Easter 2018: Quotes about the holiest day on the Christian calendar

Here are some quotes about Easter and its meaning.

• "Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song." – Pope John Paul II 
• "Christ not only died for all: he died for each." – Billy Graham
• "The symbolic language of the crucifixion is the death of the old paradigm; resurrection is a leap into a whole new way of thinking." – Deepak Chopra
• "Easter is very important to me, it's a second chance." – Reba McEntire
• "Easter may seem boring to children, and it is blessedly unencumbered by the silly fun that plagues Christmas. Yet it contains the one thing needful for every human life: the good news of Resurrection." – Frederica Mathewes-Green
• "The first thing that stuck in the minds of the disciples was not the empty tomb, but rather the empty grave clothes – undisturbed in form and position." – Josh McDowell
• "It is at Easter that Jesus is most human, and like all humans, he fails and is failed. His is not an all-powerful God, it is an all-vulnerable God." – Michael Leunig
• "During the first 13 centuries after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, no one thought of setting up a creche to celebrate Christmas. The pre-eminent Christian holiday was Easter, not Christmas." – Nancy Pearcey
• "He is not here. He is risen." – Mark 16:6
• "Our old history ends with the cross; our new history begins with the resurrection." – Watchman Nee
• "Without the resurrection, the cross is meaningless." – Billy Graham
• "Jesus Christ did not come into this world to make bad people good; He came into this world to make dead people live." – Lee Strobel
• "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live." – John 11:25
• "Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone but in every leaf of springtime." – Martin Luther
• "Christ the Lord is risen today, Sons of men and angels say. Raise your joys and triumphs high; Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply." – Charles Wesley's hymn "Christ the Lord is Risen Today"

A crucifix is seen through flowers adorning St Peter's square before the Easter Sunday mass on April 16, 2017 in Vatican. Christians around the world are marking the Holy Week, commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, leading up to his resurrection on Easter. / AFP PHOTO / Tiziana FABI (Photo credit should read TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images)