Top 300 J. C. Ryle Quotes (2025 Update)
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201. “Follow Christ for His own sake, if you follow Him at all.”

— J. C. Ryle

202. “People are backsliders on their knees long before they backslide openly in the eyes of the world.”

— J. C. Ryle

203. “Never does a person see any beauty in Christ as a Savior, until they discover that they are a lost and ruined sinner.”

— J. C. Ryle

204. “My chief desire in all my writings, is to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him beautiful and glorious in the eyes of people; and to promote the increase of repentance, faith, and holiness upon earth.”

— J. C. Ryle

205. “Doubting does not prove that a man has no faith, but only that his faith is small. And even when our faith is small, the Lord is ready to help us.”

— J. C. Ryle

206. “People may refuse to see the truth of our arguments, but they cannot evade the evidence of a holy life.”

— J. C. Ryle

207. “There are no lessons so useful as those learned in the school of affliction.”

— J. C. Ryle

208. “Let us resolve by God’s grace that, however feeble and poor our prayers may seem to us, we will pray on.”

— J. C. Ryle

209. “Inability to distinguish doctrine is spreading far and wide, and so long as the preacher is “clever” and “earnest,” hundreds seem to think it must be all right, and call you dreadfully “narrow and uncharitable” if you hint that he is unsound!”

— J. C. Ryle

210. “Value all books in proportion as they are agreeable to Scripture. Those that are nearest to it are the best, and those that are farthest from it, and most contrary to it, the worst.”

— J. C. Ryle

211. “A holy violence, a conflict, a warfare, a fight, a soldier’s life, a wrestling, are spoken of as characteristic of the true Christian.”

— J. C. Ryle

212. “Guard your thoughts, and there will be little fear about your actions.”

— J. C. Ryle

213. “If you train your children to anything, train them, at least, to a habit of prayer.”

— J. C. Ryle

214. “A crucified Savior will never be content to have a self-pleasing, self-indulging, worldly-minded people.”

— J. C. Ryle

215. “There are eternal consequences resulting from all our thoughts, words and actions, of which we take far too little account.”

— J. C. Ryle

216. “Growth in grace is one way to be happy in our religion. God has wisely linked together our comfort and our increase in holiness.”

— J. C. Ryle

217. “Let us never forget that our chief danger is from within. The world and the devil combined, cannot do us as much harm as our own hearts will, if we do not watch and pray.”

— J. C. Ryle

218. “He does not regard the quantity of faith, but the quality. He does not measure its degree, but its truth. He will not break any bruised reed, nor quench any smoking flax. He will never let it be said that any perished at the foot of the cross.”

— J. C. Ryle

219. “But if there is one thing clearly and plainly laid down about election, it is this: that elect men and women may be known and distinguished by holy lives.”

— J. C. Ryle

220. “Without the blessing of the Lord, your best endeavors will do no good. He has the hearts of all men in His hands, and except He touch the hearts of your children by His Spirit, you will weary yourself to no purpose. Water, therefore, the seed you sow on their minds with unceasing prayer.”

— J. C. Ryle

221. “Let us watch against pride in every shape-pride of intellect, pride of wealth, pride of our own goodness.”

— J. C. Ryle

222. “Weak, feeble and foolish as it may seem to people, the simple story of the Cross is enough for all mankind in every part of the globe.”

— J. C. Ryle

223. “When a person’s tongue is extensively wrong, it is absurd, no less than unscriptural, to say that their heart is right.”

— J. C. Ryle

224. “To be Christian it will cost a man his love of ease.”

— J. C. Ryle

225. “There is no fickleness about Jesus: those whom He loves, He loves to the end.”

— J. C. Ryle

226. “The last day will prove that some of the holiest men that ever lived are hardly known.”

— J. C. Ryle

227. “Another real danger to young men is thoughtlessness and lack of consideration. Lack of thought is one simple reason why thousands of souls are cast away forever. Men will not consider,-will not look forward,-will not look around them,-will not reflect on the end of their present course, and the sure consequences of their present ways,-and awake at last to find they are damned for lack of thinking.”

— J. C. Ryle

228. “Sin always seems ‘good, and pleasant, and desirable,’ at the time of commission.”

— J. C. Ryle

229. “I declare I know no state of soul more dangerous than to imagine we are born again and sanctifiied by the Holy Spirit, because we have picked up a few religious feelings.”

— J. C. Ryle

230. “Sin and the devil will always find helpers in our hearts.”

— J. C. Ryle

231. “A saved soul has many sorrows. They have their share of bereavements, deaths, disappointments, crosses. What shall enable a believer to bear all this? Nothing but the consolation there is in Christ.”

— J. C. Ryle

232. “Nothing is so offensive to Christ as lukewarmness in religion.”

— J. C. Ryle

233. “Let us be very careful that we never exalt any minister, or sermon, or book, or friend above the Word of God.”

— J. C. Ryle

234. “A good conscience will be found a pleasant visitor at our bedside in a dying hour.”

— J. C. Ryle

235. “Next to praying there is nothing so important in practical religion as Bible-reading.”

— J. C. Ryle

236. “If you want to warm a church, put a stove in the pulpit.”

— J. C. Ryle

237. “Evening is the time which the higher classes choose for dancing, card playing, and the like; and consequently never get to bed till late at night. If we love our souls, and would not become worldly, let us mind how we spend our evenings. Tell me how a man spends his evenings, and I can generally tell what his character is.”

— J. C. Ryle

238. “That Bible is read best – which is practiced most!”

— J. C. Ryle

239. “The Bible in the pulpit must never supersede the Bible at home.”

— J. C. Ryle

240. “The true Christian does not need to be reminded that they have a crucified Master. They OFTEN think of Him.”

— J. C. Ryle

241. “All converted people should labor to adorn the doctrine they profess by humility. If they can do nothing else, they can strive to be humble.”

— J. C. Ryle

242. “We never know who they are that God will draw, and have nothing to do with it. Our duty is to invite all, and leave it to God to choose the vessels of mercy.”

— J. C. Ryle

243. “I maintain that to tell a person they are born again, while they are living in carelessness or sin, is a dangerous delusion.”

— J. C. Ryle

244. “Before Christ comes, it is useless to expect to see the perfect church.”

— J. C. Ryle

245. “The brightest saint is the man who has the most heart-searching sense of his own sinfulness, and the liveliest sense of his own complete acceptance in Christ.”

— J. C. Ryle

246. “We know but little of true Christianity, if we don’t feel a deep concern about the souls of unconverted people.”

— J. C. Ryle

247. “Wrong views about holiness are generally traceable to wrong views about human corruption.”

— J. C. Ryle

248. “A man may just as soon read the Scripture without eyes, as understand the spirit of it without grace.”

— J. C. Ryle

249. “Knowledge of the Bible never comes by intuition.”

— J. C. Ryle

250. “It is not hard to deceive ministers, relatives and friends. But it is impossible to deceive Christ.”

— J. C. Ryle