Top 70 J. Oswald Sanders Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Eyes that look are common; eyes that see are rare.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

2. “Before we can conquer the world, we must first conquer the self.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

3. “Jesus drank a cup of wrath without mercy, that we might drink a cup of mercy without wrath.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

4. “Fatigue is the price of leadership. Mediocrity is the price of never getting tired.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

5. “True greatness, true leadership, is achieved not by reducing men to one’s service but in giving oneself in selfless service to them.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

6. “Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

7. “The man of leadership caliber will work while others waste time, study while others sleep, pray while others play. There will be no place for loose or lazy habits in word or thought, deed or dress. He will observe a soldierly discipline, diet and deportment, so that he may wage a good warfare.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

8. “The deity of Christ is the key doctrine of the scriptures. Reject it, and the Bible becomes a jumble of words without any unifying theme. Accept it, and the Bible becomes an intelligible and ordered revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

9. “Our problem is not too little time, but making better use of the time we have. Each of us has as much time as anyone else.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

10. “We are at this moment as close to God as we really choose to be. True, there are times when we would like to know a deeper intimacy, but when it comes to the point, we are not prepared to pay the price involved.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

11. “A great deal more failure is the result of an excess of caution than of bold experimentation with new ideas. The frontiers of the Kingdom of God were never advanced by men and women of caution.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

12. “The frontiers of the kingdom of God were never advanced by men and women of caution.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

13. “Vision involves optimism and hope. The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. The pessimist tends to hold back people of vision from pushing ahead.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

14. “Spiritual leadership is the power to change the atmosphere by one’s presence, the unconscious influence that makes Christ and spiritual things real to others.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

15. “If a man is known by the company he keeps, so also his character is reflected in the books he reads.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

16. “The spiritual leader will choose the hidden path of sacrificial service and approval of the Lord over the flamboyant self-advertising of the world.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

17. “The spiritual leader should outpace the rest of the church, above all, in prayer.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

18. “Time lost can never be retrieved. Time cannot be hoarded, only spent well.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

19. “True leadership is found in giving yourself in service to others, not in coaxing or inducing others to serve you.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

20. “Once the joy of intimacy with God has been experienced, life becomes unbearable without it.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

21. “Ambition that centers on the glory of God and welfare of the church is a mighty force for good.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

22. “Leadership is the ability to recognize the special abilities and limitations of others, combined with the capacity to fit each one into the job where he will do his best.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

23. “There is no conceivable situation in which it is not safe to trust God.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

24. “There is no such thing as a self made spiritual leader. He is able to influence others spiritually only because the Spirit is able to work in and through him to a greater degree than in those he leads.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

25. “Sacrifice is the ecstasy of giving the best we have to the One we love most.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

26. “When God lays a burden on our hearts and thus keeps us praying, He obviously intends to grant the answer.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

27. “Pride takes many forms, but spiritual pride is the most grievous. To become proud of spiritual gifts or leadership position is to forget that all we have is from God, all the position we occupy is God’s appointment.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

28. “Jesus was the meeting place of eternity and time, the blending of deity and humanity, the junction of heaven and earth.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

29. “The final estimate of men shows that history cares not an iota for the rank or title a man has borne, or the office he has held, but only the quality of his deeds and the character of his mind and heart.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

30. “Spirituality is not easy to define, but you can tell when it is present. It is the fragrance of the garden of the Lord, the power to change the atmosphere around you, the influence that makes Christ real to others.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

31. “It is impossible for a believer, no matter what his experience, to keep right with God if he will not take the trouble to spend time with God. Spend plenty of time with him; let other things go, but don’t neglect Him.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

32. “Leaders who want to show sensitivity should listen often and long and talk short and seldom. Many so-called leaders are too busy to listen. True leaders know that time spent listening is well invested.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

33. “Faith never knows where it is being led, or it would not be faith. True faith is content to travel under sealed orders.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

34. “Desiring to excel is not a sin. It is motivation that determines ambition’s character. Our Lord never taught against the urge to high achievement, but He did expose and condemn unworthy motivation.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

35. “A visionary may see, but a leader must decide.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

36. “If a Christian is not willing to rise early and work late, to expend greater effort in diligent study and faithful work, that person will not change a generation. Fatigue is the price of leadership. Mediocrity is the result of never getting tired.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

37. “If we are meticulously careful with the use of the days, the years will take care of themselves.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

38. “If you would rather pick a fight than solve a problem, do not consider leading the church.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

39. “Our consciences are not infallible, and they can become warped or weakened if not kept aligned by the infallible Word of God.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

40. “Each of us is as full of the Spirit as we really want to be.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

41. “An exhausted man easily falls prey to the adversary.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

42. “Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men: Wisdom, in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much, Wisdom is humble, that he knows no more.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

43. “True leaders must be willing to suffer for the sake of objectives great enough to demand their wholehearted obedience.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

44. “God is always at work, though we cannot see it, preparing people he has chosen for leadership. When the crisis comes, God fits His appointee into the place ordained for him.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

45. “Courageous leaders face unpleasant and even devastating situations with equanimity, then act firmly to bring good from trouble, even if their action is unpopular. Leadership always faces natural human inertia and opposition. But courage follows through with a task until it is done.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

46. “No leader lives a day without criticism, and humility will never be more on trial than when criticism comes.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

47. “One reason why people are unable to understand great Christian classics is that they are trying to understand without any intention of obeying them.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

48. “We are not responsible for our endowments or natural abilities, but we are responsible for the strategic use of time.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

49. “Often the crowd does not recognize a leader until he has gone, and then they build a monument for him with the stones they threw at him in life.”

— J. Oswald Sanders

50. “We can lead others only as far along the road as we ourselves have traveled. merely pointing the way is not enough. If we are not walking, then no one can be following, and ware not leading anyone.”

— J. Oswald Sanders