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Good friends will allow you to be as innocent and free as a child when in private, and as wise and mature as an adult when in public. -- Criss Jami
What good is there in being blind, you ask? Well, maybe it's to see the beauty on the inside without being vainly distracted, or superficially blinded, by the ugly on the outside. -- Criss Jami
Christ died not so that you could freely go on sinning, and therefore, continue dying; He died rather so that you could freely grow in obedience, and therefore, start living. -- Criss Jami
Naturally, I always place my word over anyone else's simply because I know why I said what I said. -- Criss Jami
If beauty is relative, then any and everything when compared to the beauty of God is absolutely hideous. -- Criss Jami
The man who sins but wants to purify it is no more a sinner than the man who doesn't sin but wants to sin. -- Criss Jami
I will never deny that life isn't fair. It seems as though when a woman leaves a man she is strong and independent, but when a man leaves a woman he is a pig and a jerk. -- Criss Jami
I am thankful when I am hungry because then I know that when I eat, the food will taste better. Life has taught me that my true contentment rests in hope, and the pleasure itself is secondary. It is self-awareness, not happiness, that maintains peace. -- Criss Jami
Tell me that the purpose of life is to have fun, and without a care in the world I'll begin wreaking havoc on everything I pass. Now that's what I call pure, honest fun. -- Criss Jami
Truth in Christ is not a matter of being near or far like in martial arts when you strive for a black belt. He saves us then we grow; not the other way around. -- Criss Jami
I'm often painted as the bad guy, and the artistic part of me wants to hand out the brush. -- Criss Jami
Society tells me to follow my own truth, but I don't let society tell me what to do. If you need someone to tell you that, chances are you're part of the crowd that will move on to the next fashion that comes around. -- Criss Jami
It's a good sign but rare instance when, in a relationship, you find that the more you learn about the other person, the more you continue to desire them. A sturdy bond delights in that degree of youthful intrigue. Love loves its youth. -- Criss Jami
If love is blind, then maybe a blind person that loves has a greater understanding of it. -- Criss Jami
When a man is penalized for honesty he learns to lie. -- Criss Jami
The motive behind criticism often determines its validity. Those who care criticize where necessary. Those who envy criticize the moment they think that they have found a weak spot. -- Criss Jami
Ultimate prosperity is one's value within. It takes a man of depth, morality, and charm to be envied yet without a sign of wealth or romance. A passion to prove such inner worth is his permission to achieve whatever he desires. -- Criss Jami
Wherever there is abuse there is also corruption. Politics, philosophy, theology, science, industry, any field with the potential to affect the well-being of others can be destroyed by abuse and saved by good will. -- Criss Jami
The introvert's anthem for not wanting to hang out is 'It's not you; it's me. -- Criss Jami
For those constantly full of joy, they sometimes feel a little guilty for always feeling so good. That guilt is compassion: it flies in with an attempt to share one's joy with others who do not have it. -- Criss Jami
In a sense, discouragement does not have to exist. Allow it to be rather the encouragement to honestly reconsider all the options, then, as necessary, shine on. -- Criss Jami
Every job from the heart is, ultimately, of equal value. The nurse injects the syringe; the writer slides the pen; the farmer plows the dirt; the comedian draws the laughter. Monetary income is the perfect deceiver of a man's true worth. -- Criss Jami
Pretentiousness isn't always just big words and meaningless jargon, but also pretty words that either when put into action don't mean beans or hurt you in the long run. Oftentimes, the former appeals to the intellect whereas the latter appeals to the heart. -- Criss Jami
It is not true that everyone is special. It is true that everyone was once special and still possesses the ability to recover it. -- Criss Jami
It's not about whether or not someone is a bigot, but whether or not the argument which that someone is arguing is worth being a bigot about. -- Criss Jami
The first ingredient to being wrong is to claim that you are right. Geniuses have a knack for raising new questions. Hence by the public they are either admired for their creativity or, even more commonly so, detested for disturbing the daily peace of mind. -- Criss Jami
In the end, only God can see the heart of an individual and distinguish the difference between legalistic deadweight and the passion of holy solemnity. -- Criss Jami
I claim neither liberalism nor conservatism - one tends to be airheaded while the other tends to be brickheaded. -- Criss Jami
Intelligence entails a strong mind, but genius entails a heart of a lion in tune with a strong mind. -- Criss Jami
I think there is a song out there to describe just about any situation. -- Criss Jami
Telling an introvert to go to a party is like telling a saint to go to Hell. -- Criss Jami
A god who gave us everything we wanted would be the most malevolent god of all. With an infantile curiosity, we insist on tasting the cockroach on the floor while our father is preparing a magnificent feast for us. -- Criss Jami
If we all knew who God really was and what he really wanted for each and every one of us, we would all know that only a fool could really deny him. -- Criss Jami
The best of fiction, as we know, of course, doesn't tell the truth; it tales the truth. -- Criss Jami
Happiness is good, but well-overrated: what we hate most are the very motivators that put us in gear. A man drifts along with little to contribute until something agitates him enough to make a difference, whether for himself or for his communities. -- Criss Jami
One is not necessarily made self-centered because he is foolish, but one is very often made foolish because he is self-centered. -- Criss Jami
Extreme right-wingers are known for giving God a bad name; extreme left-wingers are known for giving God a weak name. He's not as simple as conservative versus liberal, old versus new. His wings are balanced. God is both and neither. -- Criss Jami
A lonely day is God's way of saying that he wants to spend some quality time with you. -- Criss Jami
An anomaly has his own ambitions. You can try reasoning with him, but that's like using money to bribe a beast. -- Criss Jami
Labeled fools to the world are geniuses to the cosmos. -- Criss Jami
I am a fan of overdoing something, but not running it into the ground. They are complete opposites with only a fine line separating them. -- Criss Jami
Faith, in its most correct form, never removes responsibility; it removes fear of responsibility. The results are complete opposites with the greater saying, 'God's will is my delight. -- Criss Jami
To say that one waits a lifetime for his soulmate to come around is a paradox. People eventually get sick of waiting, take a chance on someone, and by the art of commitment become soulmates, which takes a lifetime to perfect. -- Criss Jami
Respect elders; protect children. This I do believe. As a young man it is sometimes, in a charitable sense, difficult to shake the sentiment that every elderly person is my grandparent, and every child is my child. -- Criss Jami
Perhaps not everything happens for a reason. That is, until you make it so; because for everything there is a season, which can, in fact, become beautiful. -- Criss Jami
I still believe that many Americans have a deep longing for that glorious moment when a sermon is more Biblical than American. -- Criss Jami
The pride of man hopes but to blame God for the evils of the world, and to praise himself for the good. -- Criss Jami
When you meet someone, and you find that they are prejudiced against your kind, it might be your chance, not to confirm, but to be the one to finally change their mind. -- Criss Jami
Love may be harder to find in some people, but when they do love you know it must be something marvelous. -- Criss Jami
Drunken men give some of the best pep talks. -- Criss Jami
The purest regret, no matter what, is thinking you didn't love enough. -- Criss Jami
We are to give (and take) true love without falling into the narcissistic habit of only trying to take it in. -- Criss Jami
Just as some people may conceal their own sinfulness thus seeming better than the norm, others expose their own sinfulness thus seeming worse than the norm. -- Criss Jami
Normality is the new eccentric. -- Criss Jami
Time and time over it is the ones who try a little too hard to be innovative rebels - and for the sheer glory of being considered innovative rebels - who then turn out not quite as innovative or as rebellious as they would like to think they are. -- Criss Jami
When you're the only sane person, you look like the only insane person. -- Criss Jami
Whenever you feel like feeling like a devil's advocate, Bible-thump. That, in a worldly world, is the great irony and satire of evangelism. -- Criss Jami
The pressure of adversity is the most powerful sustainer of accountability. It's as though everything you do is multiplied by 50 in order to surpass those with a head-start. I was never capable of slacking when at the threshold of failure. -- Criss Jami
Peace is more of an internal settlement rather than what is visible on the external. -- Criss Jami
If a man cannot understand the beauty of life, it is probably because life never understood the beauty in him. -- Criss Jami
The fans are always more radical than that which they are fans. -- Criss Jami
The real test of love is loving those who we feel are the hardest ones to love. -- Criss Jami
Comedy to me has always seemed a social tightrope for the comedian. For all things intellectually sound the general public would prefer to be amused, but in all things emotionally sound, it then chooses to get offended. -- Criss Jami
God gives His deepest discernment and sharpest marksmanship to men who aim to expose His truth before an enemy's lies. -- Criss Jami
I'm not a political Christian; for the most part I allow people even their vain, earthly rights. And I certainly don't see anti-Christians as bad or evil (as if they actually have the power to pose any kind of threat against God Almighty), but rather complete idiots I was commanded to love. -- Criss Jami
I think that most artists scorned would prefer to be known as the one with the genius brain risking no career over the one with the good brain and great career. -- Criss Jami
