Quotes by Robert H. Schuller

Jesus never called a human being a sinner.

We all know that a church is not a building.

On the ladder of success: Some people are at the top of the ladder, some are in the middle, still more are at the bottom, and a whole lot more don't even know there is a ladder.

Let your imagination release your imprisoned possibilities.

There is a quiet place in Hawaii where, for over thirty years, I've gone to draw inspiration and write many of my books.

I feel that heterosexual marriage is the more excellent way, and it surely is approved holy by the Holy Bible, and it holds so many more possibilities: the possibilities of having children of both the mother and father, the male and the female.

Quitting is never an option. The cows have to be milked come Hell or High Water.

If you will make a deliberate decision to develop a positive attitude toward opportunities and obstacles, you are on your way toward having what is the most important quality in education: the power of positive thinking.

Inch by inch, it's a cinch.

I want to build friendships. I want to come across as being a good illustration of what Jesus is like.

I think that there are cancers of the body, but I think they are what I would call cancer of the emotional system, too. These are the kind of diseases or illnesses or sicknesses of the emotional system that are as incurable as cancer.

I think a good pastor is somebody who is honest and humble and has a really caring heart.

What we need is a theology of salvation that begins and ends with a recognition of every person's hunger for glory.

Commit yourself to a dream. Nobody who tries to do something great, but fails, is a total failure. Why? Because he can always be assured that he succeeded in life's most important battle; he defeated the battle of not trying.

Probably the one Bible passage that is read by Jews and Roman Catholics, Protestants, Islam, more than any other chapter is Psalm 23. And in Psalm 23 there is a verse that says, 'Surely, yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.'

Lord, make my life A window for Your light To shine through And a mirror to reflect Your love To all I meet. Amen.

The concept of the megachurch -- some have attributed that to me. Whatever people want to buy, they can get it in the shopping center. It's one-stop shopping. Churches should be that way.

The classical error of historical Christianity is that we have never started with the value of the person. Rather, we have started from the 'unworthiness of the sinner', and that starting point has set the stage for the glorification of human shame in Christian theology.

God flourished my ministry and my career of creative thinking, communicating and writing back 50 years.

Since it doesn't cost a dime to dream, you'll never shortchange yourself when you stretch your imagination.

Big egos have little ears.

We are born to soar. We are children of God. ... The Fatherhood of God offers a deep spiritual cure for the inferiority complex and lays the firm foundation for a solid spiritual self-esteem.

Believe in dreams. Never believe in hurts... You can't let the grief and the hurts and the breaking experiences of life control your future decisions.

Possibility-thinking is the long sought-after fountain of youth.

Success may or may not mean that you've acquired a lot. It does mean that you have become a generous person.

Todays impossibilities are tomorrows miracles.

I have discovered that you can go from nowhere to somewhere, from nothing to something, from a nobody to a somebody, from an empty person to a fulfilled one, if you have faith in God.

A mission is a place where you ask nonbelievers to come and find faith and hope and feel love.

Nobody has a money problem -- there are only idea problems.

Any analysis of 'sin' or 'evil' or 'demonic influence' or 'negative thinking' or 'systemic evil' or 'antisocial behavior' that fails to see the lack of self-dignity as the core of the problem will prove to be too shallow.

Optimism refuses to believe that the road ends without options.

To be born again means that we must be changed from a negative to a positive self-image -- from inferiority to self-esteem, from fear to love, from doubt to trust.

You can think negatively or positively. If you are a positive thinker, you will base your decisions on faith rather than fear.

I found myself immediately attracted to Pope John Paul II when, upon his election to the Papacy, his published speeches invariably called attention to the need for recognizing the dignity of the human being as a child of God.

Classical theology defines sin as 'rebellion against God.' The answer is not incorrect as much as it is shallow and insulting to the human being. Every person deserves to be treated with dignity even if he or she is a 'rebellious sinner'.

When faced with a mountain, I WILL NOT QUIT! I will keep on striving until I climb over, find a pass through, tunnel underneath, or simply stay and turn the mountain into a gold mine with God's help!

The only thing that stands between you and grand success in living are these two things: getting started and never quitting!

