Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
Saint Augustine
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.
God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.
Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.
Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.
It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.
Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.
What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.
Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.
God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.
Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.
Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked.
This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.
If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.
Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.
Patience is the companion of wisdom.
What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.
Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.
Love is the beauty of the soul.
In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?
He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.
Oh Lord, give me chastity, but do not give it yet.
In doing what we ought we deserve no praise, because it is our duty.
The purpose of all wars, is peace.
Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.
Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.
Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.
Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity.
The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.
Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.
The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.
My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contradictory throng of sensuous images, that it might find out what that light was wherein it was bathed... And thus, with the flash of one hurried glance, it attained to the vision of That Which Is.
O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet.
Punishment is justice for the unjust.
O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.
It seems to me that an unjust law is no law at all.
Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.
Repentant tears wash out the stain of guilt.
If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.
I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.
Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.
He that is jealous is not in love.
Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt.
God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist.
The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.
He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.
Hear the other side.
A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.