We live in an age so legalistic, we find it hard to imagine someone wanting to obey their God simply because they love their God. -- Criss Jami
It often seems as though the silent, humble servant is secretly wiser and more discerning than the haughty master; yet through dutiful (and sometimes insecure) surrender he continues to serve and carry out petty orders in loyal acquiesce. -- Criss Jami
After awhile you realize that putting your actions where your mouth is makes you less likely to have to put your money where your mouth is. -- Criss Jami
The power of hope! Even a lack of ambition can, for a time, pay off as a necessary facet, as long as hope outweighs it. -- Criss Jami
Drinking is such a necessity to human life that people cannot fathom an individual who, like a child confined to a church pew, gets little enjoyment out of it and would rather do other things. -- Criss Jami
Wisdom is nothing more than confirmed imagination: just because one did not study for his exam does not mean that he should leave it blank. -- Criss Jami
Love without humility results in the inclination to act as everyone's parent, humility without love results in the need to be everyone's child, and love with humility results in the desire to be a friend. -- Criss Jami
An exceedingly confident student would in theory make a terrible student. Why would he take school seriously when he feels that he can outwit his teachers? -- Criss Jami
If I were to vote, I would intentionally vote for the goofiest candidate. It is my theory that when the people can outwit the leader, the more respected their voices will be. -- Criss Jami
What man is really anti-progressive? For he is only anti-certain-people's-visions-for-the-future. -- Criss Jami
The reality of loving God is loving him like he's a Superhero who actually saved you from stuff rather than a Santa Claus who merely gave you some stuff. -- Criss Jami
When most of the greatest individuals in history were misunderstood and you've spent so much of your own adult life misunderstood, you can't help but believe that the majority of people know very little worth knowing. -- Criss Jami
Sure, some of us humans might be angry at a sovereign God about Hell, but know that that is about as meaningful as a few germs being angry at humans about bleach. -- Criss Jami
Where everyone wants to be a leader, it makes one a follower to want to be a leader, and a leader to know what to follow. -- Criss Jami
Creative people are often found either disagreeable or intimidating by mediocrities. -- Criss Jami
Man was created to glorify God. Now, that may encompass other things which God has planned for each man, but essentially, man was created to glorify God. -- Criss Jami
If I do not love my fellow man, I can be sure of it that I do not love Jesus Christ. And I would do well if guilty of loving Jesus Christ even more than I love my fellow man, because only by this may I fully come to love my fellow man. -- Criss Jami
There's sometimes a tugging feeling you get to push further when you aren't being challenged enough or when things get too comfortable. -- Criss Jami
Love is one of those topics that plenty of people try to write about but not enough try to do. -- Criss Jami
Love is as simple as the absence of self given to another. God, when invited, fills the void of any unrequited love; hence loving is how one is drawn closer to God no matter its most horrific repercussions. -- Criss Jami
Emotion is always multiplied in the art of a person who doesn't really show much emotion. It once expanded deep within his hidden soul, and following the downplay his audience is blown away. -- Criss Jami
The thing about stereotyping is it's usually just throwing rocks into a crowd hoping to hit somebody who deserves it. -- Criss Jami
When it comes to judging individuals, I do not like remarks such as 'too good to be true.' They speak as though one is rewarding the nature of evil. Yet, ironically, we still wonder where all the good people have gone. -- Criss Jami
It is easier for one to take risks and to chase his dreams with a mindset that he has nothing to lose. In this lies the immense passion, the great advantage of avoiding a materialistic, pleasure-filled way of life. -- Criss Jami
The creation of man is evidence for the love of God, the preservation of man is evidence for the patience of God, and Christ is evidence for the forgiveness of God. It is when we are wrapped up in our own little peeves that we begin to displace His benevolence with malevolence. -- Criss Jami
Is the phrase 'pay' or 'play the piper'
I inquire, why
'Cause I admire a desire to flip the switch
Yeah make a way to face the music like
Life savings for a mosh pit riot
Listen to a mix
Rock the tickets, higher volume
Velocity which shakes a cockpit's pilot -- Criss Jami
From recovery to rags and rags to recovery symbolizes art - a perfect compilation of human imperfections. -- Criss Jami
We have better relationships with those who truly seek us rather than those sitting on the couch watching us move mountains trying to prove ourselves. -- Criss Jami
As a writer of philosophy, it's good to ask oneself, 'Will I still believe this a week from now, or months, or even years? -- Criss Jami
Simply minding one's own business is more offensive than being intrusive. Without ever saying a word one can make a person feel less-than. -- Criss Jami
To be extremely happy but extremely intelligent is a task of being optimistic without being cheesy. -- Criss Jami
Love does not dwell on how much one receives in return. If there is ever any balance in love, it is in a contest of who can love who more. -- Criss Jami
Only the man who thinks himself a fool is as wise as he thinks. -- Criss Jami
Everyone judges constantly: positively judging one person is the same as negatively judging everyone else; it is to say that that person is superior in some sense. -- Criss Jami
Have nuts and be nuts. -- Criss Jami
Men promise freedom while establishing laws; God promises laws while establishing freedom. -- Criss Jami
You can receive all the compliments in the world, but that won't do a thing unless you believe it yourself. -- Criss Jami
An over-indulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate. -- Criss Jami
In a society where dirt sells, for every good story told as it is, you will hear the whole of that day's 10 bad stories sensationalized; although in reality, it could be that 100 good deeds happened that day which went unsung. -- Criss Jami
Doubt is a question mark; faith is an exclamation point. The most compelling, believable, realistic stories have included them both. -- Criss Jami
The idea that all souls are mortal is the only notion surely terminating love and all its forms. -- Criss Jami
Some things are so silly they have a certain brilliance to them. Other things, set as standards for brilliance and therefore exalted by many who don't know why, become tarnished because of it. -- Criss Jami
Advanced technology does not always promise a more intelligent civilization. On the contrary, the more the common people rely on technology to do their thinking and solving for them, the less practice there is left for their own brains. -- Criss Jami
The only truths worth arguing about are those truths that could prevent or lead to circumstances that may bite us in the rear sooner or later. -- Criss Jami
You are believing not in your god but in yourself if your god knows no better than you do ... and yet, in this alone, I am afraid, you have already been fooling yourself. -- Criss Jami
The survival of poor opinions can make a thinker feel as though he is failing humanity. -- Criss Jami
We are often taught to look for the beauty in all things, so in finding it, the layman asks the philosopher while the philosopher asks the photographer. -- Criss Jami
A man who goes into a restaurant and blatantly disrespects the servers shows a strong discontent with his own being. Deep down he knows that restaurant service is the closest thing he will ever experience to being served like a king. -- Criss Jami
Some people's theologies come across as blatantly wrong when weighed against what is revealed in Scripture. However God has mercy on those who may be wrong but genuinely seek understanding before seeking themselves. -- Criss Jami
Philosophy may serve as the bridge between theology and science. All atheism is a philosophy, but not all philosophy is atheism. Philosophy ('love of wisdom') is simply a tool depending on how one uses it, and in some cases, logically understanding the nature of God and existence. -- Criss Jami
It's not at all hard to understand a person; it's only hard to listen without bias. -- Criss Jami
Conscious minds can, at the most, comprehend that the whole idea of a 'God' is his superiority, his omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience; and therefore, at the least, desire him, someone far greater than themselves. -- Criss Jami
To understand remotely the omnipotence of God is to understand wholly the beauty of Christ. -- Criss Jami
There's a difference between thinking you can't be wrong and having no regrets. Wrongness is what occurs prior to empiricism, in hindsight a counterpart of revelation, and revelation is nothing to regret. -- Criss Jami
I've finally decided to write about profit for a change
But before I really started I already started to feel lame
Baby what's it to a beast who manely to money remains untamed -- Criss Jami
All great leaders find a sense of balance through their levels of reception. For instance, those who support a leader may soften him, those who ignore him may challenge him, and those who oppose him may stroke his ego. -- Criss Jami
If I knew what to do
I'd do more than write a song for you -- Criss Jami
Mankind, in all his lusts, punishes himself. The gods have to do very little. -- Criss Jami
It helps to not confuse theological philosophers with evangelists. There is a difference but objectively neither better than the other: an evangelist's mission is to convert; a theological philosopher's mission is to build an understanding of a position. -- Criss Jami
Most people want so desperately to be an individual yet are so easily shaped by the media. -- Criss Jami
The surface of learning is hearing what your ears aren't prepared to hear, and the core of learning is hearing what your ears don't want to hear. -- Criss Jami
Creativity is the highest form of intelligence. Over time, after developing a more advanced creative brain, I started feeling that my college education was more so something to be ashamed of rather than something to be proud of. -- Criss Jami
