Charles R. Swindoll Quotes

“People are far more important than rigid rules and demanding expectations.”

“Don't seek more days in your life but more life in your days.”

“This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to do and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody would do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.”

“There is nothing more fearful for the average person in our society than to stand before a group of people and speak.”

“The difference between something good and something great is attention to detail.”

“People who soar, are those who refuse to sit back and wish things would change”

“Honesty has a beautiful and refreshing simplicity about it. No ulterior motives. No hidden meanings. An absence of hypocrisy, duplicity, political games, and verbal superficiality. As honesty and real integrity characterize our lives, there will be no need to manipulate others.”

“Without a quest, life is quickly reduced to bleak black and wimpy white, a diet too bland to get anybody out of bed in the morning. A quest fuels our fire. It refuses to let us drift downstream gathering debris.”

“I think it is important to begin with a statement in your speech that grabs the attention of the audience. I try to make my opening line 15 words or less.”

“When we attempt to find meaning in the pursuit of pleasure, the commitment to a job, or through plumbing intellectual depths, we all eventually find in each of these pursuits a dead end.”

“One of my great goals in life is to live long enough to where I am in the pulpit, preaching my heart out, and I die on the spot, my chin hits the pulpit - boom! - and I'm down and out. What a way to die!”

“I know of nothing more valuable, when it comes to the all-important virtue of authenticity, than simply being who you are.”

“I let people see the cracks in my life. We can't be phony. We've got to keep it real.”

“Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.”

“Joy is a deeply felt contentment that transcends difficult circumstances and derives maximum enjoyment from every good experience.”

“Do you want to be wise? Choose wise friends”

“If you want to stop an argument, close your mouth.”

“One of the marks of maturity is the ability to disagree without becoming disagreeable”

“While I wholeheartedly believe in choosing to approach every challenge with a great attitude, I don't mean that we should abandon authenticity and live in fantasyland.”

“With vision there is no room to be frightened. No reason for intimidation. It's time to march forward! Let's be confident and positive!”

“Let your life yield a sweet, winsome melody that this old world needs so desperately. Yes you can if you will.”

“Love has been called the most effective motivational force in all the world. When love is at work in us, it is remarkable how giving and forgiving, understanding and tolerant we can be.”

“We are in charge of our attitudes.”

“Cultivate your own capabilities, your own style. Appreciate the members of your family for who they are, even though their outlook or style may be miles different from yours. Rabbits don't fly. Eagles don't swim. Ducks look funny trying to climb. Squirrels don't have feathers. Stop comparing. There's plenty of room in the forest.”

“Vision encompasses vast vistas outside the realm of the predictable, the safe, the expected.”