John Calvin was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. Profoundly inspirational John Calvin quotes will encourage you to think a little deeper than you usually would and broaden your perspective.
If you’re searching for quotes from influential Christians that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of profound Joyce Meyer quotes, amazing Padre Pio quotes and top John Piper quotes.
Famous John Calvin Quotes
Unless we fix certain hours in the day for prayer, it easily slips from our memory. John Calvin
We should ask God to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and raise it up when it is overthrown. John Calvin
That we may be prepared to receive all his benefits with true gratitude and thanksgiving, while our prayers remind us that they proceed from his hand. John Calvin
There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice. John Calvin
Now, in order that true religion may shine upon us, we ought to hold that it must take its beginning from heavenly doctrine. John Calvin
There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence. John Calvin
Men will never worship God with a sincere heart, or be roused to fear and obey Him with sufficient zeal, until they properly understand how much they are indebted to His mercy. John Calvin
The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul. John Calvin
The human testimonies which go to confirm it will not be without effect, if they are used in subordination to that chief and highest proof, as secondary helps to our weakness. John Calvin
If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house, then in a field, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light. John Calvin
Unless men establish their complete happiness in God, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him. John Calvin
True wisdom consists in two things: Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self. John Calvin
No one can get even the slightest taste of right and sound doctrine unless he be a pupil of Scripture. John Calvin
The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life. It cannot be grasped by reason and memory only, but it is fully understood when it possesses the whole soul and penetrates to the inner recesses of the heart. John Calvin
To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them. John Calvin
Man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols. John Calvin
For, until men feel that they owe everything to God, that they are cherished by his paternal care, and that he is the author of all their blessings, so that nought is to be looked for away from him, they will never submit to him in voluntary obedience. John Calvin
A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent. John Calvin
All things are of God; and, therefore, why should it not be lawful to dedicate to his glory everything that can properly be employed for such a purpose? John Calvin
No one can travel so far that he does not make some progess each day. So let us never give up. Then we shall move forward daily in the Lord’s way. And let us never despair because of our limited success. Even though it is so much less than we would like, our labour is not wasted when today is better than yesterday! John Calvin
The Lord has not redeemed you so you might enjoy pleasures and luxuries, but rather so you should be prepared to endure all sorts of evils. John Calvin
Our prayer must not be self centered. It must arise not only because we feel our own need as a burden we must lay upon God, but also because we are so bound up in love for our fellow men that we feel their need as acutely as our own. To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them. John Calvin
God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray. John Calvin
The pastor ought to have two voices one, for gathering the sheep; and another, for warding off and driving away wolves and thieves. The Scripture supplies him with the means of doing both. John Calvin
We are not thus convinced if we look merely to ourselves and not also to the Lord, who is the sole standard by which this judgment must be measured. John Calvin
There is no knowing that does not begin with knowing God. John Calvin
The ceremony of lifting up our hands in prayer is designed to remind us that we are far removed from God, unless our thoughts rise upward. John Calvi.
A perfect faith is nowhere to be found, so it follows that all of us are partly unbelievers. John Calvin
When God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers. John Calvin
God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation. John Calvin
To know God as the Master and Bestower of all good things, who invites us to request them of Him, and still not go to Him and ask of Him this would be of as little profit as for a man to neglect a treasure, buried and hidden in the earth, after it had been pointed out to him. John Calvin
The whole world is a theatre for the display of the divine goodness, wisdom, justice, and power, but the Church is the orchestra, as it were the most conspicuous part of it; and the nearer the approaches are that God makes to us, the more intimate and condescending the communication of his benefits, the more attentively are we called to consider them. John Calvin
We shall never be clothed with the righteousness of Christ except we first know assuredly that we have no righteousness of our own. John Calvin
All the arts come from God and are to be respected as divine inventions. John Calvin
Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts the knowledge of God and of ourselves. John Calvin
Without the fear of God, men do not even observe justice and charity among themselves. John Calvin
All truth is from God; and consequently, if wicked men have said anything that is true and just, we ought not to reject it; for it has come from God. John Calvin
We are not to reflect on the wickedness of men but to look to the image of God in them, an image which, covering and obliterating their faults, an image which, by its beauty and dignity, should allure us to love and embrace them. John Calvin
We must remember that Satan has his miracles, too. John Calvin
However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts. John Calvin
Let the first rule of right prayer then be, to have our heart and mind framed as becomes those who are entering into converse with God. John Calvin
Let us not cease to do the utmost, that we may incessantly go forward in the way of the Lord; and let us not despair of the smallness of our accomplishments. John Calvin
However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts. John Calvin
Those who set up a fictitious worship, merely worship and adore their own delirious fancies; indeed, they would never dare so to trifle with God, had they not previously fashioned him after their own childish conceits. John Calvin
A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent. John Calvin
Seeing that a Pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness. John Calvin
Faith is like an empty, open hand stretched out towards God, with nothing to offer and everything to receive. John Calvin