Few endeavors, if any at all, I find to be inherently mature or inherently immature. Maturity is neither defined by one's particular preferences nor by one's particular activities; rather, it is defined by the strength of one's character. -- Criss Jami
Let me be content with myself to the degree that my capacity to serve others is present, yet discontent with myself to the degree that I may still like to grow in better service for others. -- Criss Jami
If you assume that the new - and simply because it's new - is always to be better than the old, chances are you've never known anything valuable. -- Criss Jami
Never hide things from hardcore thinkers. They get more aggravated, more provoked by confusion than the most painful truths. -- Criss Jami
Good works is giving to the poor and the helpless, but divine works is showing them their worth to the One who matters. -- Criss Jami
I do not care about happiness simply because I believe that joy is something worth fighting for. -- Criss Jami
Senses of humor define people, as factions, deeper rooted than religious or political opinions. When carrying out everyday tasks, opinions are rather easy to set aside, but those whom a person shares a sense of humor with are his closest friends. They are always there to make the biggest influence. -- Criss Jami
The whole bloated sensation of success is wiped clean when among family. There is no pressure of being looked upon as 'the brilliant one' but rather the comforts of always being the pupil. -- Criss Jami
A fruitless year, take a fearless heart
One that blooms late will flourish in the dark -- Criss Jami
In the age of technology there is constant access to vast amounts of information. The basket overflows; people get overwhelmed; the eye of the storm is not so much what goes on in the world, it is the confusion of how to think, feel, digest, and react to what goes on. -- Criss Jami
The role of genius is not to complicate the simple, but to simplify the complicated. -- Criss Jami
Persistence. Perfection. Patience. Power. Prioritize your passion. It keeps you sane. -- Criss Jami
It's much easier on the emotions when one sees life as an experiment rather than a struggle for popularity. -- Criss Jami
People don't care about being duped as long as they're happy, which is the shortest form of happiness; hence 'self-duprication' becomes a habit. -- Criss Jami
Any fool can do something cool and look cool, but it takes skill to make something uncool cool again. -- Criss Jami
Trends are about as fickle as the direction of the wind; as are the legacies of those who flow with them. -- Criss Jami
The hope is indeed that some will experience and believe: The purpose of a number of spiritual gurus is to demonstrate to God-fearing men faux spirituality. -- Criss Jami
Discernment is the son of good judgment and the father of self-control. When mixed with an already clear conscience, the ability to read the true motives of a critic keeps one's conscience both clear and at ease. -- Criss Jami
Self-righteousness is much like a spiritual egocentricity. It constitutes a secular type of love that thrives under conditionality, one in which is only existent after an individual meets the adopted standards of the condemner; oppositely, unconditional love is a holy love. -- Criss Jami
Intelligent people, as some say, in their openness, are indeed slow to criticize, but conversely, in their openness to the concerns of others, the genuine are slow to fret about being criticized. -- Criss Jami
It is sometimes but the mere hope for enjoyment that allows one to enjoy something, even when he is not really enjoying it at the moment. -- Criss Jami
The most mesmerizing of artists is always like one who was merely drawing in the sand and people came to watch. -- Criss Jami
Today's zealots are mostly those pretending to be anti-religious. -- Criss Jami
Men seek a great deal, but fatally close, albeit very different, is one's pride in proving oneself right with one's zeal for finding the truth. -- Criss Jami
I am often guilty of expecting the worst so as to avoid disappointment and welcome surprise. -- Criss Jami
In God's eyes, a man who teaches one truth and nothing else is more righteous than a man who teaches a million truths and one lie. -- Criss Jami
If I were to envy any persons on this planet, it would be mountain hermits. You often hear old platitudes such as, 'Speak out. Be heard.' On the contrary, a breath of fresh air would be something like: 'Silence, think for at least 15 minutes, and then maybe speak out. -- Criss Jami
Simplicity is a bliss that makes one comprehend. -- Criss Jami
The sea in all its vastness is its own, real world. Man is nature's sci-fi. -- Criss Jami
I'm always talking to God about whether or not he exists - that's how I know I'm a theist. -- Criss Jami
If you have to say or do something controversial, aim so that people will hate that they love it and not love that they hate it. -- Criss Jami
That which you love most will then become both your strength and your weakness. -- Criss Jami
If you are not there for other people, do not expect them to be there for you. In many a case one might conclude that this is part of God's sovereign justice. His grace, however, is that He Himself will always be there for you, no matter what. -- Criss Jami
People think that fun in Christ is non-existent, but there is fun wherever your heart lives. -- Criss Jami
I would rather my descendants have greater abilities and a greater knowledge of the love of Christ than I do, much like standing on one's shoulders in order to get a clearer view of the valley. -- Criss Jami
False humility is quite like the worst of both worlds: both that of Meekness and that of Conceit. -- Criss Jami
God hates sin not because he wants us to be good little boys and girls, but because he knows sin destroys that which he loves most: sinners. -- Criss Jami
Everyone claims to be okay with freedom of religion, but the moment you mention God there is a strange tension that fills the air. If there was a 6th sense, that would be it. -- Criss Jami
You ask me why I don't speak
Not a word at will
But write so much worth well over a mill'
Well I value words like I value kisses
A sober one, a closer one penetrates the heart
Darling it's how it mends it -- Criss Jami
If you use a philosophy education well, you can get your foot in the door of any industry you please. Industries are like the blossoms on a tree while philosophy is the trunk - it holds the tree together, but it often goes unnoticed. -- Criss Jami
I like solitude. It is when you truly hear and speak your natural, unadulterated mind, and out comes your most stupid self as well as your most intelligent self. It is when you realize who you are and the extents of the good and the evils which you are capable of. -- Criss Jami
It's easy to make a mess when you're not the one who has to clean it up. -- Criss Jami
When I look at a person, I see a person - not a rank, not a class, not a title. -- Criss Jami
Stretched and skewed
Tap of the 8-ball and the cue
Scratches fall through
They are the scars of you -- Criss Jami
Respect? Of course, always, to all, because everything seems funnier when you're trying to show respect. -- Criss Jami
I enjoy poetry where I can talk as bizarre as I please, but theology or philosophy, I always respect the truth by taking it a step further. -- Criss Jami
Dreams and freedom are the same. In order for them to be, they come with a price. -- Criss Jami
Chance is your god
Though you're falling free you will land hard -- Criss Jami
The hype cheapens the hyped, as right things are then made wrong by exaggeration. -- Criss Jami
You can be yourself without pursuing yourself. Have you ever seen a dog chase his own tail? He just runs in circles. -- Criss Jami
Ingredients to success: know what you do well, know what to do well, and know someone who's swell. -- Criss Jami
The eye of true equality often seems to have some degree of disrespect for the supposedly accomplished, privileged high and lofty to the supposedly accomplished, privileged high and lofty, although in reality, it's simply irrespectiveness. -- Criss Jami
A sign of power in a man is not only when people follow what he suggests, but also when people make a conscious effort to do the exact opposite of what he suggests. -- Criss Jami
To be more precise about it, it is neither close nor open-mindedness but wisdom, discernment, and a pure heart that God wants. -- Criss Jami
The hated man is the result of his hater's pride rather than his hater's conscience. -- Criss Jami
Your love is as stable as you are: It's not about how good a person makes you feel, but rather what good you can do for them. -- Criss Jami
People will seek the ends of the galaxy to avoid that which they need most. -- Criss Jami
The vanity of intelligence is that the intelligent man is often more committed to 'one-upping' his opponent than being truthful. When the idea of intelligence, rather than intelligence itself, becomes a staple, there is no wisdom in it. -- Criss Jami
Peaceful disputes are maintained when men sincerely believe that they are morally, logically correct about the issues at hand. It is when neither side is really certain that wars are instigated. -- Criss Jami
Hopefully, when your actions and deeds - and therefore other people - boast for you, you're made tired of hearing it, too, from your own mouth because if not, all could lose sight of those actions and deeds behind the gong of your boasting. -- Criss Jami
Beyond all sciences, philosophies, theologies, and histories, a child's relentless inquiry is truly all it takes to remind us that we don't know as much as we think we know. -- Criss Jami
Nothing amuses people more than a cocky guy who starts losing. -- Criss Jami
Faithfulness imparts God's reason for all circumstances. No matter what the world says, losing is no longer an option. -- Criss Jami
I would rather a romantic relationship turn into contempt than turn into apathy. The passion in the extremities make it appear as though it once meant something. We grow from hot or cold, but lukewarm is the biggest insult. -- Criss Jami
The hardest thing for a sane person to do is not care what anyone thinks, although everyone swears by it, hence our glorification of insanity. -- Criss Jami
A man who loves others based solely on how they make him feel, or what they do for him, is really not loving others at all - but loving only himself. -- Criss Jami
Nothing frustrates people more than a cocky guy who's still winning. -- Criss Jami
The most judgmental people are often those who complain most about being judged. The ones not complaining will look as though they're the ones doing the judging. -- Criss Jami
Christ didn't join in. He saw which direction the rocks were being thrown, and became a shield. -- Criss Jami
