Fasting Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old fasting quotes, fasting sayings, and fasting proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

We observe that in the scriptures, fasting almost always is linked with prayer. Without prayer, fasting is not complete fasting; it's simply going hungry. Joseph B. Wirthlin
A fast is not a hunger strike. Fasting submits to God's commands. A hunger strike makes God submit to our demands. Edwin Louis Cole
The philosophy of fasting calls upon us to know ourselves, to master ourselves, and to discipline ourselves the better to free ourselves. To fast is to identify our dependencies, and free ourselves from them. Tariq Ramadan
Instead of looking outside of ourselves and counting potential enemies, fasting summons us to turn our glance inward, and to take the measure of our greatest challenge: the self, the ego, in our own eyes and as others see us. Tariq Ramadan
The reason for fasting is to understand the relationship between what's you and what's the accumulative body. Jaggi Vasudev
We observe that in the scriptures, fasting almost always is linked with prayer. Without prayer, fasting is not complete fasting; it’s simply going hungry. Joseph B. Wirthlin
The goal of fasting is inner unity. Thomas Merton
Fasting breaks the spirit of heaviness. Jentezen Franklin
Fasting of the body is food for the soul. Saint John Chrysostom
Fasting is truly a secret source of power. Jentezen Franklin
Fasting is the first principle of medicine; fast and see the strength of the spirit reveal itself. Rumi
Fasting is like spring cleaning for your body. Jentezen Franklin
Fasting is a constant means of renewing yourself spiritually. Jentezen Franklin
Fasting is not just a physical discipline; it can be a spiritual feast. Jentezen Franklin
The discipline of fasting breaks you out of the world's routine. Jentezen Franklin
Fasting blinds the body in order to open the eyes of your soul. Rumi
Fasting is futile unless it is accompanied by an incessant longing for self-restraint. Mahatma Gandhi
Fasting and feasting are universal human responses, and any meal, shared with love, can be an agape. Elise M. Boulding
Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in Him a source of sustenance beyond food. Dallas Willard
Fasting is calculated to bring a note of urgency and importance into our praying, and to give force to our pleading in the court of heaven. The man who prays with fasting is giving heaven notice that he is truly in earnest. Arthur Wallis
Fasting makes sense if it really chips away at our security and, as a consequence, benefits someone else, if it helps us cultivate the style of the good Samaritan, who bent down to his brother in need and took care of him. Pope Francis
Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one's flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, and kindles the true light of chastity. Enter again into yourself. Saint Augustine
The purpose of fasting is to loosen to some degree the ties which bind us to the world of material things and our surroundings as a whole, in order that we may concentrate all our spiritual powers upon the unseen and eternal things Ole Hallesby