sin

Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

—Bible (NewTestament)

All sin tends to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is what is called damnation.

—Auden,W(ystan) H(ugh)

Refined himself to soul, to curb the sense And made almost a sin of abstinence.

—Dryden,John

Even stroking a cat may be regarded by strict Presbyterians as a carnal sin.

—Thomson, David

I always say beauty is only sin deep.

—Saki pseudonym of  Hector Hugh Munro

They represented tomeanabsolute idea of thefirst state of innocence, before man knew how to sin.

—Behan, Brendan Francis

   The cause of plagues is sin, if you look to it well; and the cause of sin are plays; therefore the cause of plagues are plays.

—White,Thomas

Il y a toujours un moment o  u' la curiosite¤   devient un pe¤  che¤  , et le diable s'est toujours mis du co"  te¤   des savants. There is always a moment when curiosity becomes a sin and the devil is always on the side of the learned.

—Thibault

The dove descending breaks the air With flame of incandescent terror Of which the tongues declare The one discharge from sin and error.

—Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)

It is my belief,Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.

—Doyle, SirArthur Conan

I have heard grief named the eldest child of sin.

—Webster,John

Depuis qu'Eve fit pe¤  cherAdam, toutes les femmes ont pris possession de tourmenter, tuer et damner les hommes. Ever since Eve made Adam sin, women have taken it upon themselves to torment, kill and damn men.

—Marguerite d'Angoule"  me

'God knows how you Protestants can be expected to have any sense of direction,'she said.'It's different with us,I haven't been to mass for years, I've got every mortal sinonmyconscience, but I know when I'mdoing wrong. I'm still a Catholic, it's there, nothing can take it away from me.' 'Of course, duckie,'said Jeremy†'once a Catholic always a Catholic.'

—Wilson, SirAngus FrankJohnstone

An original something, fair maid you would win me To writeöbut how shall I begin? For I fear I have nothing original in meö Excepting Original Sin.

—Campbell,Thomas

   The evil inthisworld iscommitted by thespiritual fatcats who think that they are without sin because theyare unwilling to suffer the discomfort of significant self- examination.

—Peck, M(organ) Scott

We receive this Child into the Congregation of Christ's flock, and dosign him with thesign of the Cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end. Amen.

—Book of Common Prayer

Thismiry slough, issuch a place as cannot be mended: It is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction for sindoth continually run, and therefore isit called the Slough of Despond.

—Bunyan,John

Failure to examine the throat is a glaring sin of omission, especially in children.One finger in thethroat and one in the rectum makes a good diagnostician.

—Osler, Sir William

Toil is man's allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief that's more than either, the grief and sin of idleness.

—Melville, Herman

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back; Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning If I lacked any thing.

—Herbert, George

Herein may be seen noble chyvalrye, curtosye, humanyte¤  , frendlynesse, hardynesse, love, frendshyp, cowardyse, murdre, hate, vertue, and synne.

—Malory, SirThomas   d.1471

Hatred is always a sin, my mother told me. Remember that.One drop of hatred in your soul will spread and discoloreverything like a drop of black ink inwhite milk. I was struck by that and meant to try it, but knew I shouldn't waste the milk.

—Munro, Alice ne¤  e Laidlaw

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them,Hethat iswithout sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

—Bible (NewTestament)

He that lives in sin and looks for happiness hereafter is likehimthat soweth cockleand thinkstofill hisbarnwith wheat or barley.

—Bunyan,John

I sometimes hold it half a sin To put in words the grief I feel; The Princess For words, like Nature, half reveal And half conceal the Soul within. But, for the unquiet heart and brain, A use in measured language lies; The sad mechanic exercise, Like dull narcotics, numbing pain.

—Tennyson

Then came Peter to him, and said,Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee,Until seven times: but,Until seventy times seven.

—Bible (NewTestament)

If any mansin, wehaveanadvocate withthe Father,Jesus Christ the righteous.

—Bible (NewTestament)

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Theyare not skilful considerers of human things, who imagine to remove sin by removing the matter of sin.

—Milton,John

For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Ifelt my heart strangely warmed.I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given methat hehad taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

—Wesley,John

When the parish priest rebuked him for his celibacy, saying it would lead him into debaucheryand sin, hesaid that a man who had to be muzzled bya wife as a protection against debauchery was not worthy of the joy of innocence. After that people began to treat him with priestly respect.

—O'Flaherty, Liam

Don't tell my mother I'm living in sin, Don't let the old folks know.

—Herbert, SirA(lan) P(atrick)

Of all affliction taught a lover yet, 'Tis sure the hardest science to forget! How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense, And love th'offender, yet detest th'offence? How the dear object from the crime remove, Or how distinguish penitence from love? 659

—Pope, Alexander

[They] will fearlessly commit both parties to favor mother love and the protection of the whooping crane, and to oppose the man-eating shark and the more unpopular forms of sin.

—Brinkley, David McClure

Sir, there isno Levitical degreesbetween nations, and on this occasion I can see neither sin nor shame in marrying our own sister.

—Roche, Sir Boyle

   I had had an affair with the moon, in which there was neither sin nor shame.

—Sterne, Laurence

I count religion but a childish toy, And hold there is no sin but ignorance.

—Marlowe, Christopher

It's not a sin to be rich anymoreöit's a miracle.

—Connally,John Bowden

There is only one real sin, and that is to persuade oneself that the second-best is anything but the second-best.

—Lessing, Doris May ne¤  e Tayler

That purple-lined palace of sweet sin.

—Keats,John

In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, Before polygamy was made a sin.

