Ann Voskamp Quotes

Powerful Ann Voskamp for Daily Growth

About Ann Voskamp

Ann Voskamp is an acclaimed American Christian writer, speaker, and blogger, best known for her heartfelt and poetic exploration of faith and the divine in everyday life. Born on September 6, 1971, in Canada to Dutch-Canadian parents, Voskamp was raised in a loving family with a strong religious background. Her childhood experiences played a significant role in shaping her spiritual perspective and her writing. Voskamp obtained a Bachelor's degree in agriculture and environmental science from the University of Guelph in Ontario. After moving to rural Canada with her husband, she spent several years as a farmer and a stay-at-home mother to their six children. It was during this period that Voskamp began to document her spiritual journey through writing, eventually launching her popular blog, 'A Holy Experience', in 2008. In 2011, Voskamp published her first book, 'One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Receive Grace'—a memoir detailing her personal struggle with gratitude and the transformative power of giving thanks in all things. The book quickly became a New York Times bestseller and garnered widespread critical acclaim for its deeply moving prose and profound spiritual insights. Following the success of 'One Thousand Gifts', Voskamp continued to write and speak, sharing her unique blend of faith, family, and farming in books such as 'The Broken Way: A Dare to Live, Love, Leave a Mark' (2016) and 'The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas' (2015). Voskamp has been recognized for her contributions to Christian literature with numerous awards, including the 2013 Christy Award for Visionary Christian Fiction. Ann Voskamp continues to inspire readers through her blog, books, and speaking engagements, encouraging people to seek the sacred in the ordinary and to embrace a life lived in gratitude and wonder.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The heart that loves is always nearer home than the head that thinks."

This quote emphasizes that emotional connections, fueled by love, have a stronger pull towards one's true self or essence (the 'home') compared to intellectual pursuits. In other words, feelings of love can create a deeper sense of belonging and identity than intellectual understanding alone. The heart, symbolizing emotions, plays a more crucial role in defining who we are and where we belong, compared to the mind, symbolizing thought processes.


"Brokenness is the place we find grace."

The quote by Ann Voskamp suggests that acknowledging our imperfections, vulnerabilities, or "brokenness," opens us up to receive grace - an unmerited favor, love, or forgiveness. In other words, when we are willing to admit our flaws and weaknesses, we create space for healing, growth, and spiritual transformation, which can only come from a higher power or source of grace. This perspective encourages humility and invites us to find solace and strength in recognizing our need for help beyond ourselves.


"Everything beautiful and broken is a gift."

This quote by Ann Voskamp suggests that both beauty and brokenness in our lives are valuable, meaningful gifts. It implies that experiences and aspects of life often associated with beauty, such as joy, love, and success, are valuable learning opportunities, while those associated with brokenness, such as pain, struggle, and loss, can lead to personal growth, resilience, and wisdom. Thus, the quote encourages us to find meaning and value in all our experiences, regardless of whether they appear beautiful or broken on the surface.


"I believe the greatest fear is not of being inadequate - but being unloved."

This quote suggests that one's primary fear isn't the fear of personal inadequacy, but rather the fear of not being loved. It highlights the profound impact that love, or the lack thereof, can have on a person's emotions and overall well-being. When we fear being unloved, it can lead to feelings of isolation, low self-esteem, and insecurity, which can significantly affect our sense of identity, purpose, and motivation. This quote underscores the importance of love, connection, and acceptance in overcoming these fears and living a fulfilling life.


"Grace is written on thy brow when thou art as low as low can be."

This quote by Ann Voskamp suggests that even in times of great struggle or humility, a person's inherent worth and dignity—a divine grace—is evident. The quote underscores the idea that everyone carries an inherent value, which is not dependent on their current circumstances or status. Grace, in this context, represents unmerited favor or kindness, highlighting the belief that every individual deserves respect and compassion, regardless of their situation.


I write a chapter, then edit it and edit it and edit it and edit it. I don't think we mine creativity from within. It's bestowed from on high, from God.

- Ann Voskamp

Think, I Write, Mine, Chapter

I have lived pain, and my life can tell: I only deepen the wound of the world when I neglect to give thanks the heavy perfume of wild roses in early July and the song of crickets on summer humid nights and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good God gives.

- Ann Voskamp

Nature, My Life, Tell, Thanks

The brave who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest Light to all the world.

