Saint John of the Cross quote: "If you purify your soul of attachment to and desire for things, you will understand them spiritually. If you deny your appetite for them, you will enjoy their truth, understanding what is certain in them."

Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Be...
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

Wherefore a man can know nothing by himself, save after a natural manner, which is only that which h...
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according ...
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

In tribulation immediately draw near to God with confidence, and you will receive strength, enlighte...
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor t...
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

He who interrupts the course of his spiritual exercises and prayer is like a man who allows a bird t...
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

In the dark night of the soul, bright flows the river of God.
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

The soul that is attached to anything however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the l...
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

He who interrupts the course of his spiritual exercises and prayer is like a man who allows a bird t...
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

Take God for your spouse and friend and walk with him continually, and you will not sin and will lea...
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

The soul that is attached to anything however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the l...
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

To saints, their very slumber is a prayer.
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

If you purify your soul of attachment to and desire for things, you will understand them spiritually...
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Be...
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor t...
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

In tribulation immediately draw near to God with confidence, and you will receive strength, enlighte...
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

Desolation is a file, and the endurance of darkness is preparation for great light.
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

Beloved, all that is harsh and difficult I want for myself, and all that is gentle and sweet for the...
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

My fists get clenched, my muscles get tight, I'm getting hot.
JOHN CROSS

We are here on Earth for just a short time, whether you're 16 years old or 80,
JOHN CROSS

It should be considered that increases in the mill price of steel have only a small impact on the ov...
JOHN CROSS

If the man or woman are willing to take a look at their beliefs or their behavior, then they can cha...
JOHN CROSS

I still have a choice whether I'm going to respond or react.
JOHN CROSS

Stranger in a Strange Land.
JOHN CROSS

There are dozens of ways one can go about managing his or her career,
JOHN CROSS

[If that weren't enough of an incentive to stay put, the company offered Cross the opportunity to en...
JOHN CROSS

They wanted someone with hands-on business experience and were shocked to see all that I had done at...
JOHN CROSS

So we are not saying goodbye forever, ... We are saying we will see you later.
JOHN CROSS

Hail to you gods, on that day of the great reckoning. Behold me, I have come to you, without sin, wi...
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD

When a man takes one step toward God, God takes more steps toward that man than there are sands in t...
THE WORK OF THE CHARIOT

For the hopes of men have been justly called waking dreams.
SAINT BASIL (BISHOP OF CAESAREA) ("THE GREAT")

I am more afraid of those who are terrified of the devil than I am of the devil himself.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

My good works, however wretched and imperfect, have been made better and perfected by Him Who is my ...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

I thought of the soul as resembling a castle, formed of a single diamond or a very transparent cryst...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

I have often thought with wonder of the great goodness of God; and my soul has rejoiced in the conte...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

What friends or kindred can be so close and intimate as the powers of our soul, which, whether we wi...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

I know the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

If God should desire to raise us to the position of one who is an intimate and shares his secrets, w...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can - namely, surrender our will and fulfill God&...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Consequently, if the republic is the weal of the people, and there is no people if it be not associa...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Love, and do what thou wilt: whether thou hold thy peace, through love hold thy peace; whether thou ...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

What I needed most was to love and to be loved, eager to be caught. Happily I wrapped those painful ...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

I was living an extremely burdensome life, because every time I prayed, I became more clearly aware ...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first th...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Perhaps you say, Why are the wicked joyous? Why do they live in luxury? Why do they not toil with me...
SAINT AMBROSE OF MILAN

Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance. Where there is patience and ...
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwell...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

It is not fitting, when one is in God's service, to have a gloomy face or a chilling look.
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don't accept, because you will lose one friend; on the ot...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Order your soul; reduce your wants; live in charity; associate in Christian community; obey the laws...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

By faithfulness we are collected and wound up into unity within ourselves, whereas we had been scatt...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

I found thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred in seeking thee without that wert within.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel yo...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

I have learnt to love you late, Beauty at once so ancient and so new!
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

