Throughout The Rocking Chair Prophet, I used a literary device to introduce various ideas from a broad range of sources. Each of these quotes was preceded by the phrase “It is written…” I knew readers would be curious where these citations were drawn from and debated how best to make that information available. Below you will find these quotes, their authors, and where they can be found in The Rocking Chair Prophet. 

  

Chapter Nineteen: Ezra’s Dream

p.79

“It is written: ‘If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and end- less sea.’”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900 - 1944) — French Author and Aviator — Citadelle (The Wisdom of the Sands)

 

Chapter Nineteen: Ezra’s Dream

p.81

“It is written: ‘Your dreams are your dreams for a reason. Beware resistance. Beware the desire to delay something you know you should be doing right now.’”

Matthew Kelly (1973 - ) – Australian Author — The Dream Manager and Resisting Happiness

 

Chapter Twenty-One: Asking for Help

p.91

“It is written: ‘There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.’”

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) — German Theoretical Physicist

 

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Extraordinary Ordinary

p.100

“It is written: ‘We are one.’

Jesus of Nazareth — The Gospel of John /  Paul the Apostle — The Book of Romans

  

Chapter Twenty-Six: One Man’s Trash

p.117

It is written: “Live simply so that other people may simply live.”

Mother Teresa (1910-1997) — Founder of the Missionaries of Charity

 

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Brutal Truth

p.126

“It is written: ‘You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You do not even need to listen—simply wait, be quiet, still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked— it has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.’”

Franz Kafka (1883 – 1924) — Czech Novelist  — The Zurau Aphorisms

 

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Love

p.129

“It is written: ‘To love is to will the good of the other.’

Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274) — Italian Priest, Philosopher, and Theologian — Summa Theologica

 

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Love

p.132

“It is written: ‘All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.’

Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) — Dutch Philosopher — The Ethics

 

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Questions

p.139

“It is written: ‘Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.’

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926) — Austrian Poet — Letters to a Young Poet

 

Chapter Thirty-Two: Worshipping Efficiency

p.154

“It is written: ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his or her point of view.’”

Harper Lee (1926 – 2016) — American Novelist — To Kill a Mockingbird

 

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Noble Service

p.184

“It is written: ‘The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service to others.”

Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948) — Indian Social Activist

 

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Noble Service

p.185

“It is written: ‘Our need to give is much greater than other people’s need to receive. Their need to receive is obvious; our need to give is hidden. And as desperate as their need to receive appears, our need to give is even more desperate.’ ”

Matthew Kelly (1973 - ) – Australian Author — Life is Messy

 

Chapter Forty-Five: The Meaning of Life

p.212

“It is written: ‘By their fruits you shall know them.’

Jesus of Nazareth — The Gospel of Matthew

 

Chapter Forty-Six: The God Question

p.216

“It is written: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength,’”

Moses — Jewish Prophet — The Book of Deuteronomy

 

Chapter Forty-Eight: The Critic

p.228

“It is written: ‘A prophet is not welcome in his own town.’

Jesus of Nazareth — The Gospel of Luke

 

Chapter Forty-Eight: The Critic

p.229

“It is written: ‘Judge a tree by its fruit.’

Jesus of Nazareth — The Gospel of Matthew

 

Chapter Forty-Eight: The Critic

p.230

it is written: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—thieves, evildoers, adulterers, and tax collectors.’

Jesus of Nazareth — The Gospel of Luke

 

Chapter Fifty-Two: Parents and Children

p.245

“It is written: ‘Begin with the end in mind.’

Stephen Covey (1932 – 2012) — American Author — The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

 

Chapter Fifty-Three: Money and Things

p.248

“It is written: ‘The thing about money is that it makes you do things you don’t want to do.’

Gordon Gecko (1997) — Fictional Character from Wall Street

 

Chapter Fifty-Three: Money and Things

p.249

“It is written: ‘He who needs least has most.’

Diogenes (412 BC – 323 BC) — Greek Philosopher

 

Chapter Fifty-Four: Spirituality

p.252

“It is written: ‘The greatest threat to your happiness and wholeness is your unrecognized spiritual needs.’

Matthew Kelly (1973 - ) – Australian Author — I Heard God Laugh

 

Chapter Fifty-Four: Spirituality

p.252

“It is written: ‘We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.’

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881 – 1955) — French Jesuit Priest, Scientist, Theologian, and Philosopher.

 

Chapter Fifty-Four: Spirituality

p.253

“It is written: ‘Pray constantly.’

Paul the Apostle (5 – 65) — 1 Thessalonians

 

Chapter Fifty-Four: Spirituality

p.254

“It is written: ‘No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.’

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) — German Theoretical Physicist

 

Chapter Fifty-Five: Generosity

p.256

“It is written: ‘There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.’

Ernest Hemmingway (1899 – 1961) — American Novelist and Journalist

 

Chapter Fifty-Six: Work

p.260

“It is written: ‘Work will cure just about anything.’

Ernest Hemmingway (1899 – 1961) — American Novelist and Journalist — A Moveable Feast

 

Chapter Fifty-Six: Work

p.261

“It is written: ‘Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need.’

Frederick Buechner (1926 – 2022) — American Educator, Author, and Theologian

 

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Nature

p.267

“It is written: ‘Look deep, deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.’

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) — German Theoretical Physicist

 

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Nature

p.269

“It is written: ‘Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.’

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) — American Author and Philosopher — Nature

 

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Your Dreams Know The Way

p.285

“It is written: ‘When you cry, dry your eyes, because better days are sure to come. And when you dream, dream big, as big as the ocean blue.’

Ryan Shupe & The Rubber Band — Dream Big

 

Chapter Sixty-Three: Your Dreams Know The Way

p.286

“It is written: ‘Where there is no vision, the people will perish.’

Solomon (990 BC – 931 BC) — King of Israel — The Book of Proverbs

 

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Your Dreams Know The Way

p.298

“It is written: ‘We all make choices. That’s the easy part. The hard thing about choices is living with them. We all have regrets. We have all said and done things that we would do differently if we could go back in time. But we can’t. We may have made peace with those choices to some extent, but still, in the quiet hours they haunt us. Make choices that are easy to live with. Make choices you can look back on longingly, like you do upon the best of times with the best of friends. When you have a decision to make, consult your future self. Imagine yourself twenty years from now, looking back on this moment, and honor what your future self advises you to do.’”

Matthew Kelly (1973 - ) – Australian Author — Holy Moments

 

Chapter Sixty-Night: A Season For Everything

p.298

And as he lay down to rest that night, this is what he heard:

There is a time for everything
and a season for every activity under the sun.
There is a time to sow and a time to reap
a time to be born and a time to die
a time to plant and a time to uproot
a time to kill and a time to heal
a time to tear down and a time to build up
a time to weep and a time to laugh
a time to mourn and a time to dance
a time to scatter and a time to gather
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing a time to search and a time to give up
a time to keep and a time to give
a time to tear and a time to mend
a time to be silent and a time to speak
a time to love and a time to hate
a time for war and a time for peace.

Solomon (990 BC – 931 BC) — King of Israel — The Book of Ecclesiastes