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Clergyman Quotes on Faith and Duty

Faith across the centuries

These clergyman quotes include a somber historical account of a condemned man's final, denied requests, including for a Bible.

Captain Hale, alone, without sympathy or support, save that from above, on the near approach of death asked for a clergyman to attend him. It was refused. He then requested a Bible; that too was refused by his inhuman jailer.

Quotes by William Hull

When every church becomes a school, every cathedral a university, every clergyman a teacher, and all their hearers brave and honest thinkers, then - and not until then - will the dream of poet, patriot, philanthropist and philosopher become a...

Quotes by Robert Green Ingersoll

Music has given me a decent pension. I am in that rare position for a clergyman of having some provision for my retirement. Thank you, young people of Europe.

Quotes by Richard Coles

At the school I attended, the clergyman who ran the cathedral school in Shanghai would give lines to the boys as a punishment. They expected you to copy out, say, 20 or 30 pages from one of the school texts....

Quotes by J. G. Ballard

Alone Quotes

Truth is the silliest thing under the sun. Try to get a living by the Truth and go to the Soup Societies. Heavens! Let any clergyman try to preach the Truth from its very stronghold, the pulpit, and they would...

Herman Melville

There is a species of person called a 'Modern Churchman' who draws the full salary of a beneficed clergyman and need not commit himself to any religious belief.

Quotes by Evelyn Waugh

Frequently Asked Questions

What historical event does the first clergyman quote describe?
It describes Captain Hale, facing death without sympathy or support, asking first for a clergyman and then for a Bible; both requests were refused him, a stark detail from a well-known historical account.
What does the quote about every church becoming a school mean?
It imagines a future where every church is a school, every cathedral a university, and every clergyman a teacher, envisioning religious institutions transformed into centers of education and honest thinking.
What memory does the Shanghai cathedral school quote share?
It recalls a clergyman who ran a cathedral school in Shanghai and punished students by making them copy out dozens of pages of text, a specific childhood memory of discipline under a clergyman's authority.
Why does one speaker call their position 'rare for a clergyman'?
They describe music as having given them a decent pension, calling it a rare position for a clergyman to have real financial provision for retirement, and thank the young people of Europe for it.
Do these clergyman quotes share a common theme?
They mostly circle around duty and vocation. Whether facing death Alone, shaping young minds, or reflecting gratefully on an unusually secure retirement, each quote treats the clergyman's role as significant.

Others reflect on education and Belief, imagining every church as a school and every clergyman as a teacher.