Hope has a thick skin and will endure many a blow; it will put on patience as a vestment, it will wade through a sea of blood, it will endure all things if it be of the right kind, for the joy that is set before it. Hence patience is called "patience of hope," because it is hope that makes the soul exercise patience and long-suffering under the cross, until the time comes to enjoy the crown.
18. The egg's no chick by falling from the hen, Nor man a Christian till he's born again.
19. In prayer it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart.
20. Prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to Satan.
21. The best prayers often have more groans than words.
22. The difference between true and false repentance lies in this: the man who truly repents cries out against his heart; but the other, as Eve, against the serpent, or something else.
23. Just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders and fell from off his back and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulcher, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.
24. If I were fruitless, it mattered not who commended me; but if I were fruitful, I cared not who did condemn.
25. He who lives in sin and looks for happiness hereafter is like him who sows cockle and thinks to fill his barn with wheat or barley.
26. One leak will sink a ship; and one sin will destroy a sinner.
27. Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of his mercy, the jeer of his patience, the slight of his power, and the contempt of his love.
28. Temptation provokes me to look upward to God.
29. Temptations, when we first meet them, are as the lion that roared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a nest of honey within them.
30. There is no way to kill a man's righteousness but by his own consent.
31. Old truths are always new to us if they come to us with the smell of heaven upon them.