25 William Booth Quotes About the Preacher Who Founded the Salvation Army

By Stephanie Kirby | Published September 5, 2023

Check out these William Booth quotes to learn more about the preacher who continues to impact lives through the Salvation Army.

William Booth was born in Nottingham, England, in 1829 and died in London, England, in 1912 at the age of 83.

He was born into an affluent home, but his family lost it all. He was apprenticed to a pawnbroker but soon had a religious conversion and became a Methodist preacher.

Booth was passionate about helping the poor and spent his life dedicated to evangelistic preaching and helping those in need.

In 1865, he founded The Christian Mission together with his wife Catherine.

The Christian Mission would later become the Salvation Army, to help the poor, and he served as the first General.

Take a look at these William Booth quotes to learn more about this amazing man.

Best William Booth Quotes

Enjoy some of the best quotes from the Salvation Army’s founder.

1. “You must pray with all your might.” — William Booth

2. “All who are not on the rock are in the sea!” — William Booth

3. “Go straight for souls, and go for the worst.” — William Booth

4. “I am not waiting for a move of God; I am a move of God!” — William Booth

5. “Will you go to His feet and place yourself entirely at His disposal?” — William Booth

6. “The greatness of the man’s power is the measure of his surrender.” — William Booth

7. “The tendency of fire is to go out; watch the fire on the altar of your heart.” — William Booth

8. “I must go, not only to those who need me but to those who need me most.” — William Booth

9. “Don’t be deceived by appearances – men and things are not what they seem.” — William Booth

10. “If you want to change the future, then you are going to have to trouble the present.” — William Booth

Inspirational William Booth Quotes

Here are some William Booth quotes that are sure to inspire you.

11. “While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight. While little children go hungry, as they do now, I’ll fight.” — William Booth

12. “Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking.” — William Booth

13. “You cannot warm the hearts of people with God’s love if they have an empty stomach and cold feet.” — William Booth

14. “If I thought I could win one more soul to the Lord by walking on my head and playing the tambourine with my toes, I’d learn how!” — William Booth

15. “Your days at the most cannot be very long, so use them to the best of your ability for the glory of God and the benefit of your generation.” — William Booth

16. “If there is anything of power in The Salvation Army today, it is because God has had all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life.” — William Booth

17. “Look Christ in the face—whose mercy you have professed to obey—and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world.” — William Booth

More William Booth Quotes

Check out more of the best quotes from William Booth.

18. “Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin.” — William Booth

19. “While there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight – I’ll fight to the very end!” — William Booth

20. “Work as if everything depended upon work and pray as if everything depended upon prayer.” — William Booth

21. “Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help.” — William Booth

22. “God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible.” — William Booth

23. “I would like to send them to hell for five minutes. That would do more than anything else to prepare them for a lifetime of compassionate ministry.” — William Booth

24. “The chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance.” — William Booth

25. “To get a man soundly saved, it is not enough to put on him a pair of new breeches, to give him regular work, or even to give him a university education. These things are all outside a man, and if the inside remains unchanged, you have wasted your labor.” — William Booth