If Christians always seemed to be the most intelligent and the most righteous of men, I'd be a skeptic. -- Criss Jami
Where God is like the sun, the Devil is like a raindrop. There is no 'God vs. Satan' because they aren't even that close in power and authority. The former is very patient; the latter is at mercy. -- Criss Jami
If truth is like the terrain, are we the generation who sees it as one who has worn shoes all his life or one who has never worn shoes? Yet still, even if the walk starts out as painful, the experience may be well worth it. -- Criss Jami
There's nothing more contagious than the laughter of young children; it doesn't even have to matter what they're laughing about. -- Criss Jami
In learning and argumentation, the quality brain is similar to a facility of maximum security. What passes the logic test, free of fallacy and pretense, then must pass the test of biblical accuracy in order to proceed as an adopted, reliable truth. -- Criss Jami
Every man has a specific skill, whether it is discovered or not, that more readily and naturally comes to him than it would to another, and his own should be sought and polished. He excels best in his niche - originality loses its authenticity in one's efforts to obtain originality. -- Criss Jami
Good intentions but bad results; bad results but lessons learned. There is a dark corner on every task beautiful and a beautiful corner on every task dark. -- Criss Jami
They say the crazies come out at night. I say the crazies come out during election year: Elections have the power to turn once seemingly normal people into certified loonies. -- Criss Jami
Most men either compromise or drop their greatest talents and start running after, what they perceive to be, a more reasonable success, and somewhere in between they end up with a discontented settlement. Safety is indeed stability, but it is not progression. -- Criss Jami
In the heart of appeasement there's the fear of rejection, and in acts of fear there are mirrors of oppression. -- Criss Jami
It has always seemed that a fear of judgment is the mark of guilt and the burden of insecurity. -- Criss Jami
The most important part of discernment is pinpointing the forces to be reckoned with, both the constructive and destructive. -- Criss Jami
It's a huge disservice to classify all minds as either closed or open. I find the best minds are closed by openable windows. -- Criss Jami
If it's true what is said, that only the wise discover the wise, then it must also be true that the lone wolf symbolizes either the biggest fool on the planet or the biggest Einstein on the planet. -- Criss Jami
You are the enemy and a vessel through which the cure flows - if Christ lives in you, then you are an embodiment of the very shot this hostile and crying world needs as it, in every waking moment, struggles belligerently to resist. -- Criss Jami
Envy is a sign of insecurity, yes; but so is longing to be envied. -- Criss Jami
Everyone has a natural slant towards seeking themselves. This gets in the way of seeking God unless God intervenes. -- Criss Jami
When we look for success, it should be for the sole purpose of boasting sincerely in Christ. There's no other reason for it. Success is only worth it when the more intense it gets for you, the more you find yourself bragging for his glory rather than your own. -- Criss Jami
A distaste for the new is not always fear of the unknown, but sometimes ambition. Some people don't like the new way simply because they never got a chance to master the old way. -- Criss Jami
God favors men and women who delight in being made worthy of happiness before the happiness itself. -- Criss Jami
God will save whomever He chooses to save. The Christian should proselytize not because he thinks he can change everybody; he should proselytize because the Gospel being shared is the ultimate act of love: because he thinks he can love everybody. -- Criss Jami
When a poet digs himself into a hole, he doesn't climb out. He digs deeper, enjoys the scenery, and comes out the other side enlightened. -- Criss Jami
It starts off like climbing a tree or solving a puzzle - poetry, if nothing else, is just fun to write. But deeper into each and every piece, you no longer hesitate to call it work. It's passion. A poet's sense of lyrical accomplishment is then his food and water, his means of survival. -- Criss Jami
There are no keys to success - only tools. -- Criss Jami
...And maybe one day you will wake up as an infant in a completely different universe, and your entire life thus far was just one big dream. -- Criss Jami
Thoughts are like burning stars, and ideas, they flood, they stretch the universe. -- Criss Jami
There is a certain delightful sort of hope which the introvert can receive only by having company over...the hope that they will leave soon. -- Criss Jami
It is not that men become too intelligent for God,' says the Apologist, 'but rather they become too arrogant for intelligence. -- Criss Jami
Let your confidence reflect your contentedness. -- Criss Jami
When you have wit of your own, it's a pleasure to credit other people for theirs. -- Criss Jami
We often hear about stepping outside ourselves, but rarely about stepping outside our generation. -- Criss Jami
If you're capable of despising your own behavior, you might just love yourself. -- Criss Jami
We are to love God most importantly so that we can grow to love people as he loved us, not so that we can feel more divine and worthy than the worldly. -- Criss Jami
It is better to doubt that a concept is stupidly flying under your head than profoundly flying over your head. -- Criss Jami
There's no need to curse God if you're an ugly duckling. He chooses those strong enough to endure it so that they can guide others who've felt the same. -- Criss Jami
The best people are always the worst. They drive everyone mad by being so good at second-guessing everything bad. -- Criss Jami
Grudges are for those who insist that they are owed something; forgiveness, however, is for those who are substantial enough to move on. -- Criss Jami
When it comes to world news, attitude is what marks the distinction between justice and vengeance. Justice is pure, but vengeance brings more ruin. -- Criss Jami
Keep your finger on the pulse of society, take controversies with a grain of salt, lick your finger and then lift it to the wind; always know what is going on, my friend, so this world can never steer you wrong again. -- Criss Jami
There are two circumstances that lead to arrogance: one is when you're wrong and you can't face it; the other is when you're right and nobody else can face it. -- Criss Jami
The actual confident man, the man truly sure of himself, is not he who esteems himself higher than others, but he who is sure enough that he can bear to esteem others higher than himself. -- Criss Jami
The eye of danger and the face of fear are what really pull off a person's mask. -- Criss Jami
You can't let the truth bring out the worst and let it get the best of you. -- Criss Jami
Humility is, in a sense, admitting how egotistical you are. -- Criss Jami
The biggest challenge after success is shutting up about it. -- Criss Jami
People love answers, but only as long as they are the ones who came up with them. -- Criss Jami
The spirit of arrogance most definitely makes you shine. It paints a bright red target on your own forehead. -- Criss Jami
In essence I find that the foundation of modern conservatism is driven by a clinging to God in fear of the world, whereas the foundation of modern liberalism is a clinging to the world in fear of God; albeit, the true foundation should be one's clinging to God in fear of God. -- Criss Jami
One of the greatest gifts from God is the eternal perspective. It is a level of fearlessness, a level of understanding where one can experience even emotional harmony with God. -- Criss Jami
I am not sure if women are attracted to genius. Can you imagine the wise wizard winning the woman over the gallant swordsman? It seems rather otherworldly in more ways than one. -- Criss Jami
The rather difficult antagonists towards the Church consist not nearly of the cruel and heartless, nihilistic intellectuals who hate God and humanity, but the well-meaning spirits who for the most part lack an understanding of the Spirit. -- Criss Jami
Our poor world aspires simply to point out where Christians have gone wrong, and that is pretty much where it goes wrong. It is as though many of us, when of the world, are actually all the more judgmental: for we are stuck on a bad Christian while the Christian is pinned to a good Christ. -- Criss Jami
As a kid my heart would break for the villains. -- Criss Jami
God loves atheists. The former ones make the most compelling theists because they're so empirically familiar with how atheists think. -- Criss Jami
Never rebel for the sake of rebelling, but always rebel for the sake of truth. -- Criss Jami
Confidence is like a dragon where, for every head cut off, two more heads grow back. -- Criss Jami
The Bible does not say money is the root of all evil; it says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. A poor man who, in his heart, worships the idea of being rich is more vulnerable to its evils than a rich man who has a heart to use it all for the Lord. -- Criss Jami
Showing a lack of self-control is in the same vein granting authority to others: 'Perhaps I need someone else to control me. -- Criss Jami
When making a point, there are 2 types of people who may disagree with you: those who can support their reasons, and the childish ones who are too worried about being told what to do. -- Criss Jami
When disinformation is running rampant, there are two ignorances that may emerge: the one is actually positive, a sort of pure and intentional emptying of the mind; but the other is of course negative and clogged and polluted. -- Criss Jami
I'm convinced that most men don't know what they believe, rather, they only know what they wish to believe. How many people blame God for man's atrocities, but wouldn't dream of imprisoning a mother for her son's crime? -- Criss Jami
I enjoy melancholic music and art. They take me to places I don't normally get to go. -- Criss Jami
The devil's happy when the critics run you off. -- Criss Jami
When emerging from humble beginnings, those around you tend to underestimate your authenticity because they knew you before you were 'somebody'. -- Criss Jami
There's more to logic than identifying logical fallacies. -- Criss Jami
Disasters work like alarm clocks to the world, hence God allows them. They are shouting, 'Wake up! Love! Pray! -- Criss Jami
A young outcast will often feel that there is something wrong with himself, but as he gets older, grows more confident in who he is, he will adapt, he will begin to feel that there is something wrong with everyone else. -- Criss Jami
