For every benefit conferred, God is to be praised in his gifts. Otherwise when the time of judgment ...
SAINT BERNARD Custom turns everything upside down. Give it time, and what can resist its hardening effect? What do...
SAINT BERNARD Charity never lacks what is her own, all that she needs for her own security. Not alone does she hav...
SAINT BERNARD I was made a sinner by deriving my being from Adam; I am made just by being washed in the blood of C...
SAINT BERNARD The impudence of the sinner displeases God as much as the modesty of the penitent gives him pleasure...
SAINT BERNARD A man who prides himself on being better than his fellow-men thinks it a disgrace if he does not do ...
SAINT BERNARD Keep to the middle if you wish to keep moderation. The mid way is the safe way. Moderation abides in...
SAINT BERNARD Humility is a good estate; founded thereon, the whole spiritual edifice grows into a holy temple in ...
SAINT BERNARD That heart alone is hard which does not shudder at itself for not feeling its hardness.
SAINT BERNARD There are people who go clad in tunics and have nothing to do with furs, who nevertheless are lackin...
SAINT BERNARD You wish me to tell you why and how God should be loved. My answer is that God himself is the reason...
SAINT BERNARD I myself, however wretched I may be, have been occasionally privileged to sit at the feet of the Lor...
SAINT BERNARD Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you want is not a sceptre, but a...
SAINT BERNARD Christian, learn from Christ how you ought to love Christ. Learn a love that is tender, wise, strong...
SAINT BERNARD In truth, opinion may be taken for understanding; understanding cannot be taken for opinion. How so?...
SAINT BERNARD Sorrow for sin is indeed necessary, but it should not be an endless preoccupation. You must dwell al...
SAINT BERNARD God removes the sin of the one who makes humble confession, and thereby the devil loses the sovereig...
SAINT BERNARD We seek for truth in ourselves; in our neighbours, and in its essential nature. We find it first in ...
SAINT BERNARD I believe though I do not comprehend, and I hold by faith what I cannot grasp with the mind.
SAINT BERNARD Truly, love is delightful and pleasant food, supplying, as it does, rest to the weary, strength to t...
SAINT BERNARD The animal kingdom is destined by nature to serve, and that service is fulfilled in alleviating the ...
SAINT BERNARD You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you ...
SAINT BERNARD Who is there that can adequately gauge the greatness of the humility, gentleness, self-surrender, re...
SAINT BERNARD Is anything, in all respects, so influential as consideration? Does it not, by a kindly anticipation...
SAINT BERNARD It is no great thing to be humble when you are brought low; but to be humble when you are praised is...
SAINT BERNARD Hail, O bleeding Head and wounded, With a crown of thorns surrounded, Buffeted, and bruised an...
SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX 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 Hell is full of good wishes or desires. [Fr., L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontes ou desirs.]
SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX Farewell, my children; remain always in the fear of the Lord. That temptation and tribulation which...
SAINT Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not...
SAINT AUGUSTINE The most High approveth not the gifts of the wicked.
SAINT PATRICK I see that already in this present world I am exalted above measure by the Lord. And I was not worth...
SAINT PATRICK He that offereth sacrifice of the goods of the poor is as one that sacrificeth the son in the presen...
SAINT PATRICK I was freeborn according to the flesh; I am born of a father who was a decurion, but I sold my noble...
SAINT PATRICK I have had the good fortune through my God that I should never abandon his people whom I have acquir...
SAINT PATRICK The Lord discovered to me a sense of my unbelief that, though late, I should remember my transgressi...
SAINT PATRICK Let who will scoff and revile - I will not remain silent; neither will I conceal the signs and wonde...
SAINT PATRICK I only seek in my old age to perfect that which I had not before thoroughly learned in my youth, bec...
SAINT PATRICK I have a Creator who knew all things, even before they were made - even me, his poor little child.
SAINT PATRICK I have vowed to my God to teach the heathen, though I be despised by some.
SAINT PATRICK No one should ever say that it was my ignorance if I did or showed forth anything however small acco...
