Quotes from John Calvin

If we are not our own, but the Lord's, it is clear to what purpose all our deeds must be directed. We are not our own, therefore neither our reason nor our will should guide us in our thoughts and actions. We are not our own, therefore we should not seek what is only expedient to the flesh. We are not our own, therefore let us forget ourselves and our own interests in as far as possible.

And ye peoples, to whom God gave the liberty to choose your own magistrates, see to it, that ye do not forfeit this favor, by electing to the positions of highest honor, rascals and enemies of God.

Christ, on the other hand, declares that every single one of God's creatures is under his hand and care, and that nothing happens by chance.

Yet consider now, whether women are not quite past sense and reason, when they want to rule over men.

The whole life of man until he is converted to Christ is a ruinous labyrinth of wanderings.

The most accomplished in the Scripture are fools, unless they acknowledge that they have need of God for their schoolmaster all the days of their life.

The cross of Christ only triumphs in the breast of believers over the devil and the flesh, sin and sinners, when their eyes are directed to the power of His Resurrection.

Indeed, how can the mind by its own leading come to search out God's essence when it cannot even get to its own?

They who strive to build up a firm faith in Scripture through disputation are doing things backwards.

For the Word of God is not received by faith if it flits about in the top of the brain, but when it takes root in the depth of the heart... the heart's distrust is greater than the mind's blindness. It is harder for the heart to be furnished with assurance [of God's love] than for the mind to be endowed with thought.

He regards it as the highest insult for the wicked to boast of His covenant while profaning His sacred Name by their whole lives.

Therefore, in reading profane authors, the admirable light of truth displayed in them should remind us, that the human mind, however much fallen and perverted from its original integrity, is still adorned and invested with admirable gifts from its Creator. If we reflect that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we will be careful, as we would avoid offering insult to him, not to reject or condemn truth wherever it appears. In despising the gifts, we insult the Giver.