The greatest evil is physical pain.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Grant me the treasure of sublime poverty: permit the distinctive sign of our order to be that it doe...
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where the...
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Blessed is the servant who loves his brother as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well ...
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

I asked the whole frame of the world about my God; and he answered, I am not He, but He made me.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

If a superior give any order to one who is under him which is against that man's conscience, althoug...
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossibl...
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

No eulogy is due to him who simply does his duty and nothing more.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

This gift is from God and not of man's deserving. But certainly no one ever receives such a great gr...
RICHARD OF SAINT VICTOR

The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without cea...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contradictory throng of se...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

For the outer sense alone perceives visible things and the eye of the heart alone seeds the invisibl...
RICHARD OF SAINT-VICTOR

Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For wher...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Preach the gospel everywhere you go, and, if necessary, use words.
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Thou must be emptied of that wherewith thou art full, that thou mayest be filled with that whereof t...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is s...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you...
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long cours...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Temperance is love surrendering itself wholly to Him who is its object; courage is love bearing all ...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

They the hazers or eversores were rightly called Overturners, since they had themselves been first o...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Punishment is justice for the unjust.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Hail, O bleeding Head and wounded, With a crown of thorns surrounded, Buffeted, and bruised an...
SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX

To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by other...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Who loves me will love my dog also. [Fr., Que me amat, amet et canem meum.]
SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX

He who prays and labours lifts his heart to God with his hands. [Lat., Qui orat laborat, cor levat...
SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX

Don't you believe that there is in man a deep so profound as to be hidden even to him in whom it is?
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of h...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

He who commends the nature of the soul as the supreme good, and condemns the nature of the flesh as ...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Hell is full of good wishes or desires. [Fr., L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontes ou desirs.]
SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX

Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith.
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.
SAINT THERESA OF JESUS

The devil put before me that I could not endure the trials of the religious life, because of my deli...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

I had many friends to help me to fall; but as to rising again, I was so much left to myself, that I ...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

It is no small misfortune and disgrace that, through our own fault, we neither understand our nature...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means takin...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

May God protect me from gloomy saints.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Those who give themselves to prayer should in a special manner have always a devotion to St. Joseph;...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for ...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Prayer is an act of love; words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that i...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

If I should say anything that is not in conformity with what is held by the Holy Roman Catholic Chur...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Nothing can be compared to the great beauty and capabilities of a soul; however keen our intellects ...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

A beginner must look on himself as one setting out to make a garden for his Lord's pleasure, on ...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Whoever has not begun the practice of prayer, I beg for the love of the Lord not to go without so gr...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Whenever we think of Christ, we should recall the love that led Him to bestow on us so many graces a...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

In a state of grace, the soul is like a well of limpid water, from which flow only streams of cleare...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives more fruit.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Don't let your sins turn into bad habits.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

The custom of speaking to God Almighty as freely as with a slave - caring nothing whether the words ...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Our souls may lose their peace and even disturb other people's, if we are always criticizing tri...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

God gave us faculties for our use; each of them will receive its proper reward. Then do not let us t...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Discontent with this world gives such a painful longing to quit it that, if the heart finds comfort,...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

I had a father and mother, who were devout and feared God. Our Lord also helped me with His grace. A...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

The people who remained victorious were less like conquerors than conquered.
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that thou mayest believe, but...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace!
Where there is hatred let me sow love;
Where ther...
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in e...
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

I do not fear Satan half so much as I fear those who fear him.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Anyone who truly loves God travels securely.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears white is really black, if the hierar...
SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

When I took the habit, the Lord immediately showed me how He favours those who do violence to themse...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

When the soul, through its own fault... becomes rooted in a pool of pitch-black, evil smelling water...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

While the soul is in mortal sin, nothing can profit it; none of its good works merit an eternal rewa...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

O my God, what must a soul be like when it is in this state! It longs to be all one tongue with whic...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

I don't know what heavy penance I would not have gladly undertaken rather than practice prayer.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

The safest and most suitable form of penance seems to be that which causes pain in the flesh but doe...
SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

Let me look at the foulness and ugliness of my body. Let me see myself as an ulcerous sore running w...
SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

