Quotes from Donald Miller

People want to be involved in a story that is larger than themselves.

Our 'behavior' will not be changed long with self-discipline, but fall in love and a human will accomplish what he never thought possible. The laziest of men will swim the English channel to win his woman. I think what Rick said is worth repeating that by accepting God's love for us, we fall in love with Him, and only then do we have the fuel we need to obey.

Brands that give customers a voice in a larger narrative add value to their products by giving their customers a deeper sense of meaning.

I wondered if when we take Christian theology out of the context of its narrative, when we ignore the poetry in which it is presented, when we turn it into formulas to help us achieve the American dream, we lose its meaning entirely, and the ideas become fodder for the head but have no impact on the way we live our lives or think about God. This is, perhaps, why people are so hostile toward religion.

Story is the greatest weapon we have to combat noise, because it organizes information in such a way that people are compelled to listen.

What I mean is, if we aren't learning, we are forgetting, if we aren't getting smart, we are becoming dull. The latest statistic is that the average American watches 1,456 hours of television a year but only reads three books. So if it's true that readers are leaders, and the more you read the further you advance, then there isn't a lot of competition.

A good story takes a series of random events and distills them into the essence of what really matters.

When storytellers bombard people with too much information, the audience is forced to burn too many calories organizing the data.

And stories are all about conflict.

Transformation is natural. None of us look the same as we did when we were babies, and when we are old, we'll look very different than we did when we were middle aged. Things that are healthy and alive change. The converse is also true: things that are dead do not change. A rock does not change because a rock is not alive.

Perhaps if we stop reducing the text to formulas for personal growth, we can read it as stories of imperfect humans having relations with a perfect God and come to understand the obvious message He is communicating to mankind.

This will only happen if you create a system that invites and incentivizes people to spread the word.