Top 83 Quotes & Sayings by John of the Cross

However high be your endeavors, unless you renounce and subjugate your own will - unless you forget yourself and all that pertains to yourself - not one step will you advance on the road to perfection.

The conditions of a solitary bird are five: The first, that it flies to the highest point; The Second, that it does not suffer for company, not even of its own kind; The Third, that it aims its beak to the skies; The Fourth, that it does not have a definite color; The Fifth, that it sings very softly.

In sorrow and suffering, go straight to God with confidence, and you will be strengthened, enlightened and instructed.

Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved.

My sole occupation is love.

In the inner stillness where meditation leads, the Spirit secretly anoints the soul and heals our deepest wounds.

See that you are not suddenly saddened by the adversities of this world, for you do not know the good they bring, being ordained in the judgments of God for the everlasting joy of the elect.

Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing.

Seek in reading and you will find in meditation; knock in prayer and it will be opened to you in contemplation.

If you lose an opportunity you will be like one who lets the bird fly away; you will never get it back.

Faith is a dark night for man, but in this very way it gives him light.

However softly we speak, God is so close to us that he can hear us; nor do we need wings to go in search of him, but merely to seek solitude and contemplate him within ourselves, without being surprised to find such a good Guest there.

He who loves is not ashamed before men of what he does for God, neither does he hide it through shame though the whole world should condemn it.

Strive always to confess your sins with a deep knowledge of your own wretchedness and with clarity and purity.

In tribulation immediately draw near to God with confidence, and you will receive strength, enlightenment, and instruction.

Have a great love for those who contradict and fail to love you, for in this way love is begotten in a heart that has no love.

He who avoids prayer is avoiding everything that is good.

The soul that walks in love neither tires others nor grows tired.

The divine awakening produces in the soul of the perfect a flame of love which is a participate of that living flame which is the Holy Spirit Himself...this is the operation of the Holy Spirit in the soul that is transformed in love.

Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved. The soul that is attached to anything, however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of Divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for until the cord be broken, the bird cannot fly.

Now that I no longer desire all, I have it all without desire.

The eternal spring is hidden in this living bread for our life's sake, although it is night. It is here calling out to creatures; and they satisfy their thirst, although in darkness, because it is night. This living spring that I long for, I see in this bread of life, although it is night.

Live in faith and hope, though it be in darkness, for in this darkness God protects the soul. Cast your care upon God for you are His and He will not forget you. Do not think that He is leaving you alone, for that would be to wrong Him.

Silence is God's first language.

In the dark night of the soul, bright flows the river of God.

In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human success, but rather on how much we have loved.

Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according to his good pleasure and rest in him.

It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others.

Contemplation is nothing else but a secret, peaceful, and loving infusion of God, which, if admitted, will set the soul on fire with the Spirit of love.

The soul that journey's to God, but doesn't shake off it's cares and quiet it's appetities, is like someone who drags a cart of dirt uphill.

A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things.

They say, "God told me", or "God replied to me". And yet most of the time they are talking to themselves.

When a soul has advanced so far on the spiritual road as to be lost to all the natural methods of communing with God; when it seeks Him no longer by meditation, images, impressions, nor by any other created ways, or representations of sense, but only by rising above them all, in the joyful communion with Him by faith and love, then it may be said to have found God of a truth, because it has truly lost itself as to all that is not God, and also as to its own self.

Would that men might come at last to see that it is quite impossible to reach the thicket of the riches and wisdom of God except by first entering the thicket of much suffering, in such a way that the soul finds there its consolation and desire. The soul that longs for divine wisdom chooses first, and in truth, to enter the thicket of the cross.

The road is narrow. He who wishes to travel it more easily must cast off all things and use the cross as his cane. In other words, he must be truly resolved to suffer willingly for the love of God in all things.

Obedience is a penance of reason, and, on that account, a sacrifice more acceptable than all corporal penances and mortifications.

Live as though only God and yourself were in this world, so that your heart may not be detained by anything human.

Yearning: It needs to hurt in order to be worthy of the word. Otherwise it is just wanting.

Whoever does not seek the cross of Christ doesn't seek the glory of Christ.

Never listen to accounts of the frailty of others; and if anyone should complain to you of another, humbly ask him not to speak about him at all.

Desolation is a file, and the endurance of darkness is preparation for great light.

Oh, night that guided me, Oh, night more lovely than the dawn,Oh, night that joined Beloved with lover, Lover transformed in the Beloved!

My spirit has become dry because it forgets to feed on You.

Where there is no love, pour love in, and you will draw love out.

To love is to be transformed into what we love. To love God is therefore to be transformed into God.

Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent.

The centre of the soul is God; and, when the soul has attained to Him according to the whole capacity of its being, which is the strength and virtue of the soul, it will have reached the last and the deep centre of the soul, which will be when with all its powers it loves and understands and enjoys God.

At the end of our life, we shall all be judged by charity.

Take God for your spouse and friend and walk with him continually, and you will not sin and will learn to love, and the things you must do will work out prosperously for you.

God leads every soul by a separate path.

If you do not learn to deny yourself, you can make no progress in perfection.

There is nothing better or morenecessary than love.

The soul of one who serves God always swims in joy, always keeps holiday, is always in her palace of jubilation, ever singing with fresh ardor and fresh pleasure a new song of joy and love.

God passes through the thicket of the world, and wherever His glance falls He turns all things to beauty.

Faith is the union of God and the soul.

Never give up prayer, and should you find dryness and difficulty, persevere in it for this very reason. God often desires to see what love your soul has, and love is not tried by ease and satisfaction.

To reach satisfaction in all desire its possession in nothing, To come to the knowledge of all desire the knowledge of nothing. To come to possess all desire the possession of nothing. To arrive at being all desire to be nothing.

The purest suffering bears and carries in its train the purest understanding.

God desires the smallest degree of purity of conscience in you more than all the works you can perform.

Do not let your "eye" be drawn by the false "beacon lamps" -of wealth, or position, or fame, or possessions. Be vigilant over your will and desires, for these are the corrupt forces that dwell within, and keep you from living free.