Nothing is more important than honesty in prayer. There are no pretensions in prayer, so the best place to begin is wherever you are.

Classical theology has erred in its insistence that theology be 'God-centered,' not 'man-centered'.

The emerging church, reformed according to the needs of self-esteem-starved-souls under the Lordship of Christ.... will help us to affirm the concept that 'While god's ideas may seem humanly impossible, he will give us these ideas which will lead to glorious, self-esteem-generating success.

Every problem has a limited life span.

My family and I would never receive royalties on the revenue that my materials brought into the church; materials that were created on our own personal time.

Impossible? The word is a roadblock to progress!

The Roman Catholic Church isn't going to change its theologies.

We are all children starving to experience and know the heart of reality.

I have had more honors than I've deserved and more rewards than I expected. It can be tempting just to say, 'Well, I'm going to retire.' But what would I do then? Sit in a chair and watch TV? Don't let fulfillment throw away your tomorrow.

All it takes is one idea to solve an impossible problem.

Impossible situations can become possible miracles.

Creative words generate energy; negative words drain out energy.

The secret of success is to find a need and fill it, to find a hurt and heal it, to find somebody with a problem and offer to help solve it.

Build a dream and the dream will build you.

What do I mean by sin? Answer: Any human condition or act that robs God of glory by stripping one of His children of their right to divine dignity. ... I can offer still another answer: 'Sin is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem'.

Yes, you can be a dreamer and a doer too, if you will remove one word from your vocabulary: impossible.

Problems are guidelines, not stop signs!

Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods.

When you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.

Faith is reacting positively to a negative situation.

Some people are at the top of the ladder, some are in the middle, still more are at the bottom, and a whole lot more don't even know there is a ladder.

The Crystal Cathedral is not an attempt to be an architectural ego-statement. It's probably the ultimate spiritual and psychological statement that could be made in architectural terms.

How we express ourselves in worship remains up in the air.

It takes guts to get out of the ruts.

What appears to be the end of the road may simply be a bend in the road.

Always look at what you have left. Never look at what you have lost.

Turn your scars into stars.

Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.

I tell people, 'I was born in a little house at the dead end of a dirt road that had no name and no number, and you can go anywhere from nowhere.'

If you're going to counsel people -- and that's all my ministry is, it's a counseling ministry more than anything else -- people have to believe that they can trust you and that they can listen to you, that you're going to try to help them and not just politically try to convert them to your views.

I believe that Christians believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works. And we believe that if you're saved, Jesus becomes your savior. He makes a promise to you. You can trust his promises. You can bank on that word.

When you can't solve the problem, manage it.

What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?

Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive.

I'd rather attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.

Tough times never last, but tough people do.

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Every person is responsible for all the good within the scope of his abilities, and for no more, and none can tell whose sphere is the largest.

You never suffer from a money problem, you always suffer from an idea problem.

Our greatest lack is not money for any undertaking, but rather ideas, If the ideas are good, cash will somehow flow to where it is needed.

Most people who succeed in the face of seemingly impossible conditions are people who simply don't know how to quit.

If there exists no possibility of failure, then victory is meaningless.

When an opportunity comes, it holds possibilities. And when you move away from it or don't sense it or grasp it, you're really throwing away your future; you're throwing away your tomorrow.

I was called to start a mission, not a church. There is a difference.

Failure doesn't mean you are a failure it just means you haven't succeeded yet.

I realized that every sermon I preached should be designed not to 'teach' or 'convert' people, but rather to encourage them, to give them a lift. I decided to adopt the spirit, style, strategy and substance of a 'therapist' in the pulpit.

Anybody who succeeds is helping people. The secret to success is find a need and fill it; find a hurt and heal it; find a problem and solve it.

A lack of resources may slow you down, but don't let it make you throw away a big idea. Give God five years, ten years, fifteen years, twenty years, twenty-five years, thirty years, forty years, or more. Give God all the time He needs to bring the resources to you!

Never bring the problem solving stage into the decision making stage. Otherwise, you surrender yourself to the problem rather than the solution.

The hardest struggle of all is to be something different from what the average man is.

Winning starts with beginning.

Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing perfectly.