This is why Paul upholds the teaching of the gospel in such a forceful way Seeing such an example and such a picture of man’s great weakness and fickleness, Paul states that the truth of the gospel must supersede anything that we may devise he is showing us that we ought to know the substance of the doctrine which is brought to us in the name of God, so that our faith can be fully grounded upon it. Then we will not be tossed about with every wind, nor will we wander about aimlessly, changing our opinions a hundred times a day; we will persist in this doctrine until the end. This, in brief, is what we must remember. John Calvin
I gave up all for Christ, and what have I found? Everything in Christ. John Calvin
In forming an estimate of sins, we are often imposed upon by imagining that the more hidden the less heinous they are. John Calvin
There is no knowing that does not begin with knowing God. John Calvin
Faith is ultimately a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts by the Holy Spirit. John Calvin
Let our chief goal, O God, be your glory, and to enjoy You forever. John Calvin
For there is no one so great or mighty that he can avoid the misery that will rise up against him when he resists and strives against God. John Calvin
Satan is an astute theologian. John Calvin
For it is better, with closed eyes, to follow God as our guide, than, by relying on our own prudence, to wander through those circuitous paths which it devises for us. John Calvin
Prayers will never reach God unless they are founded on free mercy. John Calvin
The Lord commands us to do good unto all men without exception, though the majority are very undeserving when judged according to their own merits. The Scripture teaches us that we must not think of man’s real value, but only of his creation in the image of God to which we owe all possible honor and love. John Calvin
There is no inconsistency when God raises up those who have fallen prostrate. John Calvin
He who neglects to pray alone and in private, however assiduously he frequents public meetings, there gives his prayers to the wind. John Calvin
Whoever is not satisfied with Christ alone, strives after something beyond absolute perfection. John Calvin
All whom the Lord has chosen and received into the society of his saints ought to prepare themselves for a life that is hard, difficult, laborious and full of countless griefs. John Calvin
Scripture is like a pair of spectacles which dispels the darkness and gives us a clear view of God. John Calvin
We are not to look to what men in themselves deserve but to attend to the image of God which exists in all and to which we owe all honor and love. John Calvin
We cannot rely on God’s promises without obeying his commandments. John Calvin
It is a promise which eminently deserves our observation that all who are united to Christ and acknowledge Him to be Christ and Mediator will remain to the end safe from all danger, for what is said of the body of the Church belongs to each of its members since they are one in Christ. John Calvin
Whatever a person may be like, we must still love them because we love God. John Calvin
As far as sacred Scripture is concerned, however much froward men try to gnaw at it, nevertheless it clearly is crammed with thoughts that could not be humanly conceived. Let each of the prophets be looked into none will be found who does not far exceed human measure. Consequently, those for whom prophetic doctrine is tasteless ought to be thought of as lacking taste buds. John Calvin
Hatred grows into insolence when we desire to excel the rest of mankind and imagine we do not belong to the common lot; we even severely and haughtily despise others as our inferiors. John Calvin
He only who is reduced to nothing in himself, and relies on the mercy of God is poor in spirit. John Calvin
There is not one little blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make men rejoice. John Calvin
He who has learned to look to God in everything he does is at the same time diverted from all vain thoughts. John Calvin
The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul. John Calvin
God orders what we cannot do, that we may know what we ought to ask of him. John Calvin
The surest source of destruction to men is to obey themselves. John Calvin
Prayer unaccompanied by perseverance leads to no result. John Calvin
It is foolish to attempt to prove to infidels that Scripture is the Word of God. This cannot be known except by faith. John Calvin
Doctrine is not an affair of the tongue but of the life. John Calvin
If a preacher is not first preaching to himself, better that he falls on the steps of the pulpit and breaks his neck than preaches that sermon. John Calvin
If we are not our own, but the Lord’s, it is clear to what purpose all our deeds must be directed. We are not our own, therefore neither our reason nor our will should guide us in our thoughts and actions. We are not our own, therefore we should not seek what is only expedient to the flesh. We are not our own, therefore let us forget ourselves and our own interests in as far as possible. John Calvin
Our true wisdom is to embrace with meek docility, and without reservation, whatever the holy scriptures have delivered. John Calvin
And ye peoples, to whom God gave the liberty to choose your own magistrates, see to it, that ye do not forfeit this favor, by electing to the positions of highest honor, rascals and enemies of God. John Calvin
While all men seek after happiness, scarcely one in a hundred looks for it from God. John Calvin
The whole life of man until he is converted to Christ is a ruinous labyrinth of wanderings. John Calvin
Joy is a quiet gladness of heart as one contemplates the goodness of God’s saving grace in Christ Jesus. John Calvin
The most accomplished in the Scripture are fools, unless they acknowledge that they have need of God for their schoolmaster all the days of their life. John Calvin
It is entirely the work of grace and a benefit conferred by it that our heart is changed from a stony one to one of flesh, that our will is made new, and that we, created anew in heart and mind, at length will what we ought to will. John Calvin
The cross of Christ only triumphs in the breast of believers over the devil and the flesh, sin and sinners, when their eyes are directed to the power of His Resurrection. John Calvin
The pastor ought to have two voices one, for gathering the sheep; and another, for warding off and driving away wolves and thieves. John Calvin
Indeed, how can the mind by its own leading come to search out God’s essence when it cannot even get to its own? John Calvin
When I took the leap, I had faith I would find a net; Instead I learned I could fly. John Calvin
They who strive to build up a firm faith in Scripture through disputation are doing things backwards. John Calvin
It is, therefore, faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone. John Calvin
He regards it as the highest insult for the wicked to boast of His covenant while profaning His sacred Name by their whole lives. John Calvin
The one condition for spiritual progress is that we remain sincere and humble. John Calvin
There is no inconsistency when God raises up those who have fallen prostrate. John Calvin
I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels. John Calvin
