Rick Warren is an influential American pastor, author, and global strategist, born on January 28, 1954. He is best known as the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in California, one of the largest churches in the United States. Warren gained widespread recognition for his bestselling book “The Purpose Driven Life,” published in 2002, which focuses on finding purpose from a Christian perspective. Beyond his pastoral work, he is involved in humanitarian efforts, advocating for global health, poverty alleviation, and education. In 2005, Warren hosted a forum where he interviewed U.S. presidential candidates on social issues. His influence extends beyond the religious community, and he is acknowledged for his significant contributions to both religious and social spheres.
Rick Warren Quotes
1. “Remember how far you’ve come, not just how far you have to go. You are not where you want to be, but neither are you where you used to be.”
— Rick Warren
2. “We are created for community, fashioned for fellowship, and formed for a family, and none of us can fulfill God’s purposes by ourselves.”
— Rick Warren
3. “There is no growth without change, no change without fear or loss and no loss without pain.”
— Rick Warren
4. “You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.”
— Rick Warren
5. “A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right and evil doesn’t become good, just because it’s accepted by a majority.”
— Rick Warren
6. “God changes caterpillars into butterflies, sand into pearls and coal into diamonds using time and pressure. He’s working on you, too.”
— Rick Warren
7. “Humility is not denying your strengths, humility is being honest about your weaknesses.”
— Rick Warren
8. “People are interested by talent. God is impressed by character.”
— Rick Warren
9. “Passion drives perfection.”
— Rick Warren
10. “While it is wise to learn from experience, it is wiser to learn from the experiences of others.”
— Rick Warren
11. “The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.”
— Rick Warren
12. “Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.”
— Rick Warren
13. “Life is a series of problem-solving opportunities. The problems you face will either defeat you or develop you depending on how you respond to them.”
— Rick Warren
14. “The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel determines the way you act.”
— Rick Warren
15. “The deepest level of worship is praising God inspite of pain, trusting Him during a trial, surrendering while suffering, and loving Him when He seems distant.”
— Rick Warren
16. “God’s LOVE is Like an Ocean; You can See its Beginning, but not its end.”
— Rick Warren
17. “A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a great church.”
— Rick Warren
18. “It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.”
— Rick Warren
19. “Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope.”
— Rick Warren
20. “The more you pray, the less you’ll panic. The more you worship, the less you worry. You’ll feel more patient and less pressured.”
— Rick Warren
21. “The only way you can serve God is by serving other people.”
— Rick Warren
22. “You never know God is all you need until God is all you have.”
— Rick Warren
23. “When you use your life for God’s glory, everything you do can become an act of worship.”
— Rick Warren
24. “Faithful servants never retire. You can retire from your career, but you will never retire from serving God.”
— Rick Warren
25. “If you give it to God, He transforms your test into a testimony, your mess into a message, and your misery into a ministry.”
— Rick Warren
26. “Living for God’s glory is the greatest achievement we can accomplish with our lives.”
— Rick Warren
27. “Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is thinking more of others.”
— Rick Warren
28. “All leaders are learners. The moment you stop learning, you stop leading. I learn as much as I can, from as many as I can, as often as I can.”
— Rick Warren
29. “While you’re waiting, God’s working.”
— Rick Warren
30. “We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.”
— Rick Warren
31. “God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.”
— Rick Warren
32. “Christianity is not a religion or a philosophy, but a relationship and a lifestyle. The core of that lifestyle is thinking of others, as Jesus did, instead of ourselves.”
— Rick Warren
33. “Without the grace of Jesus: a hopeless end. With the grace of Jesus: an endless hope.”
— Rick Warren
34. “When God is at the center of your life, you Worship, when He’s not, you Worry.”
— Rick Warren
35. “The greatest gift you can give someone is your time.”
— Rick Warren
36. “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.”
— Rick Warren
37. “Your commitments can develop you or destroy you, but either way, they will define you.”
— Rick Warren
38. “God’s ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development. He wants you to grow up spiritually and become like Christ.”
