Saint Augustine Quotes

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.

There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart.

By faithfulness we are collected and wound up into unity within ourselves, whereas we had been scattered abroad in multiplicity.

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.

Thou must be emptied of that wherewith thou art full, that thou mayest be filled with that whereof thou art empty.

He who labours, prays.

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?

He that is jealous is not in love.

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.

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.

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

Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.

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

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.

If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.

Repentant tears wash out the stain of guilt.

God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.

The honors of this world, what are they but puff, and emptiness, and peril of falling?

The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.

Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.

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.

He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.

Oh Lord, give me chastity, but do not give it yet.

God is best known in not knowing him.

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

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.

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.

In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?

O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet.

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

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

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

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.

We make a ladder for ourselves of our vices, if we trample those same vices underfoot.

The greatest evil is physical pain.

Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity.

In doing what we ought we deserve no praise, because it is our duty.

Love is the beauty of the soul.

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.

Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt.

Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.

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.

By faithfulness we are collected and wound up into unity within ourselves, whereas we had been scattered abroad in multiplicity.

Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.

Love, and do what you like.

Custom is second nature.

Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider.

Patience is the companion of wisdom.

Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.

We make ourselves a ladder out of our vices if we trample the vices themselves underfoot.

Punishment is justice for the unjust.

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.

Hear the other side.

There is no possible source of evil except good.

Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.

He fashioned hell for the inquisitive.

O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.