In the philosophical dialect, a cynic takes an insult as a compliment since opposition is already his style. -- Criss Jami
The man who is most aggressive in teaching tolerance is the most intolerant of all: he wants a world full of people too timid and ashamed to really disagree with anything. -- Criss Jami
What is hard work? It takes strength, energy, and stress to truly care about others enough to place oneself last, but it is easy to wrap oneself up and selfishly scramble on the heads of others. -- Criss Jami
When you're appeasing too much, you might be egotistically over-estimating everyone's need for your approval. -- Criss Jami
Even the self-assured truth-finders and self-proclaimed freedom-fighters reject Truth. As admirable as such endeavors may be, they still only really want it so long as it to some extent confirms what they had already presumed to be true. -- Criss Jami
The love of Christ is always there and unchanging, no matter what we do, but it is when we are obedient that we actually begin to feel it. -- Criss Jami
If I love a dose of (good) theology or philosophy, I probably also love discipline, improvement, wisdom, and challenges. If I hate it, I am probably too comfortable and proud to try to question myself. -- Criss Jami
As a poet there is something about joy I find hard to express, whereas every other emotion is rather simple. For instance, you never feel so bad that you can't describe how bad you feel, but joy on the other hand is far too divine for human language. -- Criss Jami
It is the nature of physics to hear the loudest of mouths over the most comprehensive ones. -- Criss Jami
Goodness is sparked by a caution for the sake of what is good, not a fear of what is bad. -- Criss Jami
Love tames the benumbed beast. A man is put to use regarding a woman's physical safety, but a woman is put to use regarding a man's mental safety. -- Criss Jami
Assuming what people want is about as controlled as using fireworks to start a fire. -- Criss Jami
Many people in a rather reckless context claim to 'just tell it like it is'. In actuality, nobody really stresses what one says so much as the motive behind what one says; hence, he is merely blowing hot air and detracting from 'what is'. -- Criss Jami
When good people consider you the bad guy, you develop a heart to help the bad ones. You actually understand them. -- Criss Jami
The only honorable, desirable kind of fear that shouldn't be feared is the fear of harm on a loved one. It's the kind of fear that leads to self-sacrifice and the kind of fear where you would truly jump in front of a bus to save another. -- Criss Jami
I'm a lion in a strange land. -- Criss Jami
So, how close are love and genius, really? We know that they are both mentioned far more than lived. -- Criss Jami
It is by continuing to put out good work that the artist best shows his gratitude. -- Criss Jami
The whole war between the atheist and the theist comes down to this: the atheist believes a 'what' created the universe; the theist believes a 'who' created the universe. -- Criss Jami
A writer is one who communicates ideas and emotions people want to communicate but aren't quite sure how, or even if, they should communicate them. -- Criss Jami
Christianity is at its purest a philosophy about a person, Jesus Christ, and at its dirtiest a philosophy about requirements and law. -- Criss Jami
I feel as though whenever I create something, my Mr. Hyde wakes up in the middle of the night and starts thrashing it. I sometimes love it the next morning, but other times it is an abomination. -- Criss Jami
Peace ought not be regarded the height of civilization, else like barbarians we forever battle for peace. -- Criss Jami
To claim that one can never live a positive life with a negative mind is a very negative claim to make! -- Criss Jami
It always seems as though the definition of love will remain debatable by an opinionated world. -- Criss Jami
Tolerance! The virtue that makes one bite his tongue so that he can tear out his hair. -- Criss Jami
Those who stand for different causes during different generations often experience the same oppositions and the same difficulties as those of the previous and the next generations. That is the basis of history repeating itself. -- Criss Jami
The only activity a cynic will find contagious is yawning, that is, with other people, at other people. -- Criss Jami
On the one hand you had people constantly fighting Hell; on the other, you had people constantly fighting Hell on earth. -- Criss Jami
The Christian who loves his Master needs not fear any longer for himself. For it is then completely irrational, as it is written thus: 'Perfect love casts out fear.' However, it is very much rational for one to fear instead for the enemies of God. -- Criss Jami
Who you are in public is a test of your conviction; who you are in private, integrity. -- Criss Jami
My confidence is in the idea that I may be wrong on this or that. No man in this life should ever have to bear the burden of perfection. -- Criss Jami
Imagination doesn't always make you long for what you cannot have, but rather thrive in what you do not have. -- Criss Jami
God is so omnipotent yet man so impotent, the Divine masterpiece was not even in creating the universe, but in making sin boring to sinners. -- Criss Jami
I believe in evolution in the sense that a short-tempered man is the successor of a crybaby. -- Criss Jami
Easily mistaken, it is not about a love for adversity, it is about knowing a strength and a faith so great that adversity, in all its adverse manifestations, hardly even exists. -- Criss Jami
Frequent risk-takers have had their fair shares of failures and successes, hence, being confident in reaching their goals, they will usually seem insensitive to whether or not they look foolish or cool to other people. -- Criss Jami
Yes, be different, but not for the vanities of being different. -- Criss Jami
Sometimes you feel as though you've slandered yourself, but the joke's on them. -- Criss Jami
Psychobabble attempts to redefine the entire English language just to make a correct statement incorrect. Psychology is the study of why someone would try to do this. -- Criss Jami
The manlier you are, the harder it is to understand what a woman wants: there is not a hint of female brain in you. -- Criss Jami
A sign of a lover of wisdom is his delight in not running his mouth about things he doesn't know. -- Criss Jami
Soar with wit. Conquer with dignity. Handle with care. -- Criss Jami
Closed in a room, my imagination becomes the universe, and the rest of the world is missing out. -- Criss Jami
The long-deluded will at last see the truth, and thus their expressions will have seen a ghost. -- Criss Jami
They call good evil and evil good. There are those who are so easily offended that they lose their ability to ever discern any truth, and this is often derived from a sort of frenzy by way of their own masked prejudice. -- Criss Jami
There is a master way with words that cannot be learned but instead developed: a deaf man develops exceptional vision, a blind man exceptional hearing, a silent man, when given a piece of paper ... -- Criss Jami
God's relationship with man does not work in a way in which man stumbles and then God has to drop what he is doing in order to lift him up; rather, man stumbles so that God can lift him up. Hence it is utterly impossible to truly diminish his glory. -- Criss Jami
A major gap between many of the denominations stems from how people define some of the most basic terms, such as 'religion' itself. -- Criss Jami
To be a philosopher, just reverse everything you have ever been told ... and have a sense of humor doing it. -- Criss Jami
If what you create seems to turn out much stranger than who you are as a person, it's probably because your heart is talking. -- Criss Jami
Reason begets honesty, and honesty, if given its head, begets confidence; so consequently, there is a sort of grand authority in the stances of those who know why they are standing. -- Criss Jami
It's not about going around trying to stir up trouble. As long as you're honest and you articulate what you believe to be true, somebody somewhere will become your enemy whether you like it or not. -- Criss Jami
Through Christ, the sting of death is but a gentle pinch to the soul; and the mourn is light. Perhaps, someday, in that glorious place, free of sin, we shall meet again. -- Criss Jami
Whenever we want to combat our enemies, first and foremost we must start by understanding them rather than exaggerating their motives. -- Criss Jami
A common mistake we make is that we look for God in places where we ourselves wish to find him, yet even in the physical reality this is a complete failure. For example, if you lost your car keys, you would not search where you want to search, you would search where you must in order to find them. -- Criss Jami
A mature heart for Christ would much rather spend its time praising him than condemning his fanatics. -- Criss Jami
Considering the notion that the spiritual battlefield is infinitely greater than the physical, perhaps God is more willing to bless with a sort of divine ecstasy those who see the devil as the enemy rather than those who see other people as the enemies. -- Criss Jami
The 2 extremes, neither one worse than the other: the result of bad religion is self-loathing and violence; the result of bad spirituality is self-worship and narcissism. -- Criss Jami
Being nice merely to be liked in return nullifies the point. -- Criss Jami
I'd rather strive for the kind of interview where instead of me asking to introduce myself to society, society asks me to introduce myself to society. -- Criss Jami
To be heroic is to be courageous enough to die for something. -- Criss Jami
To be truly positive in the eyes of some, you have to risk appearing negative in the eyes of others. -- Criss Jami
I'm not offended until you think I'm offended. -- Criss Jami
In an extroverted society, the difference between an introvert and an extrovert is that an introvert is often unconsciously deemed guilty until proven innocent. -- Criss Jami
The greater ignorance towards a country is not ignoring what its politicians have to say, it is ignoring what the inmates in its prisons have to say. -- Criss Jami
Unprovoked hostility is often but displaced self-defense: 'I must stop him before he stops me.' In many of such environments, nobody is really hateful so much as they are just fearful. -- Criss Jami
One may suffer the long-term in order to grow in appreciation for the small things. For in short-term suffering, one only notices the large. -- Criss Jami
