Top 70 Quotes & Sayings by Ignatius of Loyola
Explore popular quotes and sayings by Ignatius of Loyola.
Last updated on December 23, 2024.
God will not be outdone in generosity.
Do not put faith in constant happiness, and fear most when all smiles upon you.
We must speak to God as a friend speaks to his friend, servant to his master; now asking some favor, now acknowledging our faults, and communicating to Him all that concerns us, our thoughts, our fears, our projects, our desires, and in all things seeking His counsel.
Laugh and grow strong.
Sin is unwillingness to trust that what God wants for me is only my deepest happiness.
Pray as if God will take care of all; act as if all is up to you.
If God gives you an abundant harvest of trials, it is a sign of great holiness which He desires you to attain. Do you want to become a great saint? Ask God to send you many sufferings. The flame of Divine Love never rises higher than when fed with the wood of the Cross, which the infinite charity of the Savior used to finish His sacrifice. All the pleasures of the world are nothing compared with the sweetness found in the gall and vinegar offered to Jesus Christ. That is, hard and painful things endured for Jesus Christ and with Jesus Christ.
He who goes about to reform the world must begin with himself, or he loses his labor.
Just as the commander of an army pitches his camp, studies the strength and defenses of a fortress, and then attacks it on its weakest side, in like manner, the enemy of our human nature studies from all sides our theological, cardinal, and moral virtues. Wherever he finds us weakest and most in need regarding our eternal salvation, he attacks and tries to take us by storm.
God inclines to shower His graces upon us, but our perverted will is a barrier to His generosity.
No idle word should be uttered. I understand a word to be idle when it serves no good purpose, either for myself or for another, and was not intended to do so.
Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me. I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more.
He who is not getting better is getting worse.
A person with imprecise ideas can understand little and be of less help to others.
Receive, Lord, all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will.
Idleness is hells fishhook for catching souls.
One of the most admirable effects of Holy Communion is to preserve the soul from sin, and to help those who fall through weakness to rise again. It is much more profitable, then, to approach this divine Sacrament with love, respect, and confidence, than to remain away through an excess of fear and scrupulosity.
As for joy, as little as one can have of it in this life, experience shows that it is not the idle who possess it, but those who are zealous in the service of God.
If you attach your heart to certain places and occupations, obedience oftentimes places you in some other place that you may not like; to be always cheerful, be always humble and obedient.
Let us work as if success depended upon ourselves alone, but with heartfelt conviction that we are doing nothing, and God everything.
Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within Thy wounds hide me. Permit me not to be separated from Thee. From the wicked foe defend me. At the hour of my death call me. And bid me come to Thee. That with Thy saints I may praise Thee For ever and ever. Amen.
... we ought even to hold as a fixed principle that what I see white I believe to be black, if the superior authorities define it to be so.
If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He certainly intends to make you a saint.
For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who disbelieve, no amount of proof is sufficient.
To conquer himself is the greatest victory that man can gain.
All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully.
You have given it all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and grace. That is enough for me.
Teach us, Good Lord, to give and not count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not to ask for any reward save that of knowing that we do thy will.
Finding God in All Things.
If, one day, I should offend God in any way, or grow remiss, though ever so little, in that which concerns His holy service and glory, I solemnly implore Him, rather let me die.
If our church is not marked by caring for the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, we are guilty of heresy.
He who is devout to the Virgin Mother will certainly never be lost.
To withdraw from creatures and repose with Jesus in the Tabernacle is my delight; there I can hide myself and seek rest. There I find a life which I cannot describe, a joy which I cannot make others comprehend, a peace such as is found only under the hospitable roof of our best Friend.
God gives each one of us sufficient grace ever to know His holy will, and to do it fully.
Few souls understand what God would effect in them if they should give themselves entirely into his hands and allow his grace to act.
It is not the finest wood that feeds the fire of Divine love, but the wood of the Cross.
The glory of God is humankind fully alive.
Stand firm and immovable as an anvil when it is beaten upon.
If God causes you to suffer much it is a sign that He has great designs for you and that He certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own great sacrifice of boundless charity.
Pardon me, O perfections of my God, for having preferred imperfect and evil inclinations to Thee! Pardon me, O justice of my God, for having outraged Thee by my sins. Pardon me, O holiness of my God, for having so long stained Thy sight's purity by my sins. Pardon me, O mercy of my God, for having despised so long Thy mercy's voice. In deep sorrow and contrition, I cast myself at Thy feet: Have mercy on me.
They who load us with insults and ignominies give us the means of acquiring treasures more precious than any that man can gain in this life.
There is no doubt that God will never be wanting to us, provided that He finds in us that humility which makes us worthy of His gifts, the desire of possessing them, and the promptitude to co-operate industriously with the graces He gives us.
In the case of those who are making progress from good to better, the good angel touches the soul gently, lightly, sweetly, as a drop of water enters a sponge, while the evil spirit touches it sharply, with noise and disturbance, like a drop of water falling on a rock.
O my God, teach me to be generous
to serve you as you deserve to be served
to give without counting the cost
to fight without fear of being wounded
to work without seeking rest
and to spend myself without expecting any reward
but the knowledge that I am doing your holy will.
Amen
He who carries God in his heart bears Heaven with him wherever he goes.
Love ought to show itself in deeds more than in words.
Discouragement is not from God.
The servant of God earns half a doctorate through illness
One must wage war against his predominant passion and not retreat until, with God's help, he has been victorious.
After you have made a decision that is pleasing to God, the Devil may try to make you have second thoughts. Intensify your prayer time, meditation, and good deeds. For if Satan's temptations merely cause you to increase your efforts to grow in holiness, he'll have an incentive to leave you alone.
Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous; teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost.
The acknowledgment of and gratitude for favors and gifts received is loved and esteemed in Heaven and on earth.
If one fears men much he will never do anything great for God: all that one does for God arouses persecution.
He who has heard the Word of God can bear his silences.
SPIRITUAL EXERCISES whereby to conquer oneself, and order one's life, without being influenced in one's decision by any inordinate affection.
Whatever you are doing, that which makes you feel the most alive...that is where God is.
Truth always ends by victory; it is not unassailable, but invincible.
Let your modesty be a sufficient incitement, yea, an exhortation to everyone to be at peace on their merely looking at you.
God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever. God's purpose in creating us is to draw forth from us a response of love and service here on earth, so that we may attain our goal of everlasting happiness with him in heaven.
The enemy is like a woman, weak in face of opposition, but correspondingly strong when not opposed. In a quarrel with a man, it is natural for a woman to lose heart and run away when he faces up to her; on the other hand, if the man begins to be afraid and to give ground, her rage, vindictiveness and fury overflow and know no limit.
