J.C. Ryle, On What We Should Live For

“A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing. It is enough to say that he is earnest, strong, uncompromising, meticulous, wholehearted, fervent in spirit. He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives or whether he dies, whether he has health or whether he has sickness, whether he is rich or whether he is poor, whether he pleases man or whether he gives offence, whether he is thought wise or whether he is thought foolish, whether he gets blame or whether he gets praise, whether he gets honor or whether he gets shame, for all this the zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for one thing, and that one thing is to please God and to advance to God’s glory.” (Practical Religion, pgs. 190-191)