Michael (archangel)
Michael (Hebrew: מִיכָאֵל (pronounced [ˌmixäˈʔel]), Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; Greek: Μιχαήλ, Mikhaḗl; Latin: Michael or Míchaël; Arabic: ميخائيل, Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition. He is viewed as the field commander of the Army of God. He is mentioned by name in the Book of Daniel, the Epistle of Jude, and the Book of Revelation. This page is for quotes about Michael in various historical documents, essays, and fictional works.
Quotes
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- Gabriel before me
Raphael behind me
Michael to my right
Uriel on my left side
In the circle of fire.- Kate Bush, in "Lily" on The Red Shoes (1993)
- I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
- Daniel 10:21
- At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.- Daniel Ch. 12
- We cast you out, every unclean spirit, every satanic power, every onslaught of the infernal adversary, every legion, every diabolical group and sect, in the name and by the power of our Lord Jesus + Christ. We command you, begone and fly far from the Church of God, from the souls made by God in His Image and redeemed by the Precious Blood of the Divine Lamb. + No longer dare, cunning serpent, to deceive the human race, to persecute God's Church, to strike God's elect and to sift them as wheat. + For the Most High God commands you, + He to Whom you once proudly presumed yourself equal; He Who wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of Truth commands you. (1 Tim 2:4)
God the Father + commands you. The Son of God + commands you. God the Holy + Ghost commands you. Christ, the Eternal Word of God made flesh, commands + you, Who humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death (Phil 2:8), to save our race from the perdition wrought by your envy; Who founded His Church upon a firm Rock, declaring that the gates of hell should never prevail against her, and that He would remain with her all days, even to the end of the world. (Mt 28:20) The sacred mystery of the Cross commands you, along with the power of all mysteries of Christian Faith. + The exalted Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, + commands you, who in her lowliness crushed your proud head from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception. The Faith of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and the other Apostles + commands you. The blood of martyrs and the devout prayers of all holy men and women command + you.
Thus, cursed dragon, and you, diabolical legions, we adjure you by the living God, + by the true God, + by the holy God, + by the God who so loved the world that He gave up His only Son, that every soul believing in Him might not perish but have life everlasting;" (Jn 3:16) cease deceiving human creatures and pouring out to them the poison of eternal damnation; cease harming the Church and hindering her liberty.
- The archangel Michael took supreme command. He reassured their minds by his serenity. His countenance, wherein his soul was visible, expressed contempt for danger.
- Anatole France, in The Revolt of the Angels [La Revolte des Anges], as translated by Mrs. Wilfrid Jackson, Ch. XXXV
- Michael was for the offensive. He, as a consummate soldier, said it was the supreme law. Attack, or be attacked, — there was no middle course.
"Moreover," he added, "the offensive attitude is particularly suitable to the ardour of the Thrones and Dominations."
Beyond that, it was impossible to obtain a word from the valiant chief, and this silence seemed the mark of a genius sure of himself.- Anatole France, in The Revolt of the Angels [La Revolte des Anges], as translated by Mrs. Wilfrid Jackson, Ch. XXXV
- With impassive gaze, Michael, prince of warriors, measured the extent of the disaster, and his keen intelligence penetrated its causes. The armies of the living God had taken the offensive, but by one of those fatalities in war which disconcert the plans of the greatest captains, the enemy had also taken the offensive, and the effect was evident.
- Anatole France, in The Revolt of the Angels [La Revolte des Anges], as translated by Mrs. Wilfrid Jackson, Ch. XXXV
- There is in heaven an accuser and a defender of man; the name of the former is Semoel and that of the latter Michael.
- Exodus Rabbah 18, Tales and Maxims from the Midrash by Rev. Samuel Rapaport, (1907), p. 98
- ONCE UPON A TIME when the world was young there was a Martian named Smith.
Valentine Michael Smith was as real as taxes but he was a race of one.- Robert A. Heinlein, first lines of the "uncut edition" of Stranger in a Strange Land (1991), about a human born on Mars, who is eventually revealed to be the archangel Michael.
- Mike is our Prometheus — but that's all. Mike keeps emphazing this. Thou art God, I am God, he is God — all that groks. Mike is a man like the rest of us. A superior man admittedly — a lesser man taught the things the Martians know, might have set himself up as a pipsqueak god. Mike is above that temptation. Prometheus… but that is all.
- Robert A. Heinlein, in Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) Part V : His Happy Destiny
- And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.- John of Patmos in the Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation, (12:7-12)
- David is the song upon God's lips,
And Our Lady is the goblet that He sips:
And Gabriel's the breath of His command,
But Saint Michael is the sword in God's right hand.The Ivory Tower is fair to see,
And may her walls encompass me!
But when the Devil comes with the thunder of his might,
Saint Michael, show me how to fight!- Joyce Kilmer, in "The Thorn", in Main Street and Other Poems (1917)
- And the angel's body was bared, and he was clothed in light so that eye could not look on him; and his voice grew louder, as though it came not from him but from heaven above. And the angel said:
I have learnt that all men live not by care for themselves, but by love.
It was not given to the mother to know what her children needed for their life. Nor was it given to the rich man to know what he himself needed. Nor is it given to any man to know whether, when evening comes, he will need boots for his body or slippers for his corpse.
I remained alive when I was a man, not by care of myself, but because love was present in a passer-by, and because he and his wife pitied and loved me. The orphans remained alive, not because of their mother's care, but because there was love in the heart of a woman a stranger to them, who pitied and loved them. And all men live not by the thought they spend on their own welfare, but because love exists in man.
I knew before that God gave life to men and desires that they should live; now I understood more than that.
I understood that God does not wish men to live apart, and therefore he does not reveal to them what each one needs for himself; but he wishes them to live united, and therefore reveals to each of them what is necessary for all.
I have now understood that though it seems to men that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by which they live. He who has love, is in God, and God is in him, for God is love.- Leo Tolstoy, depicting Michael in What Men Live By (1881), Ch. XII
