100 Quotes by John Wesley
John Wesley, an 18th-century Anglican cleric and theologian, is best known as the founder of Methodism, a movement that significantly influenced Christianity's development. Born in 1703, Wesley's religious fervor and commitment to social reform reshaped the religious landscape of his time. Wesley emphasized personal piety, devotion, and social justice. His "Methodist" approach to faith sought to bridge the gap between intellectual faith and personal experience, emphasizing salvation through a transformative encounter with God's grace. Wesley's open-air preaching and itinerant ministry reached marginalized communities, making him a key figure in the revivalist movement. Beyond theology, his social initiatives, including prison reform, education, and advocacy for workers' rights, left an enduring mark on social welfare. Wesley's teachings laid the foundation for Methodism's growth into a global movement and contributed to the emergence of modern evangelicalism. His legacy is visible in the diverse spectrum of Methodist churches and his impact on a wide range of social and religious concerns.
John Wesley Quotes
Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with God. (Meaning)
Nothing short of God can satisfy your soul. (Meaning)
You have one business on earth – to save souls. (Meaning)
The bible knows nothing of solitary religion. (Meaning)
The best of all is God with us (Meaning)
God does nothing except in response to believing prayer. (Meaning)
Do all the good you can, by all the means you can. (Meaning)
Untold millions are still untold. (Meaning)
I look upon all the world as my parish. (Meaning)
God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it. (Meaning)
God will do nothing but in answer to prayer. (Meaning)
Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry. (Meaning)
Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness. (Meaning)
Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.
What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace.
Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth.
The church changes the world not by making converts but by making disciples.
Condemn no man for not thinking as you think. Let every one enjoy the full and free liberty of thinking for himself. Let every man use his own judgment, since every man must give an account of himself to God.
Lord, I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will.
People who wish to be offended will always find some occasion for taking offense.
We should be rigorous in judging ourselves and gracious in judging others.
I have never known more than fifteen minutes of anxiety or fear. Whenever I feel fearful emotions overtaking me, I just close my eyes and thank God that He is still on the throne reigning over everything and I take comfort in His control over the affairs of my life.
You have one business on earth – to save souls.
Get on fire for God and men will come and see you burn.
I continue to dream and pray about a revival of holiness in our day that moves forth in mission and creates authentic community in which each person can be unleashed through the empowerment of the Spirit to fulfill God's creational intentions.
Whosoever will reign with Christ in heaven, must have Christ reigning in him on earth
Reading Christians are growing Christians. When Christians cease to read, they cease to grow.
In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church.
If we cannot think alike, at least we may love alike; and can anything but love beget love?
When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous. Now, if that man, when he gets all he can and saves all he can, does not give all he can, I have more hope for Judas Iscariot than for that man!
Let your words be the genuine picture of your heart.
Prayer is where the action is.
Having, First, gained all you can, and, Secondly saved all you can, Then give all you can.
By justification we are saved from the guilt of sin…by sanctification we are saved from the power and root of sin
Before I can preach love, mercy, and grace, I must preach sin, Law, and judgment. Preach 90% Law and 10% grace.
You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work. And go not only to those that need you, but to those that need you most. It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance.
I judge all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.
Catch on fire and people will come for miles to see you burn.
Not, how much of my money will I give to God, but, how much of God’s money will I keep for myself?
I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians in England.
Proceed with much prayer, and your way will be made plain.
One of the greatest evidences of God's love to those that love him is, to send them afflictions, with grace to bear them.
Beware you be not swallowed up in books! An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.
The readiest way to escape from our sufferings is, to be willing they should endure as long as God pleases.
I want to know one thing, the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this end He came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. Give me that book! At any price give me the Book of God!
Let me do all the good I can, to all the people I can, as often as I can, for I shall not pass this way again.
Anything that cools my love for Christ is the world.
God grant that I may never live to be useless!
Making an open stand against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness which overspreads our land as a flood is one of the noblest ways of confessing Christ in the face of His enemies.
