Prodigals Quotes

• I have come to know a God who has a soft spot for rebels, who recruits people like the adulterer David, the whiner Jeremiah, the traitor Peter, and the human-rights abuser Saul of Tarsus. I have come to know a God whose Son made prodigals the heroes of his stories and the trophies of his ministry.

  Philip Yancey

  Hero, Son, Rights

  Philip Yancey (2010). “What Good is God?: On the Road with Stories of Grace”, p.185, Hachette UK

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• When you keep the porch light on for the prodigal child, you do what God does every single moment.

  Max Lucado

  Children, Single Mom, Light

  Max Lucado (2006). “Facing Your Giants: A David and Goliath Story for Everyday People”, p.121, Thomas Nelson Inc

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• I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found.

  Henri Nouwen

  Unconditional Love, Son, Found

  Henri Nouwen (2013). “The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming”, p.39, Image

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• Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal, with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.

  John Ciardi

  Hope, Dad, Father

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• Grace is the celebration of life, relentlessly hounding all the non-celebrants in the world. It is a floating, cosmic bash shouting its way through the streets of the universe, flinging the sweetness of its cassations to every window, pounding at every door in a hilarity beyond all liking and happening, until the prodigals come out at last and dance, and the elder brothers finally take their fingers out of their ears.

  Robert Farrar Capon

  Brother, Doors, Grace

  Robert Farrar Capon (1997). “Between Noon and Three: Romance, Law, and the Outrage of Grace”, p.72, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• The pattern of the prodigal is: rebellion, ruin, repentance, reconciliation, restoration.

  Edwin Louis Cole

  Uprising, Christian Inspirational, Literature

  Edwin Louis Cole (1998). “Absolute Answers to Prodigal Problems”, Thomas Nelson Incorporated

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• One of the hardest things in the world is to stop being the prodigal son without turning into the elder brother.

  John Ortberg

  Brother, Son, World

  John Ortberg (1997). “The Life You've Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People”, p.103, Harper Collins

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• It is for us to begin. If we take one step towards the Lord, he takes ten towards us -- he who saw the prodigal son while he was at a distance, and had compassion and ran and embraced him.

  Tito Colliander

  Distance, Son, Compassion

  Tito Colliander (1982). “Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth”, p.60, St Vladimir's Seminary Press

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• The difference between mercy and grace? Mercy gave the prodigal son a second chance. Grace gave him a feast.

  Max Lucado

  Son, Second Chance, Differences

  Twitter post from Jan 17, 2011

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• You may be more prodigal of time than of money.

  Suzanne Curchod

  Time, May

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• The great man is sparing in words but prodigal in deeds.

  Confucius

  Men, Deeds, Great Men

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• In the great wealth, the great firmament of your nation's generosities this particular choice may perhaps be found by future generations as a trifle eccentric, but the mere fact of it . . . the prodigal, pure, human kindness of it . . . must be seen as a beautiful star in that firmament which shines upon me at this moment, dazzling me a little, but filling me with warmth of the extraordinary elation, the euphoria that happens to so many of us at the first breath of the majestic glow of a new tomorrow.

  Laurence Olivier

  Beautiful, Stars, Kindness

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• Jesus disclosed that God is compassionate. Jesus spoke of God that way: "Be compassionate, as God is compassionate." Compassion is the primary quality of the central figures in two of his most famous parables: the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan. And Jesus himself, as a manifestation of the sacred, is often spoken of as embodying compassion.

  Marcus Borg

  Jesus, Father, Son

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• Love never reasons, but profusely gives,
  Gives, like a thoughtless prodigal, its all,
  And trembles then, lest it has done too little.

  Hannah More

  Love, Giving, Romance

  "I'll Tell You What. Next Door Neighbours. Wise Man Of The East. Percy. Trip To Scarborough".

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• We Americans tend to be a prodigal lot. We are as careless with our personal resources as we are with the resources of nature, squandering both as if there were no end to the gifts of earth and sea and sky.

  Catherine Crook de Camp

  Sea, Sky, Earth

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• The forgiveness of God is gratuitous liberation from guilt. Paradoxically, the conviction of personal sinfulness becomes the occasion of encounter with the merciful love of the redeeming God. "There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner repenting..." (Luke 15:7). In his brokenness, the repentant prodigal knew an intimacy with his father that his sinless, self-righteous brother would never know.

  Brennan Manning

  Brother, Father, Self

  Brennan Manning (2008). “The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out”, p.116, Multnomah

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• Hope is a prodigal young heir, and Experience is his banker; but his drafts are seldom honoured, since there is often a heavy balance against him, because he draws largely on a small capital, is not yet in possession, and if he were, would die.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Hope, Balance, Heirs

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.72

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• There is a tiny yellow daffodil, The butterfly can see it from afar, Although one summer evening's dew could fill Its little cup twice over, ere the star Had called the lazy shepherd to his fold, And be no prodigal.

  Oscar Wilde

  Summer, Stars, Butterfly

  Oscar Wilde (2014). “Poems”, p.30, Simon and Schuster

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• Sad fancies do we then affect, In luxury of disrespect To our own prodigal excess Of too familiar happiness.

  William Wordsworth

  Happiness, Luxury, Disrespect

  William Wordsworth (1837). “The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth: Together with a Description of the Country of the Lakes in the North of England, Now First Published with His Works ...”, p.349

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• I do not overlook the fact that the appearance of these new, free nations in the European political community not only celebrates the return of the prodigal son but also creates new sources of friction here and there

  Hjalmar Branting

  Son, Community, Political

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• In terms of distance, the prodigal's pigsty is the farthest point from home; in terms of time, the pigsty is the shortest distance to the father's house.

  Os Guinness

  Father, Distance, Home

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• Summer is a prodigal of joy. The grass Swarms with delighted insects as I pass, And crowds of grasshoppers at every stride Jump out all ways with happiness their guide; And from my brushing feet moths flit away In safer places to pursue their play. In crowds they start. I marvel, well I may, To see such worlds of insects in the way, And more to see each thing, however small, Sharing joy's bounty that belongs to all. And here I gather, by the world forgot, Harvests of comfort from their happy mood, Feeling God's blessing dwells in every spot And nothing lives but owes him gratitude.

  John Clare

  Summer, Gratitude, Blessing

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• If a man is prodigal, he cannot be truly generous.

  James Boswell

  Men, Generosity, Ifs

  James Boswell (1956). “London Journal, 1762-1763, as First Published in 1950 from the Original Manuscript”

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• If they had a social gospel in the days of the prodigal son, somebody would have given him a bed and a sandwich and he never would have gone home.

  Vance Havner

  Home, Son, Bed

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• There is a trend today that would put a new robe on the prodigal son while he is still feeding hogs. Some would put the ring on his finger while he still in the pigsty. Others would paint the pigsty and advocate bigger and better hog pens.

  Vance Havner

  Son, Bigger And Better, Laziness

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