SAINT PATRICK The Lord opened the understanding of my unbelieving heart, so that I should recall my sins.
SAINT PATRICK It was not any grace in me, but God that put this earnest care into my heart, that I should be one o...
SAINT PATRICK Sufficient for me is that honour which is not seen of men but is felt in the heart, as faithful is H...
SAINT PATRICK Before I was humiliated I was like a stone that lies in deep mud, and he who is mighty came and in h...
SAINT PATRICK I am Patrick, a sinner, most uncultivated and least of all the faithful and despised in the eyes of ...
SAINT PATRICK The Lord is greater than all: I have said enough.
SAINT PATRICK Among the many signs of a lively faith and hope we have in eternal life, one of the surest is not be...
SAINT IGNATIUS I can love a person in this life only insofar as he tries to advance in the praise and service of Go...
SAINT IGNATIUS Some indeed have tears naturally, when the higher motion of the soul makes itself felt in the lower,...
SAINT IGNATIUS The principal end both of my father and of myself in the conquest of India... has been the propagati...
SAINT IGNATIUS We should love the body insofar as it is obedient and helpful to the soul, since the soul, with the ...
SAINT IGNATIUS We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears white is really black, if the hierar...
SAINT IGNATIUS It is one thing to be eloquent and charming in profane speech, and another when the one speaking as ...
SAINT IGNATIUS Remember that bodily exercise, when it is well ordered, as I have said, is also prayer by means of w...
SAINT IGNATIUS In the light of the Divine Goodness, it seems to me, though others may think differently, that ingra...
SAINT IGNATIUS Occupy yourself in beholding and bewailing your own imperfections rather than contemplating the impe...
SAINT IGNATIUS Be generous to the poor orphans and those in need. The man to whom our Lord has been liberal ought n...
SAINT IGNATIUS Teach us to give and not to count the cost.
SAINT IGNATIUS In the fallen there is danger of pride and vainglory, since they prefer their own judgment to the ju...
SAINT IGNATIUS May God our Lord never let me harm anyone when I cannot help him!
SAINT IGNATIUS True, I am in love with suffering, but I do not know if I deserve the honor.
SAINT IGNATIUS May the perfect grace and eternal love of Christ our Lord be our never-failing protection and help.
SAINT IGNATIUS For those who love, nothing is too difficult, especially when it is done for the love of our Lord Je...
SAINT IGNATIUS If God has given you the world's goods in abundance, it is to help you gain those of Heaven and ...
SAINT IGNATIUS Among irrational animals the love of the offspring and of the parents for each other is extraordinar...
SAINT BASIL The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. With us there is no nice enqu...
SAINT BASIL There is nothing unpremeditated, nothing neglected by God. His unsleeping eye beholds all things.
SAINT BASIL We glorify the Holy Ghost together with the Father and the Son, from the conviction that He is not s...
SAINT BASIL We do not accost a physician as we do any mere nobody; nor a magistrate as we do a private individua...
SAINT BASIL Indulging in unrestrained and immoderate laughter is a sign of intemperance, of a want of control ov...
SAINT BASIL Strive to attain to the greater virtues, but do not neglect the lesser ones. Do not make light of a ...
SAINT BASIL To lovers of the truth, nothing can be put before God and hope in Him.
SAINT BASIL Do not despise the fish because they are absolutely unable to speak or to reason, but fear lest you ...
SAINT BASIL By nature, men desire the beautiful.
SAINT BASIL Every evil is a sickness of soul, but virtue offers the cause of its health.
SAINT BASIL Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for ...
SAINT BASIL God who created us has granted us the faculty of speech that we might disclose the counsels of our h...
SAINT BASIL What is the benefit of fasting in our body while filling our souls with innumerable evils? He who do...
SAINT BASIL Now, if you notice how the swan, putting its neck down into the deep water, brings up food for itsel...
SAINT BASIL Men whose sense of taste is destroyed by sickness, sometimes think honey sour. A diseased eye does n...
SAINT BASIL Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive...
SAINT BASIL In truth, to know oneself seems to be the hardest of all things. Not only our eye, which observes ex...