The humble sinner will sometimes be interpreted as one of the filthiest in the eyes of man yet immersed in the eyes of God, and this is due to the volition of honesty regarding his own corruption. -- Criss Jami
To be respected is not my concern. So long as I seek to live in obedience to my Lord, respect will come accordingly from the people He deems it necessary. -- Criss Jami
Old words are reborn with new faces. -- Criss Jami
What decent philosopher was ever an appeaser? The former is a rare catch among the multitudes of modern opinionists. His role is to be one who loves truth. That is a place where his love for humanity is more powerful than his love for hot air about empowering humanity. -- Criss Jami
Of course we'll win. And even if we were to lose, we'd win at losing. -- Criss Jami
Christ delves far beyond the means of superficiality, not simply because of his immaculate love, but also because he considers the distinct cases of each individual rather than withholding a broadened perception by use of stereotypes. -- Criss Jami
It is never ridicule, but a compliment, that knocks a philosopher off his feet. He is already positioned for every possible counter-attack, counter-argument, and retort ... only to find a big bear hug coming his way. -- Criss Jami
Listen to God with a broken heart. He is not only the doctor who mends it, but also the father who wipes away the tears. -- Criss Jami
Beware: open-mindedness will often say, 'Everything is permissible except a sharp opinion. -- Criss Jami
One of the Christian's biggest fears is appearing 'too Christian'. God forbid, because that's often characterized as god-awful! We want to be one, but without being 'one of them'. -- Criss Jami
The artist lives to have stories to tell and to learn to tell them well. -- Criss Jami
I've come to the point where I never feel the need to stop and evaluate whether or not I am happy. I'm just 'being', and without question, by default, it works. -- Criss Jami
A part of me genuinely wanted to be the worst because I was so sick of everyone fighting to be the best. -- Criss Jami
The best ideas will eat at you for days, maybe even weeks, until something, some incident, some impulse, triggers you to finally express them. -- Criss Jami
To ask, 'How do you do it?' is already starting off on the wrong foot. When reaching for the stars, there does not have to be a 'how' if there is a big enough 'why'. -- Criss Jami
Just because something isn't a lie does not mean that it isn't deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction. -- Criss Jami
Let our information and social technologies raise awareness and not propaganda, build connections and not passive-aggression. -- Criss Jami
An encouraged person will eventually get his drive from encouragement; he becomes more dependent. A person that never really receives encouragement learns to move out of spite; he becomes more independent. -- Criss Jami
Knowing the truth is so minuscule compared to having the nerve to say it ... and even more to live it. -- Criss Jami
Songwriting and poetry are so commonly birthed from underdogs because one can make even the ugliest situations admirable, or more beautiful than the beautiful situations - they are the most graceful media in which the lines of society are distorted. -- Criss Jami
Everyone pretends to be 'free thinkers', but few individuals pass the line into expressive territories that may be detrimental to their own social well-being. -- Criss Jami
The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is the pretense of intelligent ignorance. The former is teachable; the latter is not. -- Criss Jami
Always have there been great numbers of individuals who were very much eager to fight for good causes. Always there were these, but then there were even greater numbers of trendies who would then become wholly and completely misguided in the efforts. -- Criss Jami
Because there are hundreds of different ways to say one thing, I, being a writer, songwriter, and poet, speak childishly and incoherently. In speech there is so much to decide in so little time. -- Criss Jami
There was a time when skepticism was an act of rebellion. Since to a degree I both believe in evolution and have faith, I can only conclude that, as prophesied, to have faith will someday be an act of rebellion. -- Criss Jami
You can't be a rebel without the scars that come with it. Truth is, some days scars are just as ugly as they are beautiful. -- Criss Jami
I always make sure that the world will prove me right. It gives me the freedom to contradict myself. -- Criss Jami
The trouble with poetry is it's often written to the sound of a drum only the poet may hear; nonetheless, blessed are those poets who always manage to find unshakeable pleasure in their own works. -- Criss Jami
People, generally, are equally insecure. They just show it (or hide it) differently. -- Criss Jami
Man is not, by nature, deserving of all that he wants. When we think that we are automatically entitled to something, that is when we start walking all over others to get it. -- Criss Jami
The logic behind patriotism is a mystery. At least a man who believes that his own family or clan is superior to all others is familiar with more than 0.000003% of the people involved. -- Criss Jami
Pseudo-artists think that being an artist means opposing whatever seems to be an establishment. That is not creative at all. True creativity is the ability to gain perspective wherever you may have missed it before. -- Criss Jami
The humble ones are always learning and improving, and their secret is always that it's a secret. -- Criss Jami
Women rescue men just as much as, if not more than, men rescue women. -- Criss Jami
A lack of common sense usually ends in some heroic feat, much like the soldier who dives onto the grenade so that others may live. -- Criss Jami
By(e) pen, I've tried my hand at poetry; only to see how boring it is to me. That is, unless I get a chance to destroy each and every piece while doing it as I please. -- Criss Jami
In order to share one's true brilliance one initially has to risk looking like a fool: genius is like a wheel that spins so fast, it at first glance appears to be sitting still. -- Criss Jami
I only seem negative to the fortunate. That's because I show the less fortunate that they aren't less fortunate after all. -- Criss Jami
The petty man wants to use God for himself; the ambitious man wants God to use him for God. -- Criss Jami
Women show men beauty in things beyond their ambitions. Women tell men to stop and smell the roses. -- Criss Jami
It's simple, it's not that simple; or life is simple, but the things in it are not. When a man does not understand it, he tends to inflate it. When he does, he tends to deflate it. In the end, neither images are fully accurate. -- Criss Jami
To love without need or without expectation of restitution, that is how we ought to love. -- Criss Jami
Tolerance is not infinite patience, but slain patience; patience that has lost its hope and love and has thrown in the towel. -- Criss Jami
The denial of truth does not harm the Truth; it only harms that which denies the Truth. -- Criss Jami
Even if there are instances in which it can be mistook by onlookers, never fool yourself into using misunderstood genius as an excuse to be a fool. -- Criss Jami
Even the devils are theists. I am of all people one of the least qualified to judge, but I do believe that some atheists are closer to God than are some theists. With Him, it is better to be distant in the mind but near in the heart than it is to be distant in the heart but near in the mind. -- Criss Jami
Excitement is a crossroad which runs in all directions. No man lacks personality; he just never connected with you at the intersection. -- Criss Jami
Pride and power fall when the person falls, but discoveries of truth form legacies that can be built upon for generations. -- Criss Jami
Divinity for the sake of the simple-minded is beautiful. Those theological assertions you write, say, or live by that you later feel foolish about, it means God still lives in you enough to tell you that they were indeed foolish. By mistakes you know you are alive. -- Criss Jami
Life is about discovering things worth dying for. -- Criss Jami
To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength. -- Criss Jami
Armed neutrality makes it much easier to detect hypocrisy. -- Criss Jami
Popular culture is a place where pity is called compassion, flattery is called love, propaganda is called knowledge, tension is called peace, gossip is called news, and auto-tune is called singing. -- Criss Jami
Tension, in the long run, is a more dangerous force than any feud known to man. -- Criss Jami
In societies where coolness and being cool is a top priority, the religious replace the word 'religious' with 'spiritual' to make their faiths seem less extreme. -- Criss Jami
As time moves on the line will blur. It will no longer seem to be the simplicity of good versus evil, but good versus fools who think they are good. -- Criss Jami
Walk and love
We're walking in love
For the walk of love -- Criss Jami
In the fashion industry, everything goes retro except the prices. -- Criss Jami
The first reaction is surely the most natural one, but not always the most correct one; thereupon, the invention of apologies. -- Criss Jami
All knowledge meets an end at the question ' ... Why? -- Criss Jami
Law without reason is criminal. -- Criss Jami
A wise man's goal shouldn't be to say something profound, but to say something useful. -- Criss Jami
I cannot encourage any fabrication even for the sake of making people feel good. If I were to fabricate consciously and knowingly, I would not only be ordaining myself their enemy, but also ordaining myself God's enemy. -- Criss Jami
An artistic perspective will jab at you from a different angle; its logic comes like a pitcher with a curveball. -- Criss Jami
Great minds think alike because a greater Mind is thinking through them. -- Criss Jami
Thunderstorms are as much our friends as the sunshine. -- Criss Jami
One who enjoys finding errors will then start creating errors to find. -- Criss Jami
Man was designed in a way in which he must eat in order to give him a solid reason to go to work everyday. This helps to keep him out of trouble. God is wise. -- Criss Jami
Those who speak of progression but are afraid of change are self-repressed and therefore unable to reach any further than their eyes can already see. -- Criss Jami
God tests, but he does not tempt. -- Criss Jami
Rebuke without love is abuse. But, a love that would never rebuke? I dare to admit that that, too, would be a kind of abuse. -- Criss Jami
Confidence turns into pride only when you are in denial of your mistakes. -- Criss Jami