If I had 300 men who feared nothing but God, hated nothing but sin, and were determined to know nothing among men but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, I would set the world on fire.
My fear is not that our great movement, known as the Methodists, will eventually cease to exist or one day die from the earth. My fear is that our people will become content to live without the fire, the power, the excitement, the supernatural element that makes us great.
Do you know why that cow looks over that wall? She looks over the wall because she cannot see through it, and that is what you must do with your troubles... Look over and above them.
Always remember the essence of Christian holiness is simplicity and purity: one design, one desire: entire devotion to God.
Get all you can without hunting your soul, your body, or your neighbor. Save all you can, cutting off every needless expense. Give all you can. Be glad to give, and ready to distribute; laying up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that you may attain eternal life.
Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences.
As long as you feel your own weakness and helplessness, you will find help from above.
I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole world for my mission field.
Give me one hundred men who love only God with all their heart and hate only sin with all their heart and we will shake the gates of hell and bring in the kingdom of God in one generation.
Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness.
Nothing short of God can satisfy your soul.
Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with God.
Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing!
Singing is as much the language of holy joy as praying is of holy desire.
When I was young I was sure of everything; in a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before; at present, I am hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed to me.
It is the work of God alone to justify, to sanctify, and to glorify.
Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the Triune God.
I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.
The first priority of my life is to be holy, and the second goal of my life is to be a scholar.
My one aim in life is to secure personal holiness, for without being holy myself I cannot promote real holiness in others.
Employ whatever God has entrusted you with, in doing good, all possible good, in every possible kind and degree.
The greater the share the people have in government, the less liberty, civil or religious, does a nation enjoy.
The neglect of prayer is a grand hindrance to holiness.
It cannot be that the people should grow in grace unless they give themselves to reading. A reading people will always be a knowing people.
Humility and patience are the surest proofs of the increase of love.
Vice does not lose its character by becoming fashionable.
Think not the bigotry of another is any excuse for your own.
On every occasion of uneasiness, we should retire to prayer, that we may give place to the grace and light of God and then form our resolutions, without being in any pain about what success they may have.
Oh Lord, let me not live to be useless.
A meek spirit gives no trouble willingly to any: a quiet spirit bears all wrongs without being troubled.
Until my work on this earth is done, I am immortal. But when my work for Christ is done ... I go to be with Jesus
Suffer all, and conquer all.
Money never stays with me. It would burn me if it did. I throw it out of my hands as soon as possible, lest it should find its way into my heart.
The Church recruited people who had been starched and ironed before they were washed.
It is good to renew ourselves, from time to time, by closely examining the state of our souls, as if we had never done it before; for nothing tends more to the full assurance of faith, than to keep ourselves by this means in humility, and the exercise of all good works.
Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.
The best of all is God with us
For as long as love takes up the whole heart, what room is there for sin therein?
God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.
Untold millions are still untold.
The man who never fasts is no more in the way to heaven than the man who never prays.
Wine, one of the noblest cordials in nature.
I look upon all the world as my parish.
He who governed the world before I was born shall take care of it likewise when I am dead. My part is to improve the present moment.
All that a Christian does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God, without either adding to or diminishing from it by his own choice.
I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.
My ground is the Bible. Yea, I am a Bible-bigot. I follow it in all things, both great and small.
There is no love of God without patience, and no patience without lowliness and sweetness of spirit.
The wearing of costly array is directly opposite to being adorned with good works. Nothing can be more evident than this; for the more you lay out on your own apparel, the less you have left to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry, to lodge the stranger, to relieve those that are sick and in prison.
God will do nothing but in answer to prayer.
All worldly joys are less than that one joy of doing kindnesses.
In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is continual prayer.
I am never in a hurry, because I never undertake more work than I can go through with perfect calmness of spirit.
God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it.
Do not any longer contend for mastery, for power, money, or praise. Be content to be a private, insignificant person, known and loved by God and me....of what importance is your character to mankind, if you was buried just now. Or if you had never lived, what loss would it be to the cause of God.
