Top 50 Jim Elliot Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

— Jim Elliot

Featured in: Short Inspirational Quotes, Values Quotes, Sunday Inspirational Quotes, Faith Quotes, Spirituality Quotes

2. “Wherever you are – be all there.”

— Jim Elliot

Featured in: Focus Quotes, Short Quotes, Live Life Quotes, Good Morning Inspirational Quotes, Carpe Diem Quotes

3. “Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

— Jim Elliot

Featured in: Christian Quotes, Christian Motivational Quotes, Sunday Quotes, Good Morning Inspirational Quotes, Commitment Quotes

4. “God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with him.”

— Jim Elliot

5. “God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.”

— Jim Elliot

Featured in: Sunday Morning Quotes, Service Quotes, Dedication Quotes, Faith Quotes, Good Friday Quotes

6. “When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die.”

— Jim Elliot

7. “Forgive me for being so ordinary while claiming to know so extraordinary a God.”

— Jim Elliot

8. “God is still on His throne, we’re still on His ‘footstool,’ and there’s only a knee’s distance between!”

— Jim Elliot

9. “Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.”

— Jim Elliot

10. “Missionaries are very human folks, simply a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt somebody.”

— Jim Elliot

11. “I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you Lord Jesus.”

— Jim Elliot

12. “Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth!”

— Jim Elliot

13. “The will of God is always a bigger thing than we bargain for, but we must believe that whatever it involves, it is good, acceptable and perfect.”

— Jim Elliot

14. “It’s hard to steer a parked car.”

— Jim Elliot

15. “Lord, make my way prosperous not that I achieve high station, but that my life be an exhibit to the value of knowing God.”

— Jim Elliot

16. “Let not our longing slay the appetite of our living.”

— Jim Elliot

17. “The will of God is always a bigger thing than we bargain for.”

— Jim Elliot

18. “Unwillingness to accept God’s ‘way of escape’ from temptation frightens me – what a rebel yet resides within.”

— Jim Elliot

19. “That saint who advances on his knees never retreats...”

— Jim Elliot

20. “Why do you need a voice when you have a verse?”

— Jim Elliot

21. “Children are arrows in a quiver, and they are to be trained as missionaries and shot at the Devil.”

— Jim Elliot

22. “Be on guard, my soul, of complicating your environment so that you have neither time nor room for growth!”

— Jim Elliot

23. “I many no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather response to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not.”

— Jim Elliot

24. “If we are the sheep of His pasture, remember that sheep are headed for the altar.”

— Jim Elliot

25. “Lord, give me firmness without hardness, steadfastness without dogmatism, love without weakness.”

— Jim Elliot

26. “Those whimpering Stateside young people will wake up on the Day of Judgment condemned to worse fates than these demon-fearing Indians, because, having a Bible, they were bored with it – while these never heard of such a thing as writing.”

— Jim Elliot

27. “As your life is in His hands, so are the days of your life. But don’t let the sands of time get into the eye of your vision to reach those who sit in darkness. They simply must hear.”

— Jim Elliot

28. “Live every day as if the Son of Man were at the door, and gear your thinking to the fleeting moment. Just how can it be redeemed? Walk as if the next step would carry you across the threshold of Heaven. Pray. That saint who advances on his knees never retreats.”

— Jim Elliot

29. “No one warns young people to follow Adam’s example. He waited till God saw his need. Then God made Adam sleep, prepared for his mate, and brought her to him.”

— Jim Elliot

30. “Always seek peace between your heart and God, but in this world, always be careful to remain ever-restless, never satisfied, and always abounding in the work of the Lord.”

— Jim Elliot

31. “Surely those who know the great passionate heart of Jehovah must deny their own loves to share in the expression of His.”

— Jim Elliot

32. “Singleness, simplicity, is required of me. One treasure, a single eye, and a sole Master!”

— Jim Elliot

33. “God, I pray light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn up for thee.”

— Jim Elliot

34. “Most laws condemn the soul and pronounce sentence. The result of the law of my God is perfect. It condemns but forgives. It restores – more than abundantly – what it takes away.”

— Jim Elliot

35. “God deliver me from the dread asbestos of “other things.” Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame.”

— Jim Elliot

36. “So many missionaries, intent on doing something, forget that His main work is to make something of them...”

— Jim Elliot

37. “What good are Greek, commentaries, insight, gift, and all the rest, if there is no heart for Christ?”

— Jim Elliot

38. “Father, take my life, yea, my blood if Thou wilt, and consume it with Thine enveloping fire. I would not save it, for it is not mine to save. Have it Lord, have it all. Pour out my life as an oblation for the world. Blood is only of value as it flows before Thine altar.”

— Jim Elliot

39. “I have felt the impact of your prayer in these past weeks. I am certain now that nothing has had a more powerful infl uence on this life of mine than your prayers.”

— Jim Elliot

40. “I have had to make a cross of two logs, and lie down on it, to show the Indians what it means to crucify a man.”

— Jim Elliot

41. “I couldn’t have asked for more than God in deliberate grace has surprised me with!”

— Jim Elliot

42. “It is true that a fellow cannot ignore women – but he can think of them as he ought – as sisters, not as sparring partners.”

— Jim Elliot

43. “Eternity shall be at once a great eye-opener and a great mouth-shutter.”

— Jim Elliot

44. “Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr, the man who will not act until he knows all will never act at all.”

— Jim Elliot

45. “The sound of ‘gentle stillness’ after all the thunder and wind have passed will the ultimate Word from God.”

— Jim Elliot

46. “Dreams are tawdry when compared with the leading of God, and not worthy of the aura of wonder we usually surround them with. God only doeth wonders. He does nothing else. His hand can work nothing less.”

— Jim Elliot

47. “Birds are extremely valued as indicators of overall environmental health. If there’s a problem in a wild bird population, it’s indicative that something went wrong.”

— Jim Elliot

48. “Ps 119:89-91: The settled Word in Heaven makes for a solid foundation on earth and a safe path for today.”

— Jim Elliot

49. “For my generation I must have the oracles of God in fresh terms.”

— Jim Elliot

50. “The shiny paint laid on by curiosity’s hand has worn off. What thing better can a man know than the love of Christ, which passes knowledge?”

— Jim Elliot