"The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray"
About this Quote
The subtext is almost behavioral before it’s mystical: practices create cravings. Stop doing the thing and you won’t merely do it less; you’ll want it less, and that shrinking want becomes its own justification. It’s a compact warning about feedback loops - the downward spiral of disengagement - delivered in the plain cadence of a pastor who has watched it play out in real lives.
Context matters. Muller wasn’t a remote moralizer; he was a 19th-century evangelical figure known for founding orphanages and emphasizing prayer as lived dependence, not decorative piety. Victorian Britain was thick with nominal Christianity and public respectability, which could mimic faith without the inner engine. His sentence targets that drift: the danger of a religious identity sustained by culture while the core disciplines quietly erode.
Rhetorically, the repetition does the work. “The less... the less...” lands like footsteps down a staircase, making decline feel inevitable unless interrupted. It’s both admonition and strategy: don’t wait for desire; read and pray to rebuild it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Bible |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Muller, George. (2026, January 16). The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-less-we-read-the-word-of-god-the-less-we-112382/
Chicago Style
Muller, George. "The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-less-we-read-the-word-of-god-the-less-we-112382/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-less-we-read-the-word-of-god-the-less-we-112382/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
