Biblical Quotes

And he [Jacob] dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; 14 and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. 15 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

—Genesis 28:12-15

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

—Matthew 3:1-3

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

—Matthew 5:9

So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison.

—Matthew 5:23-25

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

—Matthew 5:43-45

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

—Luke 6:35

 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

—Romans 12:14-21

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

—Romans 5:10-11

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 

—2 Corinthians 5:18-20

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. 15 He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16 and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.17 So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18 for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.

—Ephesians 2:13-18

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. 21 And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him—.

—Colossians 1:19-22

One who forgives an affront fosters friendship, but one who dwells on disputes will alienate a friend.

—Proverbs 17:9

If you open your mouth against your friend, do not worry, for reconciliation is possible. But as for reviling, arrogance, disclosure of secrets, or a treacherous blow— in these cases any friend will take to flight.

—Sirach 22:22

For a wound may be bandaged, and there is reconciliation after abuse, but whoever has betrayed secrets is without hope.

—Sirach 27:21

Secular Quotes

We build too many walls and not enough bridges.

—Isaac Newton

Let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.

—Dr. Maya Angelou

Education is all a matter of building bridges.

—Ralph Ellison

Bridges become frames for looking at the world around us.

—Bruce Jackson

Knowledge of other people’s beliefs and ways of thinking must be used to build bridges, not to create conflicts.

—Kjell Magne Bondevik, Norwegian statesman

Bridges are metaphors for everything in life…. The bridge is not just about getting back and forth between north and south. The bridge is about connecting our communities.

—Jim West

For too long, information, opportunities, and resources have been constraints; they need to be the bridges.

—Sharad Vivek Sagar

I am opposed to the laying down of rules or conditions to be observed in the construction of bridges lest the progress of improvement tomorrow might be embarrassed or shackled by recording or registering as law the prejudices or errors of today.

—Isambard K. Brunel, British inventor

I demolish my bridges behind me…then there is no choice but forward.

—Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer

Sometimes you have to, as I say, build bridges where you can—but draw lines where you must.

—Fred Thompson, American politician

I believe in communication; books communicate ideas and make bridges between people.

—Jeanette Winterson, British novelist

Sport is a universal language, building more bridges between people than anything else I can think of.

—Sebastian Coe, British politician

Sport is a great equalizer that can build bridges, transcend borders and cultures, and render even the fiercest conflicts temporarily irrelevant.

—Richard Attias, Moroccan businessperson

I am convinced that music, like philanthropy, bridges hope.

—Ricky Martin, American musician

For better or worse, MTV sort of bridges the whole country together almost like the BBC does in England. It’s opened up everything so wide that it’s possible for everyone to have different ideas.

—Joey Ramone, American musician

I know that youngsters want to find something in common with each other and feel closer to each other ideologically through bridges such as the Internet.

—Shakira, musician

Silicon Valley builds its bridges on abundance. Abundant bits of information floating out there, writing great programs to process it, then giving people a lot of useful tools to use it.

—Robert Kyncl, American Businessperson

We have a long way to go before we are able to hear the voices of everyone on earth, but I believe that providing voices and building bridges is essential for the World Peace we all wish for.

—Joichi Ito, Japanese Businessman

This is the way of peace: overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.

—Peace Pilgrim

Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust and only secondarily on institutions such as courts of justice and police.

—Albert Einstein

True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict—alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence.

—Dorothy Thompson

The god of Victory is said to be one-handed, but Peace gives victory to both sides.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims.

—Harriet Woods

Another way to look at conflicts is to try to find a WIN-WIN solution, in which both sides can benefit. In this way, conflicts are turned into opportunities to grow and make things better.

—Robert Alan Silverstein

Cooperation means win-win, confrontation means lose-lose.

—Zhu Feng

People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable. Actually, all human problems, excepting morals, come into the gray areas. Things are not all black and white. There have to be compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.

—Dwight D. Eisenhower

Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.

—William James

For love of domination we must substitute equality; for love of victory we must substitute justice; for brutality we must substitute intelligence; for competition we must substitute cooperation. We must learn to think of the human race as one family.

—Bertrand Russell

The reality today is that we are all inter-dependent and have to co-exist on this small planet. Therefore, the only sensible and intelligent way of resolving differences and clashes of interests, whether between individuals or nations, is through dialogue.

—The Dalai Lama

Dialogue and many practical common projects are more important. We came here to build bridges, but it must be two-way bridges.

—Amr Khaled

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

—John F. Kennedy

During a negotiation, it would be wise not to take anything personally. If you leave personalities out of it, you will be able to see opportunities more objectively.

—Brian Koslow

He who has learned to disagree without being disagreeable has discovered the most valuable secret of a diplomat.

—Robert Estabrook

…We can work it out. Life is very short, and there’s no time for fussing and fighting, my friend.

—John Lennon & Paul McCartney

It takes both sides to build a bridge.

—Fredrik Nael

A bridge has no allegiance to either side.

—Les Coleman

To reconcile conflicting parties, we must have the ability to understand the suffering of both sides. If we take sides, reconciliation is impossible… People who are still available to both sides need only do one thing: go to one side and tell all about the suffering endured by the other side, and then go to the other side and tell all about the suffering endured by this side.

—Thich Nhat Hanh

With stones, you can build walls to separate people or build bridges to unite them! Do the second thing in the name of ethics and honour, for the glory of love and goodness!

—Mehmet Murat ildan

Fear builds walls instead of bridges. I want a life of bridges, not walls.

—Lisa Wingate, The Prayer Box

The fate of the bridges is to be lonely; because bridges are to cross not to stay!

—Mehmet Murat ildan

Vulnerability is the only bridge to build connection.

—Laura Bond

The wise man bridges the gap by laying out the path by means of which he can get from where he is to where he wants to go.

—John Pierpont Morgan

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

—Jim Rohn

Love builds bridges where there are none.

—R. H. Delaney

In true love the smallest distance is too great, and the greatest distance can be bridged.

—Hans Nouwens

No man is wise enough by himself.

—Plautus

None of us is as smart as all of us.

—Ken Blanchard

Light is the task where many share the toil.

—Homer

A team is more than a collection of people. It is a process of give and take.

—Barbara Glacel & Emile Robert Jr.

No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.

—Stephen Covey

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.

—Henry Ford

Individual commitment to a group effort that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

—Vince Lombardi

Teamplayer: One who unites others toward a shared destiny through sharing information and ideas, empowering others and developing trust.

—Dennis Kinlaw