—Dryden,John

The real sin against life is to abuse and destroy beauty, even one's ownöeven more, one's own, for that has been put in our care and we are responsible for its well- being.

—Porter, Katherine Anne

Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and with less danger, scout intotheregions of sinand falsity thanby reading all manner of tractates and hearing all manner of reason? And this is the benefit which may be had of books promiscuously read.

—Milton,John

Repentance is but want of power to sin.

—Dryden,John

   On a sofa upholstered in panther skin Mona did researches in original sin.

—Plomer,William

Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes, But ring the fuller minstrel in. Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good. Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace. Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land; 844 Ring in the Christ that is to be.

—Tennyson

Le scandale est souvent pire que le pe¤  che¤  . The scandal is often worse than the sin itself.

—Marguerite d'Angoule"  me

Before I taught my tongue to wound My conscience with a sinful sound, Or had the black art to dispense A several sin to every sense, But felt through all this fleshly dress Bright shoots of everlastingness.

—Vaughan, Henry

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

—Bible (NewTestament)

Writing saved me from the sin and inconvenience of violence.

—Walker, Alice Malsenior

  Go child, who is my sin and nothing more.

—Sexton, Anne ne¤  e Harvey

Sin has many tools, but a lie isthe handle which fits them all.

—Holmes, Oliver Wendell

Keep up appearances; there lies the test; The world will give thee credit for the rest. Outward be fair, however foul within; Sin if thou wilt, but then in secret sin.

—Churchill, Charles

Le scandale du monde est ce qui fait l'offense, Et ce n'est pas pe¤  cher que pe¤  cher en silence. A scandal is that which gives offence to the world. To sin in private is not to sin at all.

—Molie'  re,Jean Baptiste Poquelin

   It istruethat sinisthe cause of all thispain; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

—Julian of Norwich known as LadyJulian

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

—Nabokov,Vladimir

Esto peccator et pecca fortiter, sed fortius fide et gaude in Christo. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but more boldly believe and rejoice in Christ.

—Luther, Martin

Selwyn MacGregor, thenicest boy who evercommitted the sin of whisky.

—Spark, Dame Muriel Sarah ne¤  e  Camberg

Then said I,Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the L of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my 102 mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard thevoiceoftheLord,saying,Whomshall Isend, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

—Bible (Old Testament)

As creeping ivy clings to wood or stone, And hides the ruin that it feeds upon, So sophistry, cleaves close to, and protects Sin's rotten trunk, concealing its defects.

—Cowper,William

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself inThee, Let the water and the blood, From thy riven side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure, Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

—Toplady, Augustus Montague

Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.

—Lee, (Nelle) Harper

You just wait. I'll sin until I blow up!

—Thomas, Dylan Marlais

Wherefore seeing we alsoare compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

—Bible (NewTestament)

C'est presque toujours le pe¤  che¤   qui pre"  che la vertu dans nos chaires. It's almost always sin which preaches virtue in our pulpits.

—Marivaux, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de

Be sure your sin will find you out.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Thou shall not sin With statisticians nor commit A social science.

—Auden,W(ystan) H(ugh)

   For the sin ye do by two and two ye must pay for one by one!

—Kipling, (Joseph) Rudyard

Pleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin is a pleasure.

—Rochdale

Stand inawe, and sinnot: communewithyourownheart upon your bed, and be still.

—Bible (Old Testament)

   In the licorice fields at Pontefract My love and I did meet And many a burdened licorice bush Was blooming round our feet; Red hair she had and golden skin, Her sulky lips were shaped for sin, Her sturdy legs were flannel-slack'd, The strongest legs in Pontefract.

—Betjeman, SirJohn

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith,Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

—Bible (Old Testament)

The root of Evil, Avarice That damn'd ill-natur'd, baneful Vice, Was Slave to Prodigality, That noble Sin; whilst Luxury Employed a Million of the Poor, And odious Pride a Million more; Envy itself, and Vanity, Were Ministers of Industry; Their darling Folly, Fickleness, In Diet, Furniture and Dress That strange ridic'lous Vice, was made That very Wheel that turned theTrade.

—Mandeville, Bernard

But sweeter still than this, than these, than all, Is first and passionate loveöit stands alone, Like Adam's recollection of his fall; The tree of knowledge hath been pluck'döall's known And life yields nothing further to recall Worthy of this ambrosial sin, so shown, No doubt in fable, as the unforgiven Fire which Prometheus filch'd for us from heaven.

—Rochdale

To shave the beard is a sin that the blood of all the martyrs cannot cleanse.It is to deface the image of man created by God.

—Ivan IV known as Ivan theTerrible

But when to sin our biased nature leans, The careful Devil is still at hand with means; And providently pimps for ill desires.

—Dryden,John

Most glorious Lord of Life! that, on this day, Didst makeThy triumph over death and sin; And having harrowed hell, didst bring away Captivity thence captive, us to win:

—Spenser, Edmund

Most glorious Lord of Life! that, on this day, Didst makeThy triumph over death and sin; And having harrowed hell, didst bring away Captivity thence captive, us to win:

—Spenser, Edmund

Tea is like the East he grows in, A great yellow Mandarin With urbanity of manner And unconsciousness of sin.

—Chesterton, G(ilbert) K(eith)

For thewages of sinisdeath; butthegiftof God iseternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Wilt thou forgive that sin, where I begun, Which is my sin, though it was done before? Wilt thou forgive those sins through which I run And do them still, though still I do deplore? When thou hast done, thou hast not done, For I have more.

—Donne,John

There is not such another in The world, to offer for their sin.

—Marvell, Andrew

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.

—Shaw, George Bernard