John Kramer

“This is what evil does; it makes choices for others in the name of religion, in the name of government, in the name of community, in the name of personal gain, that these individuals are best able to make for themselves.”

“The pursuit of goodness leads to greatness, but the pursuit of greatness, whether by a man or a nation, leads to ruin…. [G]ood men build; great men destroy. They destroy because they try to control something other than themselves and that always leads to destruction.”

“Not by prayers alone will a captive be freed, but by another man’s prayers matched by his deeds.”

“Discontent comes from two sources alone: Not having dreams, or not pursuing the ones you have. No one has ever died sorry who tried to turn a wish into a memory.”

“One of mankind’s greatest sins is inaction in the face of injustice.”

“The smallest act of compassion can save a soul, perhaps your own.”

“It was no accident that one of the first things God asked of Adam was for him to name the animals he saw around him. Why do you suppose God asked man to do that? Because once you have a name, you have the beginning of understanding, and once you have understanding, you lose fear. God didn’t want man to be fearful. He wanted man to be brave.”

“Every war, every plague is God’s judgment. But every man who rises up to stop the wars and the plagues is God’s instrument. Human action is God’s will, not blind indifference in the face of suffering.”

“Every decision is easy once you make it. The important thing is to think carefully, make your decision, and then work to make your choice the right one. That is the secret to a happy life. There are very few wrong decisions in life, but very few people who are willing to make the effort it takes to make their decisions the right ones.”

“Ignorance has one virtue: persistence. It will insist through dogged persistence on leading others to follow its vision no matter how misguided. Ignorance will drive the world to the brink of failure and catastrophe and beyond into the abyss with arrogance and anger because wisdom is often too polite to fight. Wisdom doesn’t like to impose its will, but that is all ignorance understands—force over free will and choice. Sooner or later the world comes to its senses, but oh the damage that has been done.”

“The people’s silence is a tyrant’s greatest advocate. The less captives talked, the less they knew; the less they knew, the more they feared; and the more they feared, the more easily others could manipulate them to their own ends, the more easily the captives could be controlled.”

“To be free, you must think. There is no way to follow blindly and to be free.”

“When there is a crisis, let your heart pray, but let your hands work.”

“As’ is the most difficult word in a Christian’s life. We have to forgive 'as' we want to be forgiven.”

“Catastrophe alone sparks man’s salvation. I don’t mean in the religious sense, although I guess it is appropriate there, too, because believers agree that salvation comes only after death. It is part of the human near-tragedy that we learn more from loss than from gain. Gain binds us until we stumble and fall into that black pit then we find the spirit of understanding and truth. And if we fall far enough and still persist, we find our salvation.”

“There is no success where there are no secrets.”

“In politics and passion, perception is reality.”

“A full heart has more room than an empty one.”

“Some people are anchored to this world by their feet, others by their fears.”

“Man must be free or he will not survive.”