Ralph Washington Sockman Quotes

“In all living there is a certain narrowness of application which leads to breadth and power. We have to concent on a thing in order to master it. Then we must be broad enough not to be narrowed by our specialties.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

“What makes greatness is starting something that lives after you.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

Give the best you have to the highest you know ... and do it now.

— Ralph Washington Sockman

The forgiveness of the world can only be accomplished by the judgment of the world.

— Ralph Washington Sockman

“Our love for God is tested by the question of whether we seek Him or His gifts.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

“In overcoming prejudice, working together is even more effective than talking together.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

“The hope of free people in a frightened world is the values which people put ahead of inventions when their backs are to the wall. These values are beauty, truth, goodness and having a faith, all of which are bombproof.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

“We seem to want mass production, but we must remember that men are individuals not to be satisfactorily dealt with in masses, and the making of men is more important than the production of things.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

“Advertising enriches life by quickening the imagination, arousing interest and enlarging the taste.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

“All our science and philosophy form only an island of knowledge surrounded by an ocean of mystery. The larger the island grows, the longer the shoreline where the known meets the unknown.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

“In being realistic we do not always have to be pessimistic. Christ never blinked his eyes at bad things. But he never became so obsessed with human evil that he lost faith in man.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

“There are parts of a ship which taken by themselves would sink. The engine would sink. The propeller would sink. But when the parts of a ship are built together, they float. So with the events of my life. Some have been tragic. Some have been happy. But when they are built together, they form a craft that floats and is going places. And I am comforted.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

“Our ground of hope is that God does not weary of mankind.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

Faced with the immensity of the universe, Job realized that there are limits to man's rationalizing, that we cannot find where the cloud of sorrow starts, that all our boasted knowledge is but an island in the vast ocean of mystery, and as the island of knowledge grows larger, the shore line of mystery becomes longer. At the end of his wits, he surrendered in trust to a Higher Wisdom.

— Ralph Washington Sockman

“Balance the bad news of life with the good news of Christ.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

“The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable.”

— Ralph Washington Sockman

Hoist the sails of your own spirit to catch the winds of God.

— Ralph Washington Sockman