— Rick Warren
39. “Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life.”
— Rick Warren
40. “The smile of God is the goal of your life.”
— Rick Warren
41. “Irrelevance happens when the speed of change outside an organization is greater than speed of change inside an organization.”
— Rick Warren
42. “Don’t waste your pain; use it to help others.”
— Rick Warren
43. “Time is your most precious gift, because you only have a set amount of it.”
— Rick Warren
44. “The ultimate test of faith is not how loudly you praise God in happy times but how deeply you trust him in dark times.”
— Rick Warren
45. “Satan tries to limit your praying because he knows your praying will limit him.”
— Rick Warren
46. “Whenever you serve others in any way, you are actually serving God.”
— Rick Warren
47. “God specializes in giving people a fresh start.”
— Rick Warren
48. “Christlikeness is your eventual destination, but your journey will last a lifetime.”
— Rick Warren
49. “Living in light of eternity changes your priorities.”
— Rick Warren
50. “God’s mercy to us is the motivation for showing mercy to others. Remember, you will never be asked to forgive someone else more than God has forgiven you.”
— Rick Warren
51. “Life minus love equals zero.”
— Rick Warren
52. “Trusting God completely means having faith that He knows what is best for your life. You expect Him to keep His promises, help you with problems, and do the impossible when necessary.”
— Rick Warren
53. “To accomplish anything you must first have a mission, a goal, a hope, a vision.”
— Rick Warren
54. “When pressure builds up, don’t panic. Pray! Prayer is a tremendous stress reliever. It can be your safety valve.”
— Rick Warren
55. “Never confuse activity with productivity.”
— Rick Warren
56. “Great leaders genuinely care for and love the people they lead more than they love leading itself.”
— Rick Warren
57. “The secret of endurance is to remember that your pain is temporary but your reward will be eternal.”
— Rick Warren
58. “If you’re alive, there’s a purpose for your life.”
— Rick Warren
59. “The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.”
— Rick Warren
60. “Behind every successful child is an adult who believed in him.”
— Rick Warren
61. “God has a purpose behind every problem. He uses circumstances to develop our character. In fact, he depends more on circumstances to make us like Jesus than he depends on our reading the Bible.”
— Rick Warren
62. “You can only make a difference by being different.”
— Rick Warren
63. “For God to mend your broken heart you must give him ALL the pieces. You can’t hold any back.”
— Rick Warren
64. “Great opportunities may come once in a lifetime, but small opportunities surround us every day.”
— Rick Warren
65. “The greatest things in life are not things.”
— Rick Warren
66. “Be grateful for who you are and whatever you have. Everything you have is a gift from God.”
— Rick Warren
67. “You discover your identity and purpose through a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
— Rick Warren
68. “Fellowship is a place of grace, where mistakes aren’t rubbed in but rubbed out. Fellowship happens when mercy wins over justice.”
— Rick Warren
69. “God is love. He didn’t need us. But he wanted us.”
— Rick Warren
70. “It’s not what you do, but how much love you put into it that matters.”
— Rick Warren
71. “You are as close to God as you choose to be.”
— Rick Warren
72. “God sometimes removes a person from your life for your protection. Don’t run after them.”
— Rick Warren
73. “The most desired gift of love is not diamonds or roses or chocolate. It’s focused attention.”
— Rick Warren
74. “Pride builds walls between people, humility builds bridges.”
— Rick Warren
75. “Measured against eternity, our time on earth is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever.”
— Rick Warren
76. “Worry is a waste of energy. It cant change the past. It cant control the future. It only makes today miserable.”
— Rick Warren
77. “Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason.”
— Rick Warren
78. “If God was small enough for you to completely understand him, he wouldn’t be big enough for you to completely trust him.”
— Rick Warren
79. “If you want to find your purpose in life, find your wound.”
— Rick Warren
80. “God’s purpose is greater than our problems, our pain and even our sin.”
— Rick Warren
81. “People may refuse our love or reject our message, but they are defenseless against our prayers.”