Everyone has their own ways of expression. I believe we all have a lot to say, but finding ways to say it is more than half the battle. -- Criss Jami
A number of our scientists boast intelligence but lack wisdom. I find those to be the predictable ones. -- Criss Jami
Feel what it's like to truly starve, and I guarantee that you'll forever think twice before wasting food. -- Criss Jami
No man voluntarily expresses his opinion without some intent to make a difference, and even if he does, he shouldn't. -- Criss Jami
It is not enough to call yourself a 'free thinker' just because you can change your beliefs. A whole mess of people change their beliefs based on what is fashionable rather than what is factual, which, by always following the crowd, would be the complete opposite of the beauty of a free thinker. -- Criss Jami
Seeing the glass as half empty is more positive than seeing it as half full. Through such a lens the only choice is to pour more. That is righteous pessimism. -- Criss Jami
I'm never proud of my old work. I always feel as though my skills have since improved. -- Criss Jami
Don't change your mind just because people are offended; change your mind if you're wrong. -- Criss Jami
When focusing only on one's credentials one boasts his own incompetence in his capacity for discernment of the individual. -- Criss Jami
You get hit the hardest when trying to run or hide from a problem. Like the defense on a football field, putting all focus on evading only one defender is asking to be blindsided. -- Criss Jami
Let's not grow with our roots in the ground. -- Criss Jami
Where neither go wrong, the naive only see the world as a victim of bad doctrine; the cynic only sees good doctrine as a victim of the world. -- Criss Jami
From time to time
I once wondered how one wanders from time to time
And think up the paradox line
Speak of Epoch's crime
Oh I lied, it hasn't happened yet
But bet you better believe it's such a habit that
I just said that in a past mindset -- Criss Jami
Vivid simplicity is the articulation, the nature of genius. Wisdom is greater than intelligence; intelligence is greater than philosobabble. -- Criss Jami
Christians walk as strangers in the world: They are untamed. They are free. To persevere with love, yet untamed by man, is often what leaves that open space for divine revelation when God so wills. -- Criss Jami
If one should criticize one should always have a meaningful explanation to accompany. -- Criss Jami
The worst evil is that most subtle evil. It is the evil that is merely 'base' which is more evil than evil itself. For it is the one closest to righteousness, the one indistinguishable and doused in virtue. -- Criss Jami
The common man prays, 'I want a cookie right now!' And God responds, 'If you'd listen to what I say, tomorrow it will bring you 100 cookies. -- Criss Jami
When you mature in your relationship with God you realize how suffering and patience are like eating your spiritual vegetables. -- Criss Jami
You have to lift a person up before you can really put them in their place. -- Criss Jami
One does not have to be a philosopher to be a successful artist, but he does have to be an artist to be a successful philosopher. His nature is to view the world in an unpredictable albeit useful light. -- Criss Jami
I have a thing for things that last. -- Criss Jami
I appreciate a book intended to be judged by its cover. The insincere readers are often weeded out while the sincere readers remain curious. -- Criss Jami
Learning isn't acquiring knowledge so much as it is trimming information that has already been acquired. -- Criss Jami
Gloating is a superficial glowing, floating is an idle flowing, and bloatedness is the paralysis of blowing up; because silent movement results in loud victories. -- Criss Jami
God's judgment is not like man's judgment. It is not a suspension of His Love but an extension of His Love. His justice is always righteous, so His judgment is always Love. -- Criss Jami
To fear man's judgment more than God's judgment is to fear man more than God. -- Criss Jami
When you find that a theology has nothing more to offer than what the world already offers, then that theology as a theology is impractical, and therefore, useless. -- Criss Jami
April Fools' is the only day to take people seriously. -- Criss Jami
The love of conflict is most evident when opposing forces join sides to defeat the peacemaker. -- Criss Jami
Genius - the pursuit of madness. -- Criss Jami
If you want to find the real competition, just look in the mirror. After awhile you'll see your rivals scrambling for second place. -- Criss Jami
Oftentimes winning can become an addiction, whether good or bad, to the point where you would rather lose it all before you lose at all. -- Criss Jami
You think you're losing your mind, but do keep in mind, as long as you may, that the ability to go on thinking such a thing means it's not all gone. -- Criss Jami
Competition works best in sports, but humans get addicted to stuff. -- Criss Jami
Seemingly minor yet persistent things penetrate the mind over time making it difficult to ever realize the impact; hence, though quite unfortunate, the most dangerous forms of corruption are those that are subtle and below the radar. -- Criss Jami
With no positivity, there is no hope; with no negativity, there is no improvement. -- Criss Jami
Never take advice about never taking advice. That is an old vice of men - to dish it out without being able to take it - the blind leading the blind into more blindness. -- Criss Jami
When there's music in your soul, there's soul in your music. -- Criss Jami
Wisdom without Christ brings bitterness; with Christ it brings compassion. -- Criss Jami
If you don't like the solution, change the problem. -- Criss Jami
For the believer, humility is honesty about one's greatest flaws to a degree in which he is fearless about truly appearing less righteous than another. -- Criss Jami
The hard part about one being tough yet meek is the illusion of being a punching bag. -- Criss Jami
Their doubt is your fuel for dreams. You just have to drive. -- Criss Jami
I am not here to merely argue about the perplexities regarding theism or philosophy, but to be a light to the world and to reach out to those who long to be a part of that light. -- Criss Jami
Like crying wolf, if you keep looking for sympathy as a justification for your actions, you will someday be left standing alone when you really need help. -- Criss Jami
In a general sense, I admit to valuing the worldviews of men under the age of 40 and women over the age of 30. -- Criss Jami
A true prophet would rather be believed false by many but actually true than believed true by many but actually false. -- Criss Jami
It is never just disagreement but always intellectual dishonesty that is the apologist's worst enemy. And its apprentice is ignorance. -- Criss Jami
Oftentimes in reality, the genius is in the position of the antihero. Neither the good guys nor the bad guys really trust him because his truth is universal. -- Criss Jami
Cleverness isn't always true nor is the truth always clever. -- Criss Jami
Credentials are like potential energy, the compliments of a name on paper, in documents, word of mouth, but faith is like kinetic energy, the motion and the force that which is witnessed. Hence in the end it is the faith rather than the credentials that really takes you places. -- Criss Jami
Confirmation bias is the most effective way to go on living a lie. -- Criss Jami
A solid answer to everything is not necessary. Blurry concepts influence one to focus, but postulated clarity influences arrogance. -- Criss Jami
Tolerance never exists without negative judgment. It is the sentiment of having a negative opinion about something yet still putting up with it. -- Criss Jami
Fresh, solid ideas feel like gifts to writers, therefore every morning is Christmas. -- Criss Jami
When a man has a gift in speaking the truth, brute aggression is no longer his security blanket for approval. He, on the contrary, spends most of his energy trying to tone it down because his very nature is already offensive enough. -- Criss Jami
Generally, there is a lot of truth value in stepping back, observing, then logically generalizing the extremes of what you see. -- Criss Jami
The most pleasant weather of all is that most difficult to even notice. -- Criss Jami
I imagine that the intelligent people are the ones so intelligent that they don't even need or want to look 'intelligent' anymore. -- Criss Jami
A poet should be so crafty with words that he is envied even for his pains. -- Criss Jami
Companionship is a foreign concept to some people. They fear it as much as the majority of people fear loneliness. -- Criss Jami
Lead's erasing then vanishing
Banished from whatever it is they're drinking and it's cleaned
Running from the pitcher as if it's her fantasy -- Criss Jami
To seek greatness is the only righteous vengeance. -- Criss Jami
All individuals have moral deficiencies, and when introducing these to reality one not only strengthens himself but also the confidence of others in the human exigency for Christ due to a reflection throughout the body of Christ. -- Criss Jami
Treat people like people. Beware of pity and patronization because in them, you can't see when you're unashamedly looking down on someone. -- Criss Jami
Self-awareness - the commendable ability to be yourself without being a nuisance to someone else. -- Criss Jami
Trustful people are the pure at heart, as they are moved by the zeal of their own trustworthiness. -- Criss Jami
A pure heart does not demean the spirit of an individual, it, instead, compels the individual to examine his spirit. -- Criss Jami
Christ commands his people to love their enemies, because if not, that would rule out pretty much the entire world. -- Criss Jami
With too much pride a man cannot learn a thing. In and of itself, learning teaches you how foolish you are. -- Criss Jami
Every new generation believes its own period to be absolutely superior intellectually - greater than all past cultures yet equal among its modern cultures. -- Criss Jami
I think that I am too warm to negatively judge individuals, yet I am cold enough to negatively judge humanity. -- Criss Jami
Everything at some point has been declared the root of all evil. -- Criss Jami
Do not tell someone you are hungry if, whenever they feed you, you do not eat. -- Criss Jami
To swear day and night by media slander will make one a bigger victim than the slandered. It doesn't take much to begin to fear a mere illusion of human badness. -- Criss Jami
At first, they'll only dislike what you say, but the more correct you start sounding the more they'll dislike you. -- Criss Jami
