Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace

(Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1997), 575

"God was in it—I felt sure, if God were in it, someday, in his own good time, in his own way, he would show me his purpose, making it clear as a white house upon a hill. And I believe he has done so." (336)

"The greatest happiness for a man is the conquest of himself." (523)

Introduction

Wallace: "My education, such as it was, is due to my father's library." (xxi)

Notes

Prayer before meal for the three wise men: "Father of all—God!—what we have here is of thee. Take our thanks and bless us, that we may continue to do thy will." (11)
Love: "the link between the soul and God" (18)
"The happiness of love is in action; its test is what one is wiling to do for others." (18)
"Religion is merely the law that binds man to his Creator: In purity is has but these elements—God, the soul, and their mutual recognition; out of which, when put in practice, spring worship, love, and reward." (22)
"To redeem the race, he must make himself once more manifest: ʜᴇ ᴍᴜꜱᴛ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ɪɴ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴ" (27)
"He whom we go to find was called 'King of the Jews'; by that name we are bidden to ask for him. But now that we have met and heard from each other, we may know him to be the Redeemer, not of the Jews alone, but of all the nations of the earth...And when we part to go our separate ways, the world will have learned a new lesson—that heaven may be won, not by the sword, not by human wisdom, but by faith, love, and good works." (28-29)
The Shepherds of the Nativity: "In a verse of the Shema, they found all the learning and all the law of their simple lives—that their Lord was one God and that they must love him with all their souls. And they loved him, and such was their wisdom, surpassing that of kings." (57)
"'Who am I, and what am I to be?' have need of ever so much care. Each word in answer may prove to the afterlife what each finger touch of the artist is to the clay he is modeling." (104)
"When the Roman looks down upon Israel and laughs, he merely repeats the folly of the Egyptian, the Assyrian, and the Macedonian; and as the laugh is against God, the result will be the same." (105)
Ben Hur's mother: "As for what you shall do, my boy—serve the Lord, the Lord God of Israel, not Rome." (111)
Ben Hur is arrested: "In that instant, he had put off childhood and become a man." (123)
Confirmation Bias: "Having adopted the doctrine, he like most men with a hobby, he was always looking for illustrations to support it." (141)
Ben Hur: "The noble Arrius forgets that the spirit hath much to do with endurance. By its help, the weak sometimes thrive when the strong perish." (146)
"A man's task is always light if his heart is light. A hope had come to him like a singing bird." (150)
"Thy heart is good, Esther, good as they mother's was; and I pray it have not the fate of most good hearts—to be trampled upon by the unmerciful and blind." (193)
Delight in your children: "The Lord hath been good to me in many ways; but thou, Ester, art the sovereign excellence of his favor." (194)
And seek poverty for your children: "I will learn somewhat of his nature. Of those born to riches, bethink you, Esther, how many there are in whose hands riches are but breeding curses." (195)
Religious diversity: "A certain felicity of accommodation in the matter of religion comes to us after much interaction with people of a different faith; gradually, we attain the truth that in every creed are good men entitled to our respect, but whom we cannot respect without courtesy to their creed." (201)
"Better a law without love than a love without law." (208)
"My first lesson in the synagogue was the Shema; my next was the saying of the son of Sirach: 'Honor thy father with thy whole soul, and forget not the sorrows of thy mother.'" (224, cf. Sir-07)
"...Plenty, the smiling daughter of Peace."( 229)
Leadership: "I have that faculty which is better than any one sense, better than a perfect body, better than courage and will, better than experience—The faculty of drawing men to my purpose and holding them faithfully to its achievement, by which, as against things to be done, I multiply myself into hundreds and thousands." (239)
"Got is good to me, very good, and I see a reason for the gift of my great riches...when the king comes, he will need money and men." (242)
"Father of all—God! What we have is of thee; take our thanks, and bless us, that we may continue to do thy will." (268)
"His Word is God. The hills may turn to dust, and the seas be drunk dry by south winds; but his Word shall stand, because it is the Truth." (276)
"A man is never so on trial as in the moment of excessive good fortune." (332)
"A man with 600 talents is indeed rich and may do what he pleases. But rarer than the money, more priceless than the property, is the mind that amassed the wealth and the heart it could not corrupt when amassed. O sSimonides—and thou fair Esther—fear not." (333)
"How may we without trial tell what a man is?" (336)
"God was in it—I felt sure, if God were in it, someday, in his own good time, in his own way, he would show me his purpose, making it clear as a white house upon a hill. And I believe he has done so." (336)
"When God walks the earth, his steps are often centuries apart." (337)
"Let thy increase of power and influence accrue to the King who comes. Who shall say it was not allowed thee for him?" (385)
"Conditions are pleasant or grievous to us according to our sensibilities...Wherefore repentance must be something more than mere remorse for sins; it comprehends a change of nature befitting heaven." (409)
"...their sorrows clothe them with sanctity." (411)
"She repeated her little games, retold her stories and invented new ones, and listened with ever so much pleasure to the songs she would have from Tirzah. While on her own, wasting lips, the psalms of the singing king of their race served to bring soothing forgetfulness and keep alive in them both the recollection of the God who would seem to have abandoned them—the world not more lightly or utterly." (415)
"Her mother-love, which if thou wilt observe well, hath this unlikeness to any other love: Tender to the object, it can be infinitely tyrannical to itself and thence all its power of self-sacrifice...Nobody has yet given us a measure for the patience of a love like theirs." (427-428)
Who is Christ? "You are going to meet a King of men, I a Savior of souls." (458, 462)
"It is more becoming to trust in God...This life has its problems and there are men who spend their days trying to solve them; but what are they to the problems of the hereafter? What is there like knowing God?" (460-461)
"I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord." (474, cf. Jn-01)
"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (478, cf. Jn-01)
"I saw him turn water into wine...Very strange, very strange. But it is not so strange to me as that he should prefer to live poor when he could be so rich." (493)
The miracle! "Woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." (507, cf. Mt-15)
"The greatest happiness for a man is the conquest of himself." (523)
Calvary: "Then, as if he divined their feelings or heard the exclamation, the Nazarene turned his wan face toward the party and looked at each one, so they carried the look and memory through life." (542)
"The intentions of God are always strange to us; but not more so than the means by which they are wrought out and at last made plain to us." (546)
"It is God's will—let us hold our peace and pray." (549)
The Crucifixion: "The heart, with all its love, was broken; for of that, O reader, the man died!" (555)
"The fortune was meant for the service of the Giver; not a part, Simonides, but all of it. The question with me has been how can I make it most useful to his cause?" (561, cf Catacomb of San Calixto)

Topic: Novel

Source

UA Library 2026-02-13-Fri

Created: 2026-02-13-Fri
Updated: 2026-04-28-Tue