SAINT BASIL When I go to Rome, I fast on Saturday, but in Milan I do not. Do you also follow the custom of whate...
SAINT AMBROSE It is ingrained in all living creatures, first of all, to preserve their own safety, to guard agains...
SAINT AMBROSE The best way to use the gold of the Redeemer is for the redemption of those in peril.
SAINT AMBROSE Many a sin has sullied me in body and in soul because I did not restrain my thoughts nor guard my li...
SAINT AMBROSE Nothing graces the Christian soul so much as mercy; mercy as shown chiefly towards the poor, that th...
SAINT AMBROSE Take away the contests of the martyrs, and you have taken away their crowns.
SAINT AMBROSE In some causes silence is dangerous.
SAINT AMBROSE God is not accustomed to refusing a good gift to those who ask for one. Since he is good, and especi...
SAINT AMBROSE Let us take refuge from this world. You can do this in spirit, even if you are kept here in the body...
SAINT AMBROSE It is not enough just to wish well; we must also do well.
SAINT AMBROSE One of the duties of fortitude is to keep the weak from receiving injury; another, to check the wron...
SAINT AMBROSE God, who preferred the correction rather than the death of a sinner, did not desire that a homicide ...
SAINT AMBROSE God created the universe in such a manner that all in common might derive their food from it, and th...
SAINT AMBROSE There is nothing evil save that which perverts the mind and shackles the conscience.
SAINT AMBROSE No one is good but God alone. What is good is therefore divine, what is divine is therefore good.
SAINT AMBROSE A kindness received should be returned with a freer hand.
SAINT AMBROSE Where a man's heart is, there is his treasure also.
SAINT AMBROSE When in Rome, live as the Romans do; when elsewhere, live as they live elsewhere.
SAINT AMBROSE It is not hard to obey when we love the one whom we obey.
SAINT IGNATIUS Custom is second nature.
SAINT AUGUSTINE The verdict of the world is conclusive.
SAINT AUGUSTINE He who labours, prays.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Blessedness consists in the accomplishment of our desires, and in our having only regular desires.
SAINT AUGUSTINE If I am given a formula, and I am ignorant of its meaning, it cannot teach me anything, but if I alr...
SAINT AUGUSTINE I found thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred in seeking thee without that wert within.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Don't you believe that there is in man a deep so profound as to be hidden even to him in whom it...
SAINT AUGUSTINE No eulogy is due to him who simply does his duty and nothing more.
SAINT AUGUSTINE The soul, which is spirit, can not dwell in dust; it is carried along to dwell in the blood.
SAINT AUGUSTINE The honors of this world, what are they but puff, and emptiness, and peril of falling?
SAINT AUGUSTINE Thou must be emptied of that wherewith thou art full, that thou mayest be filled with that whereof t...
SAINT AUGUSTINE If we did not have rational souls, we would not be able to believe.
SAINT AUGUSTINE We make a ladder for ourselves of our vices, if we trample those same vices underfoot.
SAINT AUGUSTINE We cannot pass our guardian angel's bounds, resigned or sullen, he will hear our sighs.
SAINT AUGUSTINE There is no possible source of evil except good.
SAINT AUGUSTINE The spiritual virtue of a sacrament is like light; although it passes among the impure, it is not po...
SAINT AUGUSTINE A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Hear the other side.
SAINT AUGUSTINE 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 To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Our bodies are shaped to bear children, and our lives are a working out of the processes of creation...
SAINT AUGUSTINE The same thing which is now called Christian religion existed among the ancients. They have begun to...
SAINT AUGUSTINE God is best known in not knowing him.
SAINT AUGUSTINE The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without cea...
SAINT AUGUSTINE My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contradictory throng of se...
SAINT AUGUSTINE To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.
SAINT AUGUSTINE If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.
SAINT AUGUSTINE To seek the highest good is to live well.
SAINT AUGUSTINE The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is s...
SAINT AUGUSTINE I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in e...
SAINT AUGUSTINE Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by other...
SAINT AUGUSTINE He fashioned hell for the inquisitive.