— Rick Warren
82. “Fear is a self imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be. You must move against it with the weapons of faith and love.”
— Rick Warren
83. “When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”
— Rick Warren
84. “Every church needs to grow warmer through fellowship, deeper through discipleship, stronger through through worship, and larger through evangelism.”
— Rick Warren
85. “We often miss hearing God’s voice simply because we aren’t paying attention.”
— Rick Warren
86. “Those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it.”
— Rick Warren
87. “God wants to use you to make a difference in His world. He wants to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how you lived.”
— Rick Warren
88. “Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own benefit but for the benefit of others, just as other people were given gifts for your benefit.”
— Rick Warren
89. “When God wants to make a mushroom, he does it overnight, but when He wants to make a giant oak, He takes a hundred years. Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering. Be patient with the process.”
— Rick Warren
90. “Familiarity breeds complacency.”
— Rick Warren
91. “We are healed to help others. We are blessed to be a blessing. We are saved to serve, not to sit around and wait for heaven.”
— Rick Warren
92. “The most essential quality for leadership is not perfection but credibility. People must be able to trust you.”
— Rick Warren
93. “If you are facing trouble right now, don’t ask, “Why me?” Instead ask, “What do you want me to learn?” Then trust God and keep on doing what’s right.”
— Rick Warren
94. “Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days – when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when your out of options, when the pain is great – and you turn to God alone.”
— Rick Warren
95. “First open your heart, then open your Bible.”
— Rick Warren
96. “A godly man is never threatened by the gifts of a godly woman.”
— Rick Warren
97. “People ask me, “Are you right wing or are you left wing?” and I always say, “I’m for the whole bird.” A one-winged bird didn’t ever get off the ground.”
— Rick Warren
98. “Little people belittle people. Great people make people feel great.”
— Rick Warren
99. “A disciple is one who thinks, feels and acts like Jesus Christ. It is being conformed to the image of Christ as Romans 8:28-29 states-that God’s No.1 purpose in our lives is to make us like Jesus.”
— Rick Warren
100. “What gives me the most hope every day is God’s grace; knowing that his grace is going to give me the strength for whatever I face, knowing that nothing is a surprise to God.”
— Rick Warren
101. “Love leaves legacy. How you treated other people, not your wealth or accomplishments, is the most enduring impact you can leave on earth.”
— Rick Warren
102. “When Jesus started His ministry, the very first thing He did was form a small group.”
— Rick Warren
103. “We become whatever we are committed to.”
— Rick Warren
104. “God is never in a hurry, but he is always on time.”
— Rick Warren
105. “Ever feel like God is a million miles away? The truth is, he’s not. Whatever struggle you’re going through, you can rest assured you’re not alone. You have God in your corner.”
— Rick Warren
106. “Faith is facing reality without being discouraged by it.”
— Rick Warren
107. “Never let an impossible situation intimidate you. Let it motivate you – to pray more, trust more, expect more.”
— Rick Warren
108. “God’s Word is your owner’s manual for life. It contains principles for health, finance, marriage, other relationships, business, and much more.”
— Rick Warren
109. “Integrity is built by defeating the temptation to be dishonest; humility grows when we refuse to be prideful; and endurance develops every time you reject the temptation to give up.”
— Rick Warren
110. “If you talked to others the way you talk to yourself, would you have any friends?”
— Rick Warren
111. “In pain, I’d rather walk with Jesus with all of my questions, than walk by myself with all the answers.”
— Rick Warren
112. “When you feel nothing, God is teaching you to live by faith.”
— Rick Warren
113. “Martin Luther said, “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” You can’t keep the Devil from suggesting thoughts, but you can choose not to dwell or act on them.”
— Rick Warren
114. “Not everything in this life has a happy ending, but this life is not the end of the story.”
— Rick Warren
115. “Transformation is a process, and as life happens there are tons of ups and downs. It’s a journey of discovery – there are moments on mountaintops and moments in deep valleys of despair.”
— Rick Warren
116. “Remember that your character is the sum total of your habits.”
— Rick Warren
117. “Life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not using him for your own purpose.”