The enemy is like a woman, weak in face of opposition, but correspondingly strong when not opposed. ...
SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

If I were to give advice, I would say to parents that they ought to be very careful whom they allow ...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Do you think it is only a little thing to possess a house from which lovely things can be seen?
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

What value is there in faith without works? And what are they worth if they are not united to the me...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Let us consider the glorious Saint Paul: it seems that no other name fell from his lips than that of...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

The picture. A great plain, comprising the entire Jerusalem district, where is the supreme Commander...
SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

Imagine that leader of all the enemy, in that great plain of Babylon, sitting on a sort of throne of...
SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May y...
SAINT TERESE OF LISEAUX

We should always be prepared so as never to err to believe that what I see as white is black, if the...
SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

Teach us to give and not to count the cost
SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.
SAINT PETER OF ALCANTARA

Not to hurt our humble brethren (the animals) is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not en...
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

It is, therefore, a great source of virtue for the practiced mind to learn, bit by bit, first to cha...
HUGH OF SAINT-VICTOR

It is a most certain truth, that the richer we see ourselves to be, confessing at the same time our ...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

My father was a man of great charity towards the poor, and compassion for the sick, and also for ser...
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Pain is never permanent.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Slander is worse than cannibalism
SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

Astronomers have been bewildered by the theory of an expanding universe, but there is no less expans...
SAINT-JOHN PERSE

Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation his defense
SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

No one can harm the man who does himself no wrong.
SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

The poet existed among the cave men; he will exist among men of the atomic age, for he is an inheren...
SAINT-JOHN PERSE

In truth, every creation of the mind is first of all 'poetic' in the proper sense of the wor...
SAINT-JOHN PERSE

Hell is paved with priests' skulls
SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man.
SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

Musicke doth withdraw our mindes from earthly cogitations, lifteth up our spirits into heaven, maket...
SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

Men have the power of thinking that they may avoid sin
SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for other...
SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

Poor human reason, when it trusts in itself, substitutes the strangest absurdities for the highest d...
SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

A comprehended god is no god
SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

The way to final freedom is within thy self.
THE BOOK OF THE GOLDEN PRECEPTS

Roses are red, Violettes are bllue,
Valentines day is consumerous crap,now don't you have ironi...
MOCK OF THE WEEK THE SHOW

Nature is under control but not disturbed.
BEATRIX OF THE NETHERLANDS

I realize that much will be asked of me, yet I am resolved to accept it as a great and splendid task...
BEATRIX OF THE NETHERLANDS

FRIEND: A member of the opposite sex in your acquaintance who has some flaw which makes sleeping wi...
THE DICTIONARY OF DATING

Eye Contact: A method utilized by a single woman to communicate to a man that she is interested in ...
THE DICTIONARY OF DATING

Depend not on another, but lean instead on thyself...True happiness is born of self-reliance.
THE LAWS OF MANU

I'm sorry I brought this upon you, my boy. I'm sorry you must carry this burden. I'm sorry for every...
LORD OF THE RINGS

I'm on my third Mrs. Potts' costume,'' Treglown said.
THE WIZARD OF OZ

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
THE WIZARD OF OZ

Peace is the biggest struggle.
JULIANA OF THE NETHERLANDS

I can't understand it. I can't even understand the people who can understand it.
JULIANA OF THE NETHERLANDS

All that is gold does not glitter Not all those who wander are lost The old who are strong do not wh...
LORD OF THE RINGS

I like half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as y...
LORD OF THE RINGS

Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!
LORD OF THE RINGS

PIPPIN: I didn't think it would end this way.GANDALF: End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death i...
LORD OF THE RINGS

How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to und...
LORD OF THE RINGS

If you purify your soul of attachment to and desire for things, you will understand them spiritually. If you deny your appetite for them, you will enjoy their truth, understanding what is certain in them.

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Saint John of the Cross

If you purify your soul of attachment to and desire for things, you will understand them spiritually. If you deny your appetite for them, you will enjoy their truth, understanding what is certain in them.

Saint John of the Cross

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