Top 300 J. C. Ryle Quotes (2026 Update)
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101. “Prosperity is a great mercy, but adversity is a greater one, if it brings us to Christ.”

— J. C. Ryle

102. “What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others? I believe the difference, in nineteen cases out of twenty, arises from different habits about private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little, and those who are eminently holy pray much.”

— J. C. Ryle

103. “If you and sin are friends, you and God are not yet reconciled.”

— J. C. Ryle

104. “The love of Christ towards His people is a deep well which has no bottom.”

— J. C. Ryle

105. “God has linked holiness and happiness; and what God has joined together we must not think to put asunder.”

— J. C. Ryle

106. “No prayers can be heard which do not come from a forgiving heart.”

— J. C. Ryle

107. “Assurance of hope is more than life, it is health, strength, power, vigor, activity, energy, manliness, beauty.”

— J. C. Ryle

108. “The eye of God! Think of that. Everywhere, in every house, in every field, in every room, in every company, alone or in a crowd, the eye of God is always upon you.”

— J. C. Ryle

109. “Without a thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world.”

— J. C. Ryle

110. “The love of our Lord Jesus Christ towards sinners is strikingly shown in His steady purpose of heart to die for them.”

— J. C. Ryle

111. “Let it never surprise true Christians if they are slandered and misrepresented in this world. They must not expect to fare better than their Lord.”

— J. C. Ryle

112. “True Christians delight to read the Scriptures, because they tell them about their beloved Savior.”

— J. C. Ryle

113. “Until we give God our heart, we give Him nothing at all.”

— J. C. Ryle

114. “Do we profess to love Christ? Then let us show it by our lives.”

— J. C. Ryle

115. “Every fresh act of sin lessens fear and remorse, hardens our hearts, blunts the edge of our conscience, and increases our evil inclination.”

— J. C. Ryle

116. “Men fall in private long before they fall in public.”

— J. C. Ryle

117. “God knew what we were before conversion – wicked, guilty, and defiled; yet He loved us. He knows what we will be after conversion – weak, erring, and frail; yet He loves us.”

— J. C. Ryle

118. “We may love money without having it, just as we may have money without loving it.”

— J. C. Ryle

119. “Nothing perhaps affects man’s character more than the company he keeps.”

— J. C. Ryle

120. “Are you tempted? Look unto Jesus. Are you afflicted? Look unto Jesus. Do all speak evil of you? Look unto Jesus. Do you feel cold, dull, and backsliding? Look unto Jesus.”

— J. C. Ryle

121. “We ought to regard the sacrament of baptism with reverence. An ordinance of which the Lord Jesus Himself partook, is not to be lightly esteemed. An ordinance to which the great Head of the Church submitted, ought to be ever honorable in the eyes of professing Christians.”

— J. C. Ryle

122. “The world’s idea of greatness is to rule, but Christian greatness consists in serving.”

— J. C. Ryle

123. “Backsliding, generally first begins with neglect of private prayer.”

— J. C. Ryle

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

124. “Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy, but not just; a God who is all love, but not holy; a God who as a heaven for every body, but a hell for none; a God who can allow good and bad to be side by side in time, but will make no distinction between good and broad in eternity. Such a God is an idol of your own, as truly an idol as any snake or crocodile in an Egyptian temple. The hands of your own fancy and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible, and beside the God of the Bible there is no God at all.”

— J. C. Ryle

125. “Doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life. It is worse than useless; it does positive harm. Something of ‘the image of Christ’ must be seen and observed by others in our private life, and habits, and character, and doings.”

— J. C. Ryle

126. “If you want to find out how much someone loves you, find out how much they pray for you.”

— J. C. Ryle

127. “People will never set their faces decidedly towards heaven, and live like pilgrims, until they really feel that they are in danger of hell.”

— J. C. Ryle

128. “According to the men of the world, few are going to hell; According to the Bible, few are going to heaven.”

— J. C. Ryle

129. “It must not content us to take our bodies to church if we leave our hearts at home.”

— J. C. Ryle

130. “Knowledge of the Bible never comes by intuition. It can only be obtained by diligent, regular, daily, attentive reading.”

— J. C. Ryle

Featured in: Reading Quotes

131. “A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within. He may be known by his warfare as well as by his peace.”

— J. C. Ryle

132. “The surest mark of true conversion is humility.”

— J. C. Ryle

133. “Hearken, my believing reader. What is the cause of your weakness? Is it not because the fountain of life is little used? Is it not because you are resting on old experiences, and not daily gathering new manna – daily drawing new strength from Christ?”

— J. C. Ryle

134. “Live as if you thought that Christ might come at any time.”

— J. C. Ryle

135. “Whatever you read, read the Bible first. Beware of bad books: there are plenty in this day. Take heed what you read.”

— J. C. Ryle

Featured in: Firsts Quotes, Book Quotes

136. “The ‘means of grace’ are such as Bible reading, private prayer, and regularly worshiping God in Church, wherein one hears the Word taught and participates in the Lord’s Supper.”

— J. C. Ryle

Featured in: Reading Quotes

137. “Children are very quick observers; very quick in seeing through some kinds of hypocrisy, very quick in finding out what you really think and feel, very quick in adopting all your ways and opinions. You will often discover that, as the father is, so is the son.”

— J. C. Ryle

138. “He that would be conformed to Christ’s image, and become a Christ-like man, must be constantly studying Christ Himself.”

— J. C. Ryle

139. “The rulers of the earth plan, and scheme, and make laws, and change laws, and war, and pull down one, and raise up another. But they little think that they rule only by the will of Jesus, and that nothing happens without the permission of the Lamb of God.”

— J. C. Ryle

140. “Troublous times, departures from the faith, evil men waxing worse and worse, love waxing cold, are things distinctly predicted.”

— J. C. Ryle

141. “I fear we are in danger of forgetting that to HAVE the Bible is one thing, and to READ it quite another.”

— J. C. Ryle

142. “True worship leads to a more full knowledge of self, God, heaven, duty, doctrine, practice and experience.”

— J. C. Ryle

143. “The cause of Christ does not need less working, but it does need among the workers, more praying.”

— J. C. Ryle

144. “Laughter, ridicule, opposition and persecution are often the only reward which Christ’s followers get from the world.”

— J. C. Ryle

145. “It is not always those who have the most eminent gifts who are the most successful laborers for God. It is generally those who keep up closest communion with Christ and are most constant in prayer.”

— J. C. Ryle

146. “We are all so sunk in sin, and so wedded to the world, that we would never turn to God and seek salvation, unless He first called us by His grace. Without a divine call, no one can be saved.”

— J. C. Ryle

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

147. “The devil has more knowledge than any of us, and yet is no better for it.”

— J. C. Ryle

148. “The work of the preacher resembles that of the sower. Like the sower, the preacher must sow good seed, the Word of God.”

— J. C. Ryle

149. “Sicknesses, losses, crosses, anxieties and disappointments seem absolutely needful to keep us humble, watchful and spiritual-minde d. They are as needful as the pruning knife to the vine and the refiner’s furnace to the gold.”

— J. C. Ryle

150. “Let us strive, every year we live, to become more deeply acquainted with Scripture.”

— J. C. Ryle