Wise men are not pacifists; they are merely less likely to jump up and retaliate against their antagonizers. They know that needless antagonizers are virtually already insecure enough. -- Criss Jami
I think a lot of psychopaths are just geniuses who drove so fast that they lost control. -- Criss Jami
To spend your time wanting things is to smother your time for achieving things beyond your expectations. -- Criss Jami
It is not so much freedom of speech but the right to truth that great men protect. -- Criss Jami
A rebel adult often seems like a glorious savior, whereas a rebel child often seems like a little devil. -- Criss Jami
There is not one harsher, more sure-fire way to fail than that of the man who tries to be like Jesus without submitting to Jesus. -- Criss Jami
The complete recipe for imagination is absolute boredom. -- Criss Jami
These days when Christians bicker they exaggerate passion into a legalistic belief and prosperity into a lukewarm belief. -- Criss Jami
The ones who constantly make us laugh are the hardest of friends to know - for comedians are the caricatures among us. -- Criss Jami
Everyone has a sense of humor. If you don't laugh at jokes, you probably laugh at opinions -- Criss Jami
The height of cleverness is in one's ability to be very clever without seeming clever at all. -- Criss Jami
The evangelist is the world's hopeless romantic, and just like a hopeless romantic, he must hope for the miracle of God more than the romance itself. -- Criss Jami
Sanity for anyone is pretty much out of the question, as both the saint and the sinner appear only equally insane: the saint appears it for actually believing in a place of eternal torment; the sinner, for deciding to risk going to that place of eternal torment. -- Criss Jami
Sometimes a people lose their right to remain silent when pressured to remain silent. -- Criss Jami
The most fragile, unhappy people destine themselves to live lives of constantly reminding themselves to be happy. -- Criss Jami
The last thing Scripture should do is make you blind in the world. Instead, you hear everything, see everything, and feel everything because everything just so happens to point right back to it. -- Criss Jami
God speaks of his children shining best in ways that only he can provide. The heavens lift one as a golden child while the flesh lowers one to a child with gold. -- Criss Jami
Some concepts are so incredibly risky they take an honest fool to try to articulate them. -- Criss Jami
The unteachable man is sentenced to being taught only by experience. The tragedy is he reaches nothing further than his own pain. -- Criss Jami
A fear of weakness only strengthens weakness. -- Criss Jami
The harder you fall, the heavier your heart; the heavier your heart, the stronger you climb; the stronger you climb, the higher your pedestal. -- Criss Jami
If ever you feel like an animal among men, be a lion. -- Criss Jami
Great philosophers become immortal - they make undeniable impacts on culture. -- Criss Jami
We men are fascinated by the things we don't really understand. It gives us something to think and talk about: like females, they drive us nuts. -- Criss Jami
When comprehending how different people truly are, you also comprehend the absolute necessity of some divine authority. -- Criss Jami
True rebels hate their own rebellion. They know by experience that it is not a cool and glamorous lifestyle; it takes a courageous fool to say things that have not been said and to do things that have not been done. -- Criss Jami
To believe in the truth of Christ is to be introduced to another form of hatred, and that is not sharing Him. -- Criss Jami
If ever it's necessary to ride the bandwagon, it's done with one leg swinging out and eyes scoping the fields. -- Criss Jami
Anger's like a battery that leaks acid right out of me And it starts from the heart til it reaches my outer me -- Criss Jami
Let what offends God offend me, and what God pardons, I pardon. -- Criss Jami
As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning. -- Criss Jami
Even when the truth is in fact simple, simplicity is still relative. -- Criss Jami
What is a genius? A person who demands little to nothing from others, but is often found extremely difficult to have around. -- Criss Jami
God writes love and speaks poetry. -- Criss Jami
When enemies, the intellect and the heart only see one another as the hater and the fool. -- Criss Jami
Man has 2 common problems with God: the one is that there is evil in the world; the other is that free will is limited. The one, he is charging that the world is too evil; the other is that it is not evil enough. -- Criss Jami
When you aren't satisfied with what has already been done, make something better. That is the greatest responsibility and the true freedom of creativity. The freedom is in that it doesn't need to complain. -- Criss Jami
I'm starting to think that my level of intrigue outweighs my fear of controversy. -- Criss Jami
Music is not my life. My life is music. -- Criss Jami
Sometimes it takes a lowly, title-less man to humble the world. Kings, rulers, CEOs, judges, doctors, pastors, they are already expected to be greater and wiser. -- Criss Jami
Store up knowledge. Then question your own knowledge in order to expand your mind, both to build and to create more space. Then store up more knowledge. And so on. That is wisdom. -- Criss Jami
Genius, throughout history, has been found difficult to classify because it varies in amount: It's rare to find a genius in the context of the noun, but most people, if not all, have a bit of genius in them in the context of the adjective. -- Criss Jami
All the good stuff has already been said by someone somewhere at some point in time. You just have to find it. Today, communication pretty much comes down to understanding - saying what you have to say clearly and effectively ... and then living it. -- Criss Jami
Many of us fight for and boast our freedom of what is ultimately the ability to prove ourselves to other people. It is unfortunate that only a few of us are so free in our joy, we no longer feel the need to prove ourselves to anyone. -- Criss Jami
A thief is one who insists on sharing his victimhood. -- Criss Jami
Children are the most reasonable about discipline. When they tell you not to do something, it's always because they know why. -- Criss Jami
When your only regret is if anyone thinks you regret anything - that is the definition of conviction. -- Criss Jami
The writer's curse is that even in solitude, no matter its duration, he never grows lonely or bored. -- Criss Jami
The more we love God, the more unpleasant sin becomes. -- Criss Jami
An insincere critic of a sincere person never wins. -- Criss Jami
The only thing more frustrating than slanderers is those foolish enough to listen to them. -- Criss Jami
Whenever I think of something but can't think of what it was I was thinking of, I can't stop thinking until I think I'm thinking of it again. I think I think too much. -- Criss Jami
Friends ask you questions; enemies question you. -- Criss Jami
Still, one can be honest yet quite mistaken. -- Criss Jami
Great artists are a little too gifted to be bound by boxes and labels, and in saying that, the label 'artist' is to be used lightly. -- Criss Jami
Those 'back burner' thoughts, the ones the brain isn't quite sure about yet, may cook the slowest yet they often manage to be the tastiest when they come out. -- Criss Jami
I would rather be an artist than a leader. Ironically, a leader has to follow the rules. -- Criss Jami
In the land where excellence is commended, not envied, where weakness is aided, not mocked, there is no question as to how its inhabitants are all superhuman. -- Criss Jami
Growing up I often wondered how the world would be today if, since the beginning of human life, every person acted as I did. -- Criss Jami
If the entire world sought to make itself worthy of happiness rather than make itself happy, then the entire world would be happy. -- Criss Jami
Create with the heart; build with the mind. -- Criss Jami
Fashion is simply a guideline for style-less people to appear stylish. -- Criss Jami
We first become salesmen as children in the confession booths of our parents. -- Criss Jami
Of course, in our train of thought, we would all like to think we're on the right track, or at least the same railroad company as the right track. -- Criss Jami
When you're truly awesome, you know that it's actually a burden and wish day after day to be relieved of such a curse. Think of about 95% of the superheroes. -- Criss Jami
Like most arts, the link between the mind and the pen can chain you like an enslaved workaholic. Even on an intended vacation you suddenly have this killer urge to record whatever the vacation may teach. -- Criss Jami
What may intimidate a man is a woman who thinks with her mind before she feels with her heart. Nevertheless what determines the strength in the man is his ability to accept one when he sees one. -- Criss Jami
The weather is nature's disruptor of human plans and busybodies. Of all the things on earth, nature's disruption is what we know we can depend on, as it is essentially uncontrolled by men. -- Criss Jami
A man does not have to feel less than human to realize his sin; oppositely, he has to realize that he gets no special vindication for his sin. -- Criss Jami
You are evidence of your mother's strength, especially if you are a rebellious knucklehead and regardless she has always maintained her sanity. -- Criss Jami
Find a purpose to serve, not a lifestyle to live. -- Criss Jami
Whatever thing a man gets quickly enraged about is his idol, and whatever thing he makes his idol becomes his religion. -- Criss Jami
I never feel unsafe except for when the majority is on my side. -- Criss Jami
When everyone believes they are the life coaches, who are the players? -- Criss Jami
It is a noble responsibility to not back down when you know that you know that you know that you are right. -- Criss Jami
If you're waiting until you feel talented enough to make it, you'll never make it. -- Criss Jami
The apologist is most entrusted with apologetics when capable of arguing his opponent's position better than his opponent. -- Criss Jami
Unlike wealth, there is an infinite value in legacy. -- Criss Jami
What further helps to reveal reality is when our personal thinking ceases to take reality for granted. -- Criss Jami
With a philosophy education, one can infuriate his peers, intimidate his date, think of obscure, unreliable ways to make money, and never regret a thing. -- Criss Jami
Maturity is when you're able to say, 'It's not just them. It's me.' -- Criss Jami
Absurdity is the ecstasy of intellectualism. -- Criss Jami