Quotes from Donald Miller

I lay there under the stars and thought of what a great responsibility it is to be human.

When a person has no other persons he invents them because he was not designed to be alone, because it isn't good for a person to be alone.

I began to wonder if what we were doing it evangelical circles had more to do with redeeming ourselves to culture than it did with showing Jesus to a hurting world, a world literally filled with outcasts.

I'm starting to wonder if the whole point of life is to be thankful and to live in such a way others are thankful for theirs as well.

I was talking to a homeless man at the laundry mat recently, and he said that when we reduce Christian spirituality to math we defile the Holy. I thought that was very beautiful and comforting because I have never been good at math.

I made a single decision early on. I decided I wouldn't judge my kids. No matter what they told me, I wouldn't judge them. I might have to discipline them, but I wouldn't make them feel like lesser people for their mistakes. And because of that, they learned to trust me with their deepest thoughts... We taught them the basics early. But the older they got, the more I listened without judgment as they figured out how to apply wisdom in their own lives. And they've turned out well.

kids with parents who are honest about their shortcomings seem to do better in life. What I mean is parents who aren't trying to be perfect or pretend they're perfect have kids who trust and respect them more. It's as though vulnerability and openness act as the soil that fosters security. And I'd say that's the quality I most often sense in the children of honest, open parents. I sense security.

The downside of being a writer is you get plenty of time to overthink your life.

I believed if word got out about grace, the whole church was going to turn into a brothel.

I want to keep my soul fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it is time for things to die. I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently.

After a tragedy, I think God gives us a period of numbing as a kind of grace. Perhaps he knows our small minds, given so easily to false hope, couldn't handle the full brunt of reality.

If you flatter somebody it will go to their heads. If you love them it will go to their hearts.