To have faith is to have complete trust and confidence — and even more specifically, to believe in something even without tangible proof. The word itself is simple and strong, like a boulder offering refuge in the middle of a wild, rushing river.
But faith isn’t just something to cling to during hard times. Faith allows us to put aside worry in our everyday lives, by trusting in the promise of our own capabilities, the people we rely on, the social systems around us, or in God or a spiritual belief.
Religion, of course, is based in faith, and can help us set aside worry by trusting that a power greater than ourselves will guide us through life’s inevitable trials. Perhaps this is the reason that so many of the world’s religious leaders speak often about faith in their homilies, khutbahs, and derashot.
In honor of this incredible force, we’ve collected 11 quotes from religious leaders around the world and across history, sharing their thoughts on how faith plays a role in their everyday lives.
Faith grows when it is lived and shaped by Love.Pope Francis
My faith helps me overcome such negative emotions and find my equilibrium.Dalai Lama
Faith is the substance of whatever it is that we hope for. The important thing is that we teach that faith is connected to good works and responsibility.Bishop Thomas Dexter Jakes
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.Martin Luther King Jr.
Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.D. Elton Trueblood, Quaker theologian and chaplain
Faith brings you stability, centeredness, calmness and love.Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.Thomas Aquinas, Dominican friar and philosopher
You will not complete your faith until you love one another.Muhammad
God has given us many faiths but only one world in which to co-exist. May your work help all of us to cherish our commonalities and feel enlarged by our differences.Jonathan Sacks, English rabbi and philosopher
Faith is unflinching trust in something divine.A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the Hare Krishna Movement
Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.Abraham Joshua Heschel, American rabbi
All work that is worth anything is done in faith.Albert Schweitzer, Lutheran theologian
Featured image credit: CHROMORANGE / marco campagna/ Alamy Stock Photo