SAINT AUGUSTINE 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 ...
SAINT AUGUSTINE He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Love is the beauty of the soul.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Oh Lord, give me chastity, but do not give it yet.
SAINT AUGUSTINE God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses ...
SAINT AUGUSTINE By faithfulness we are collected and wound up into unity within ourselves, whereas we had been scatt...
SAINT AUGUSTINE Repentant tears wash out the stain of guilt.
SAINT AUGUSTINE In doing what we ought we deserve no praise, because it is our duty.
SAINT AUGUSTINE It is not the punishment but the cause that makes the martyr.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Bad company is like a nail driven into a post, which, after the first and second blow, may be drawn ...
SAINT AUGUSTINE The purpose of all wars, is peace.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Love, and do what you like.
SAINT AUGUSTINE God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist.
SAINT AUGUSTINE If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don't accept, because you will lose one friend; on th...
SAINT AUGUSTINE This world's a bubble.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee.
SAINT AUGUSTINE 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 Realize that illness and other temporal setbacks often come to us from the hand of God our Lord, and...
SAINT IGNATIUS Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Be slow to speak, and only after having first listened quietly, so that you may understand the meani...
SAINT IGNATIUS If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospe...
SAINT AUGUSTINE All who call the Holy Ghost a creature we pity, on the ground that, by this utterance, they are fall...
SAINT BASIL Never look a gift horse in the mouth. [Lat., Noli equi dentes inspicere donati.]
SAINT JEROME The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart.
SAINT JEROME Once you begin to believe there is help out there, you will know it to be true.
SAINT BARTHOLOMEW Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows that it brings abundance to drive a...
SAINT BASIL The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of ...
SAINT AUGUSTINE Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Order your soul; reduce your wants; live in charity; associate in Christian community; obey the laws...
SAINT AUGUSTINE I would not believe in the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so
SAINT AUGUSTINE Conscience and reputation are two things. Conscience is due to yourself, reputation to your neighbou...
SAINT AUGUSTINE Unless you believe, you will not understand.
SAINT AUGUSTINE The argument is at an end.
SAINT AUGUSTINE It is proper to ask for sorrow with Christ in sorrow, anguish with Christ in anguish, tears and deep...
SAINT IGNATIUS Passion is the evil in adultery. If a man has no opportunity of living with another man's wife, ...
SAINT AUGUSTINE You desire that which exceeds my humble powers, but I trust in the compassion and mercy of the All-p...
SAINT STEPHEN Forget not, O Lord, that I am one of those whom Thou hast created, and with Thine own blood hast red...
SAINT AMBROSE We cannot both preach and administer financial matters.
SAINT STEPHEN In the matter of learning, the difference between the earnest and the careless student stands out cl...
SAINT IGNATIUS On occasion, I used to give presents to the kings, besides the hire that I gave to to their sons who...
SAINT PATRICK Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of ...
SAINT AUGUSTINE A good youth ought to have a fear of God, to be subject to his parents, to give honor to his elders,...
SAINT AMBROSE Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Patience is the companion of wisdom.
SAINT AUGUSTINE What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and...
SAINT AUGUSTINE Just as we would have no need of the farmer's labor and toil if we were living amid the delights...
SAINT BASIL The greatest evil is physical pain.
SAINT AUGUSTINE It seems to me that an unjust law is no law at all.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Punishment is justice for the unjust.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.
SAINT AUGUSTINE Do not measure your loss by itself; if you do, it will seem intolerable; but if you will take all hu...
SAINT BASIL Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long cours...
SAINT AUGUSTINE Above all, remember that God looks for solid virtues in us, such as patience, humility, obedience, a...
SAINT IGNATIUS Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Th...
SAINT AUGUSTINE Try to keep your soul always in peace and quiet, always ready for whatever our Lord may wish to work...
SAINT IGNATIUS Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.
SAINT AUGUSTINE What I needed most was to love and to be loved, eager to be caught. Happily I wrapped those painful ...
SAINT AUGUSTINE Does not the gratitude of the dog put to shame any man who is ungrateful to his benefactors?
SAINT BASIL