- Ann Voskamp

Thankful, Small, Here, Thanks

In a storm of struggles, I have tried to control the elements, clasp the fist tight so as to protect self and happiness. But stress can be an addiction, and worry can be our lunge for control, and we forget the answer to this moment is always yes because of Christ.

- Ann Voskamp

Fist, Tight, Our, Answer

Pick up a yardstick to measure your life against anyone else's, and you've just picked up a stick and beaten up your own soul.

- Ann Voskamp

Soul, Against, Beaten, Picked

My husband is Dutch, and his family, when you sat down to eat food at the table, you never left the table until you ate living bread and drank living water. They never left the table until they'd read Scripture together. So morning, lunch, suppertime, Scripture was always read at the table, and then there was prayer to close.

- Ann Voskamp

Lunch, Husband, Down, Drank

Get this, kids - how a man proposes isn't what makes him romantic. It's how a man purposes to lay down his life that makes him romantic.

- Ann Voskamp

Him, Makes, Lay, Proposes

Romance isn't measured by how viral your proposal goes. The Internet age may try to sell you something different, but don't ever forget that viral is closely associated with sickness - so don't ever make being viral your goal.

- Ann Voskamp

Sickness, Romance, Measured, Viral

Adults are tempted to produce and perform Christmas for their kids and their families, and they arrive at Christmas Day weary and disillusioned.

- Ann Voskamp

Weary, Perform, Families, Disillusioned

Really good writing, from my perspective, runs a lot like a visual on the screen. You need to create that kind of detail and have credibility with the reader, so the reader knows that you were really there, that you really experienced it, that you know the details. That comes out of seeing.

- Ann Voskamp

Good Writing, Screen, Reader, Runs

When grief is deepest, words are fewest.

- Ann Voskamp

Grief, Words, Deepest, Fewest

Giving thanks is that: making the canyon of pain into a megaphone to proclaim the ultimate goodness of God when Satan and all the world would sneer at us to recant.

- Ann Voskamp

Pain, Making, All The World, Canyon

Whatever I'm writing comes organically out of my life.

- Ann Voskamp

Writing, My Life, Whatever, Organically

By default, most of us have taken the dare to simply survive. Exist. Get through. For the most part, we live numb to life - we've grown weary and apathetic and jaded... and wounded.

- Ann Voskamp

Survive, Through, Wounded, Jaded

Gratitude's not a natural posture. The prince of darkness is ultimately a spoiled ingrate, and I've spent most of my life as kin to the fist-shaker.

- Ann Voskamp

My Life, Natural, Posture, Kin

Measuring sticks try to rank some people as big and some people as small - but we aren't sizes. We are souls. There are no better people or worse people - there are only God-made souls.

- Ann Voskamp

Small, Big, Some, Rank

A simplified Christmas isn't about circumstances as much as it is about focus.

- Ann Voskamp

Focus, Circumstances, About, Simplified

Scales always lie. They don't make a scale that ever told the truth about value, about worth, about significance.

- Ann Voskamp

Lie, Always, About, Scales

When we can't bottle our tears up anymore, God catches every one in His bottle. God's catching every falling tear because He won't let us fall apart.

- Ann Voskamp

Tears, Falling, Catching, Apart

The real romantics imagine greying and sagging and wrinkling as the deepening of something sacred.

- Ann Voskamp

Real, Something, Imagine, Deepening

The real romantics are the boring ones - they let another heart bore a hole deep into theirs.

- Ann Voskamp

Deep, Boring, Hole, Romantics

Counting one thousand gifts, I discovered I could count on God.

- Ann Voskamp

Could, Discovered, Counting, Gifts

I came into this world the way every person on the planet does - with clenched fists.

- Ann Voskamp

Way, Planet, Fists, I Came

I think the fall in Eden was ultimately a failure to give thanks.

- Ann Voskamp

Think, Give, Thanks, Eden

Comparison is a thug that robs your joy. But it's even more than that - Comparison makes you a thug who beats down somebody - or your soul.

- Ann Voskamp

Soul, Comparison, More, Thug

Sometimes God answers our questions with questions.

- Ann Voskamp

God, Questions, Sometimes, Answers

I'm not a fast writer at all. I come empty and wait upon the Lord. So it really is all a waiting process, a patient process.

- Ann Voskamp

Waiting, Process, Wait, Patient

If I don't have words, it's a sign I'm not reading enough.

- Ann Voskamp

Reading, Words, Enough, Sign

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