St. Augustine Quotes

Where love is, what can be wanting? Where it is not, what can possibly be profitable?

Why is it that man desires to be made sad, beholding doleful and tragical things, which yet himself would by no means suffer?

Let those who think I have said too little and those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let those who think I have said just enough thank God with me.

A temptation arises: it is the wind. It disturbs you: it is the surging of the seas. This is the time to awaken Christ and let Him remind you of these words

Libraries are not made, they grow.

Love is ever new because it never groweth old.

The will is truly free, when it is not the slave of vices and sins.

For God loves saving, not condemning, and therefore He is patient with bad people, in order to make good people out of bad people.

Put no faith in salvation through the political order.

Grace alone brings about every good work in us.

Love, and He will draw near; love, and He will dwell within you.

Oh, beauty, ever ancient and ever new.

God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist.

Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of his head are easier by far to count than his feeling, the movements of his heart.

Sin is looking for the right thing in the wrong place.

To touch God a little with our mind is a great blessing, to grasp him is impossible.

The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass.

I would not believe in the Gospel, if the authority of the Catholic Church did not bid me to do so.

He indeed possesses the Character imposed on him, but he wanders as a renegade.

To wisdom belongs the intellectual apprehension of eternal things; to knowledge, the rational knowledge of temporal things.

For where I found Truth, there found I my God, the Truth itself; which since I learnt, I have not forgotten.

God is more anxious to bestow his blessings on us than we are to receive them.

Do not follow any road, but that which Christ trod. This road seems hard, but it is safe.

Nothing whatever pertaining to godliness and real holiness can be accomplished without grace .

I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him.

There can only be two basic loves... the love of God unto the forgetfulness of self, or the love of self unto the forgetfulness and denial of God.

The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.

Law Number IX: Acronyms and abbreviations should be used to the maximum extent possible to make trivial ideas profound ... Q.E.D.

God gives where he finds empty hands.

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.

To withhold forgiveness is to take poison and expect the unforgiven to die.

We take for granted the slow miracle whereby water in the irrigation of a vineyard becomes wine. It is only when Christ turns water into wine, in a quick motion, as it were, that we stand amazed.

...If humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are fruitless.

There is something in humility which, strangely enough, exalts the heart, and something in pride which debases it.

And he departed from our sight that we might return to our hearts and find him there. For he left us, and behold, he is here.

Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men.

What you are must always displease you, if you would attain to that which you are not.

But not forgiving yourself often becomes the root of severe self-loathing extreme self hatred and intense inhibitions. It will be next to impossible to truly start over when you feel unforgivable.

Let us therefore yield ourselves and bow to the authority of the Holy Scriptures, which can neither err nor deceive.

If God is, why is there evil? But if God is not, why is there good?

Be always displeased with what you are if you wish to be what you are not. Always add, always walk, always proceed. Neither stand still nor go back nor deviate.

No eulogy is due to him who simply does his duty and nothing more.

Just as it is agreed that we all wish to be happy, so it is that we all wish to be wise, since no one without wisdom is happy.

Indifferent acts are judged by their ends sins are judged by themselves.

We cannot pass our guardian angel's bounds, resigned or sullen, he will hear our sighs.

The purpose of all wars, is peace.

Oh, God, to know you is life. To serve You is freedom. To praise you is the soul's joy and delight. Guard me with the power of Your grace here and in all places. Now and at all times, forever. Amen.

Desire only God, and your heart will be satisfied.

He who labours, prays.

Love God, and do what you like.