Top 55 Quotes & Sayings by Philip Neri

Even though a man may be unable to attain such a height of sanctity, he ought to desire it, so as to do at least in desire what he cannot carry out in effect.

The greatness of our love of God must be tested by the desire we have of suffering for His love.

Without mortification nothing can be done.

To acquire and preserve the virtue of chastity, we have need of a good and experienced confessor.

The stench of impurity before God and the angels is so great, that no stench in the world can equal it.

There is nothing more dangerous in the spiritual life, than to wish to rule ourselves after our own way of thinking.

Let us be humble and keep ourselves down: - Obedience! Humility! Detachment!

The Lord grants in a moment what we may have been unable to obtain in dozens of years.

It is easy to infuse a most fervent devotion into others, even in a short time; but the great matter is - to persevere.

He who is unable to spend a long time together in prayer, should often lift up his mind to God by short prayers.

We must not trust in ourselves, but take the advice of our spiritual father, and recommend ourselves to everybodys prayers.

He who feels that the vice of avarice has got hold of him, should not wish to observe fasts of supererogation, but to give alms.

Those who have themselves for a spiritual director have a fool for a spiritual director.

My children, if you desire perseverance, be devout to our Blessed Lady.

We must sometimes bear with little defects in others, as we have, against our will, to bear with natural defects in ourselves. If we wish to keep peace with our neighbor, we should never remind anyone of his natural defects.

Believe me, there is no more powerful means to obtain God's grace than to employ the intercessions of the Holy Virgin.

In sickness we ought to ask God to give us patience, because it often happens, that when a man gets well, he not only does not do the good he proposed to do when he was sick, but he multiplies his sins and his ingratitude.

They who have been exercised in the service of God for a long time, may in their prayers imagine all sorts of insults offered to them, such as blows, wounds, and the like, and so in order to imitate Christ by their charity, may accustom their hearts beforehand to forgive real injuries when they come.

Let the sick man enter into the Side of Jesus and His most holy Wounds; let him not be afraid, but combat manfully, and he will come forth victorious.

As soon as we are stripped of the sordid garb of avarice, we shall be clothed with the royal and imperial vest of the opposite virtue, liberality.

Let us pray God, if He gives us any virtue or any gift, to keep it hidden even from ourselves, that we may preserve our humility, and not take occasion of pride because of it.

A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one.

The perfection of a Christian consists in mortifying his will for the love of Christ. Where there is no great mortification, there is no great sanctity.

To preserve our cheerfulness amid sicknesses and troubles, is a sign of a right and good spirit.

Obedience is the true holocaust which we sacrifice to God on the altar of our hearts.

It is an old custom of the servants of God to have some little prayer ready and to be frequently darting them up to heaven during the day, lifting their minds to God out of the mire of this world.

Humility is the safeguard of chastity. In the matter of purity, there is no greater danger than not fearing the danger. For my part, when I find a man secure of himself and without fear, I give him up for lost. I am less alarmed for one who is tempted and who resists by avoiding the occasions, than for one who is not tempted and is not careful to avoid occasions. When a person puts himself in an occasion, saying, I shall not fall, it is an almost infallible sign that he will fall, and with great injury to his soul.

At communion we ought to ask for the remedy of the vice to which we feel ourselves most inclined.

Cast yourself into the arms of God and be very sure that if he wants anything of you, He will fit you for the work and give you strength.

The great thing is to become Saints.

We must often remember what Christ said, that not he who begins, but he that perseveres to the end, shall be saved.

During mental prayer, it is well, at times, to imagine that many insults and injuries are being heaped upon us, that misfortunes have befallen us, and then strive to train our heart to bear and forgive these things patiently, in imitation of our Saviour. This is the way to acquire a strong spirit.

The best remedy for dryness of spirit, is to picture ourselves as beggars in the presence of God and the Saints, and like a beggar, to go first to one saint, then to another, to ask a spiritual alms of them with the same earnestness as a poor fellow in the streets would ask an alms of us.

He who wishes for anything but Christ, does not know what he wishes; he who asks for anything but Christ, does not know what he is asking; he who works, and not for Christ, does not know what he is doing.

Not to know how to deny our soul its own wishes, is to foment a very hot-bed of vices.

The cross is the gift God gives to his friends.

Heaven is not made for the slothful.

Christian joy is a gift of God flowing from a good conscience.

He who wishes for goods will never have devotion.

"If a man finds it very hard to forgive injuries, let him look at a Crucifix, and think that Christ shed all His Blood for him, and not only forgave His enemies, but even prayed His Heavenly Father to forgive them also. Let him remember that when he says the Pater Noster, every day, instead of asking pardon for his sins, he is calling down vengeance on himself."

In this life there is no purgatory; it is either hell or paradise; for to him who serves God truly, every trouble and infirmity turns into consolations, and through all kinds of trouble he has a paradise within himself even in this world: and he who does not serve God truly, and gives himself up to sensuality, has one hell in this world, and another in the next.

Let us think, if we only got to heaven, what a sweet and easy thing it will be there to be always saying with the angels and the saints, Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.

We are not saints yet, but we, too, should beware. Uprightness and virtue do have their rewards, in self-respect and in respect from others, and it is easy to find ourselves aiming for the result rather than the cause. Let us aim for joy, rather than respectability. Let us make fools of ourselves from time to time, and thus see ourselves, for a moment, as the all-wise God sees us.

To be without pity for other mens falls, is an evident sign that we shall fall ourselves shortly.

If we wish to keep peace with our neighbours, we should never remind any one of his natural defects.

He who desires anything but God deceives himself, and he who loves anything but God errs miserably.

Give me ten truly detached men. and I will convert the world with them.

First let a little love find entrance into their hearts, and the rest will follow.

The best way to prepare for death is to spend every day of life as though it were the last.

He who always acts under obedience may be assured that he will not have to give an account of his actions to God.

There is nothing the devil fears so much, or so much tries to hinder, as prayer.

Do not grieve over the temptations you suffer. When the Lord intends to bestow a particular virtue on us, He often permits us first to be tempted by the opposite vice. Therefore, look upon every temptation as an invitation to grow in a particular virtue and a promise by God that you will be successful, if only you stand fast.

My Jesus, if you uphold me, I shall not fall.

Where there is no great mortification there is no great sanctity.

The man who loves God with a true heart, and prizes him above all things, sometimes sheds floods of tears at prayer, and has in abundance of favours and spiritual feelings coming upon him with such vehemence, that he is forced to cry out, "Lord! let me be quiet!