The Speaker's Quote Book: Over 4,500 Illustrations and Quotations for All Occasions

976 Pages·2016·11.69 MB·English

by  Roy B. Zuck

Also by Roy B. tuck
Devotions for Kindred Spirits
Rightly Divided: Readings in Biblical Hermeneutics
Teaching with Spiritual Power
Vital Apologetic Issues
Vital Biblical Issues
Vital Christian Living Issues
Vital Contemporary Issues
Vital Christology Issues
Vital Ministry Issues
Vital New Testament Issues
Vital Old Testament Issues
Vital Prophetic Issues
Vital Theological Issues

ears ago on my first ministry trip overseas I visited several countries in
Africa. Preparing for the trip, I asked a friend how best to communicate with
people in that culture. He responded, "Africans love stories. So, in your stories
be a storyteller."
That sound advice applies to every culture. Everyone loves stories. Why?
Because anecdotes clarify truths making them sparkle with interest. As
homiletician Andrew Blackwood put it, a rightly chosen illustration can "make
facts shine." Each of Jesus' stories-and He told dozens of them-made His
teaching graphic and nabbed His listeners' interest.
Besides clarifying and illuminating ideas, illustrations are also effective in
applying biblical truths. They help hearers sense how concepts work out in life.
An apt anecdote often drives home an explanation or exhortation, prompting
listeners to respond.
An appropriate quotation adds authority to what you are communicating.
Citing the words of an authority figure underscores and further validates your
point.
Touches of humor,'anecdotes, relevant stories, fitting poems-all these help
make sermons, lessons, and speeches palatable, personal, and even pleasant and
enjoyable.
Where known, I - have included ' the names of authors and publishers. I am
grateful to the several publishers who have given permission to cite from their
works.
If you are like most speakers, you are a detective, constantly prowling for just
the right illustration to clarify, personify, or verify your messages. Hopefully
these anecdotes, jokes, and quotations that I've collected for over fifty years can
add to your trove of usable illustrations.
Roy B. ZUCK
The author gratefully acknowledges the following who have granted permission
for the reprinting of copyrighted material:
From Bits & Pieces, © 1996 The Economics Press, Inc., Fairfield, N.Y. Used
by permission of the publisher.
From Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations by Paul Lee Tan, © 1979 by
Usherance Publishers. Used by permission of Bible Communications, Inc.,
Dallas, Texas.
From Our Daily Bread, various editions. © RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids,
Michigan. Used by permission of the publisher.
From Rolling in the Aisles by Murray Watts. © 1987 by Kingsway
Publications. Used by permission of the author.
From The Vance Havner Quote Book by Dennis J. Hester. © 1989 by Baker
Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Used by permission of the
publishers.
A
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when
you lounge around doing nothing. It's when you've had everything to do, and
you've done it.
-Margaret Thatcher
Most of us can do more than we think we can but usually do less than we think
we have.
-Bits & Pieces
All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God, because
they reckoned on God's being with them.
-J. Hudson Taylor
If you want to be remembered after you're dead, write something worth reading,
or do something worth writing about.
-Benjamin Franklin
If you can imagine it, you can possess it. If you can dream it, you can become it.
If you can envision it, you can attain it. If you can picture it, you can achieve it.
-William Arthur Ward
ACCOUNTABILITY
"What is the greatest thought that has ever passed through your head?" someone
asked Daniel Webster. He answered, "My accountability to God."
ACHIEVEMENT
Whatever a man can conceive and believe, he can achieve.
-Napoleon Hill
You wouldn't have the desire for a thing if you couldn't achieve it.
-Earl Nightingale
Rostropovich, the celebrated cellist, was asked to comment on the excellence he
has achieved in his field. He said, "If I ever felt I had reached the zenith of
musical accomplishment, it would be my death, my musical death."
ACTION
ACTION
To look is one thing. To see what you look at is another. To understand what you
see is a third. To learn from what you understand is still something else. But to
act on what you learn is all that really matters.
-Bits & Pieces
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.
-Benjamin Disraeli
In Hong Kong, Lee Kai San was not allowed to taste the wedding cake of his
brother. So he jumped from a twelve-story building. But on the way down he
grabbed a pole and hung on. After firemen rescued him, Lee told them, "After I
jumped I realized I'd never taste the cake, so I changed my mind."
Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation and in cold weather
becomes frozen; so inaction saps the vigors of the mind.
-Leonardo da Vinci
The great end of life is not knowledge but action.
-Aldous Huxley
People can be divided into three groups: those who make things happen, those
who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.
-John W. Newbern
Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
See everything; overlook a lot; deal with a little.
-Pope John XXIII
ADOLESCENCE