The same thing which is now called Christian religion existed among the ancients. They have begun to call 'Christian' the true religion which existed before.
— Saint Augustine
It is not the punishment but the cause that makes the martyr.
We are certainly in a common class with the beasts; every action of animal life is concerned with seeking bodily pleasure and avoiding pain.
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.
There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart.
Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider.
In doing what we ought we deserve no praise, because it is our duty.
Blessedness consists in the accomplishment of our desires, and in our having only regular desires.
The verdict of the world is conclusive.
He fashioned hell for the inquisitive.
I found thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred in seeking thee without that wert within.
Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.
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.
To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.
Love is the beauty of the soul.
The greatest evil is physical pain.
I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him.
It seems to me that an unjust law is no law at all.
To seek the highest good is to live well.
We make ourselves a ladder out of our vices if we trample the vices themselves underfoot.
Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
He that is jealous is not in love.
The honors of this world, what are they but puff, and emptiness, and peril of falling?
He who labours, prays.
Bad company is like a nail driven into a post, which, after the first and second blow, may be drawn out with little difficulty; but being once driven up to the head, the pincers cannot take hold to draw it out, but which can only be done by the destruction of the wood.
We make a ladder for ourselves of our vices, if we trample those same vices underfoot.
God is best known in not knowing him.
There is no possible source of evil except good.
A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.
To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it.
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.
If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.
It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.
He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.
What I needed most was to love and to be loved, eager to be caught. Happily I wrapped those painful bonds around me; and sure enough, I would be lashed with the red-hot pokers or jealousy, by suspicions and fear, by burst of anger and quarrels.
If we did not have rational souls, we would not be able to believe.
Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee.
He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.
Hear the other side.
Repentant tears wash out the stain of guilt.
Custom is second nature.
This world's a bubble.
The soul, which is spirit, can not dwell in dust; it is carried along to dwell in the blood.
If I am given a formula, and I am ignorant of its meaning, it cannot teach me anything, but if I already know it what does the formula teach me?
Passion is the evil in adultery. If a man has no opportunity of living with another man's wife, but if it is obvious for some reason that he would like to do so, and would do so if he could, he is no less guilty than if he was caught in the act.
Don't you believe that there is in man a deep so profound as to be hidden even to him in whom it is?
Punishment is justice for the unjust.
Love, and do what you like.
Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.
If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don't accept, because you will lose one friend; on the other hand, if two strangers come with the same request, accept because you will gain one friend.