About three in the morning as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we recovered a little from the awe and amazement at the presence of His Majesty, we broke out with one voice, 'We praise Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.'
I can by no means approve the scurrility and contempt with which the Romanists have often been treated. I dare not rail at, or despise, any man: much less those who profess to believe in the same Master. But I pity them much; having the same assurance, that Jesus is the Christ, and that no Romanist can expect to be saved, according to the terms of his covenant.
I want to know one thing: The way to Heaven. How to land safe on that happy shore.
Nay, if there be any mistakes in the Bible, there may as well be a thousand. If there be one falsehood in that book, it did not come from the God of truth
A sour religion is the devil's religion.
My talent is to speak my mind. God won't object if you bury that talent.
Faith is the divine evidence whereby the spiritual man discerneth God, and the things of God.
We are always open to instruction, willing to be wiser every day than we were before, and to change whatever we can change for the better.
It is no marvel that the devil does not love field preaching! Neither do I; I love a commodious room, a soft cushion, a handsome pulpit. But where is my zeal if I do not trample all these underfoot in order to save one more soul?
The bottom of the soul may be in repose, even while we are in many outward troubles; just as the bottom of the sea is calm, while the surface is strongly agitated.
When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn.
Every one, though born of God in an instant, yet undoubtedly grows by slow degrees.
Once in seven years I burn all my sermons; for it is a shame, if I cannot write better sermons now than I did seven years ago.
Wherever riches have increased, the essence of religion has decreased in the same proportion.
The best of it all is, God is with us.
You have nothing to do but to save souls; therefore spend and be spent in this work.
God is so great that He communicates greatness to the least thing that is done for His service.
The bible knows nothing of solitary religion.
One of the principal rules of religion is, to lose no occasion of serving God. And, since he is invisible to our eyes, we are to serve him in our neighbour; which he receives as if done to himself in person, standing visibly before us.
Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength.
I'd had the quintessential liberal arts experience, and I came out of college not having a clue of what to do.
But as sickness and diseases have created the necessity of medicines and physicians, so the disorders of our rational nature have introduced the necessity of education and tutors.
Any 'Christians' who take for themselves any more than the plain necessaries of life, live in an open habitual denial of the Lord. They have gained riches and hell-fire.
Passion and prejudice govern the world; only under the name of reason.
If doing a good act in public will excite others to do more good, then 'Let your light shine to all.' Miss no opportunity to do good.
Do all the good you can, by all the means you can.
Try all things by the written word, and let all bow down before it. You are in danger of [fanaticism] every hour, if you depart ever so little from Scripture; yea, or from the plain, literal meaning of an text, taken in connection with the context.
The case is this: God offers you one of the greatest mercies on this side of heaven and commands you to accept it. Why do you not accept this mercy in obedience to His command.... God offers you a pardon for all your sins.
As the more holy we are upon earth the more happy we must be.
Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry.
Beware, lastly, of imagining you shall obtain the end without using the means conducive to it.
This earthly body is slow and heavy in all its motions, listless and soon tired with action. But our heavenly bodies shall be as fire; as active and as nimble as our thoughts are.
Justifying faith implies, not only a divine evidence or conviction that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, but a sure trust and confidence that Christ died for my sins, that He loved me and gave Himself for me.
Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he comes in the clouds of heaven.
Riches naturally beget pride, love of the world, and every temper that is destructive of Christianity.
My mother was the source from which I derived the guiding principles of my life.
As to matters of dress, I would recommend one never to be first in the fashion nor the last out of it.
Gay and costly apparel directly tends to create and influence lust. The fact is plain and undeniable, it has the effect both on the wearer and beholder. You kindle a flame, which, at the same time consumes both yourself and your admirers.
Preach 90% Law and 10% grace.
Even in the greatest afflictions, we ought to testify to God, that, in receiving them from his hand, we feel pleasure in the midst of the pain, from being afflicted by Him who loves us, and whom we love.
The longer I live, the larger allowances I make for human infirmities. I exact more from myself and less from others.
― John Wesley Quotes
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