— Rick Warren
118. “Jesus measured greatness in terms of service not status. God determines your greatness by how many people you serve, not how many people serve you.”
— Rick Warren
119. “I want to change my circumstances. God wants to change me.”
— Rick Warren
120. “Your abilities are the map to God’s will for your life. It points the direction. When you know what you’re good at, then you can know what God wants you to do with your life.”
— Rick Warren
121. “Those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it. I don’t know all the keys to success, but one key to failure is to try to please everyone.”
— Rick Warren
122. “The greatest gift God gave us is also our greatest curse, which is the free will. We are made in God’s image, the Bible says, which means we have the ability to love him or not love him, to reject him or not reject him.”
— Rick Warren
123. “Patience is a form of faith. It says, “I trust God. I believe that God is bigger than this problem.””
— Rick Warren
124. “What is your assurance of salvation? The promise of God’s Word. If God says it, that settles it, because God cannot lie. You can trust the promise of God’s Word.”
— Rick Warren
125. “A church must grow larger and smaller at the same time. Larger through worship and smaller through small groups.”
— Rick Warren
126. “Your net worth is not the same thing as your self-worth. Your value is not based on your valuables.”
— Rick Warren
127. “The greatest detriment to tomorrow’s success, is today’s success.”
— Rick Warren
128. “If you aren’t making any mistakes, you aren’t innovating. If you’re making the same mistakes, you aren’t learning.”
— Rick Warren
129. “Worry is focused thinking on something negative. Meditation is doing the same thing only focusing on God’s word instead of your problem.”
— Rick Warren
130. “To fulfill your mission will require that you abandon your agenda and accept God’s agenda for your life.”
— Rick Warren
131. “I believe Jesus Christ came for everybody. I don’t think he came for Christians. The Bible says take this good news to the whole world.”
— Rick Warren
132. “The only way to always be relevant is to focus on what’s eternal. Everything in style will soon be out of style.”
— Rick Warren
133. “Great people are just ordinary people with an extraordinary amount of determination. They simply don’t know how to quit. They just keep on ‘keepin’ on’.”
— Rick Warren
134. “Maturity is when you live your life by your commitments, not by your feelings.”
— Rick Warren
135. “Leadership is neither showmanship nor dictatorship. Leadership is a stewardship and a partnership.”
— Rick Warren
136. “The only antidote to materialism is giving, because materialism’s all about getting. Every time I give, my heart grows bigger. Every time I give, I become more like Jesus.”
— Rick Warren
137. “Only changed people can change the world. Start with yourself.”
— Rick Warren
138. “Your spiritual family is even more important than our physical family because it will last forever.”
— Rick Warren
139. “Pain is the fuel of passion – it energizes us with an intensity to change that we don’t normally possess.”
— Rick Warren
140. “Love pays attention. Love listens to the fears and the doubts of others and treats them with respect. Love accepts others the way Jesus accepts you.”
— Rick Warren
141. “Salvation is not a religion. It’s not rules or regulations or rituals. Salvation is a relationship. That relationship doesn’t begin when you get to Heaven; it begins here on Earth.”
— Rick Warren
142. “The race to be a leader is crowded, but the field is wide open for those willing to be servants.”
— Rick Warren
143. “A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life.”
— Rick Warren
144. “The goal of ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ is to help people develop a heart for the world.”
— Rick Warren
145. “There is nothing you can do that will make God stop loving you. You could try, but you simply can’t do it – because his love for you is based upon his character and not on anything you do or say or feel.”
— Rick Warren
146. “God’s Word is not meant just to inform you, but to transform you.”
— Rick Warren
147. “We are not saved by good works; we are saved for good works. The Christian lifestyle is to be a lifestyle of goodness.”
— Rick Warren
148. “Maturity is produced through relationships and community.”
— Rick Warren
149. “Real security can only be found in that which can never be taken from you – your relationship with God.”
— Rick Warren
150. “While we wait for God to work for us, God is waiting to work through us.”
— Rick Warren
