Science has to be understood in its broadest sense, as a method for apprehending all observable reality, and not merely as an instrument for acquiring specialized knowledge.
Alexis CarrelRead
Man offers himself to God. He stands before Him like the canvas before the painter or the marble before the sculptor. At the same time he asks for His grace, expresses his needs and those of his brothers in suffering. Such a type of prayer demands complete renovation. The modest, the ignorant, and the poor are more capable of this self-denial than the rich and the intellectual.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the importance of humility and self-denial in prayer and connection with God.
In this quote, Alexis Carrel compares the act of man offering himself to God with a canvas awaiting the artist's touch or marble poised for the sculptor's creation. This metaphor emphasizes the necessity of humility and self-renovation in prayer, suggesting that those who are modest, unlearned, and impoverished often embody greater capacity for self-denial than those who are wealthy or well-educated. Through their sincere, unpretentious approach to prayer, they seek divine grace not only for themselves but for others who share in their suffering.
Themes
HumilityPrayerSelf-DenialGraceSpirituality
In practice
Example use cases
During a spiritual retreat, this quote can be shared to inspire participants to embrace humility in their prayers.
More from Alexis Carrel
All quotes →Hard conditions of life are indispensable to bringing out the best in human personality.
Alexis CarrelRead
A few observation and much reasoning lead to error; many observations and a little reasoning to truth.
Alexis CarrelRead
The first duty of society is to give each of its members the possibility of fulfilling his destiny. When it becomes incapable of performing this duty it must be transformed.
Alexis CarrelRead
Discipline brings us effort, sacrifice and suffering. Later it brings us something of an inestimable value: something of which those who live only for pleasure, profit or amusement will always be deprived. This peculiar indefinable joy which one must have felt oneself to understand is the sign with which life marks its moment of triumph.
Alexis CarrelRead
Those who desire to rise as high as our human condition allows, must renounce intellectual pride, the omnipotence of clear thinking, belief in the absolute power of logic.
Alexis CarrelRead
Similar quotes
All I did was pray to God, every day. In prison camp, the main prayer was, 'Get me home alive, God, and I'll seek you and serve you.' I came home, got wrapped up in the celebration, and forgot about the hundreds of promises I'd made to God.
Louis ZamperiniRead
Our passion is to imitate the ministry of Jesus in the power of the Spirit. This requires we must follow Jesus out of baptismal waters, through our personal deserts, and into the harvest. We want to take the ammunition of the balanced evangelical theology with the fire power of Pentecostal practice, loading & readying the best of both worlds to hit the target of making & nurturing disciples.
John WimberRead
Dear God, I give this time of quiet to You. Please dissolve my thoughts of stress and fear And deliver me to the inner place Where all is peace and love. Amen.
Marianne WilliamsonRead
Prayer is sitting in the silence until it silences us, choosing gratitude until we are grateful, and praising God until we ourselves are an act of praise.
Richard RohrRead
If Jesus is to become the center of our life, we need to spend time in His presence, before the Tabernacle.
Pope FrancisRead
Learn to pray. Pray often. Pray in your mind, in your heart. Pray on your knees. Prayer is your personal key to heaven. The lock is on your side of the veil. And I have learned to conclude all my prayers with ‘Thy will be done’ (Matthew 6:10; see also Luke 11:2; 3 Nephi 13:10).
Boyd K. PackerRead