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Daily Inspiration Quote by George Fox

"The Lord showed me, so that I did see clearly, that he did not dwell in these temples which men had commanded and set up, but in people's hearts... his people were his temple, and he dwelt in them"

About this Quote

Fox blows up the spiritual real estate market with a single, radical relocation: God doesn t live in the buildings men authorize; God lives in people. For a 17th-century English clergyman, that is not gentle piety, it s institutional sabotage. The line turns the grand architecture of Christianity inside out. Temples, in Fox s framing, aren t merely insufficient; they re suspect because they are commanded and set up by men. That phrase is the fuse. It implies hierarchy, coercion, and the quiet violence of state religion, where worship is regulated, taxed, and policed. Fox is not arguing against beauty or tradition; he is rejecting the claim that holiness needs official infrastructure.

The intent is both devotional and insurgent: to relocate authority from clergy to conscience, from liturgy to inward experience. This is classic Quaker DNA in the making. By insisting he did see clearly, Fox anchors the claim in revelation rather than debate, a rhetorical move that sidesteps credentialed theology and dares listeners to test it in their own lives. The subtext is egalitarian and combustible: if God dwells in hearts, then every person is a potential site of divine guidance, no intermediary required. That threatens the priest s role, the church s revenue, and the state s ability to launder power through sanctified space.

Context sharpens the edge: civil war, sectarian churn, and a Church of England trying to reassert order. Fox offers an alternative order, one built on inward light instead of outward control.

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APA Style (7th ed.)
Fox, George. (2026, January 16). The Lord showed me, so that I did see clearly, that he did not dwell in these temples which men had commanded and set up, but in people's hearts... his people were his temple, and he dwelt in them. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-lord-showed-me-so-that-i-did-see-clearly-that-135083/

Chicago Style
Fox, George. "The Lord showed me, so that I did see clearly, that he did not dwell in these temples which men had commanded and set up, but in people's hearts... his people were his temple, and he dwelt in them." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-lord-showed-me-so-that-i-did-see-clearly-that-135083/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The Lord showed me, so that I did see clearly, that he did not dwell in these temples which men had commanded and set up, but in people's hearts... his people were his temple, and he dwelt in them." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-lord-showed-me-so-that-i-did-see-clearly-that-135083/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

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George Fox (1624 AC - January 13, 1691) was a Clergyman from England.

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