Top 765 Quotes & Sayings by Saint Augustine - Page 2

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

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 are certainly in a common class with the beasts; every action of animal life is concerned with seeking bodily pleasure and avoiding pain.

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

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.

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

No eulogy is due to him who simply does his duty and nothing more.

The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.

Custom is second nature.

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

There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart.

It is not the punishment but the cause that makes the martyr.

Blessedness consists in the accomplishment of our desires, and in our having only regular desires.

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

This world's a bubble.

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

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.

Don't you believe that there is in man a deep so profound as to be hidden even to him in whom it is?

Repentant tears wash out the stain of guilt.

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

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?

The verdict of the world is conclusive.

The soul, which is spirit, can not dwell in dust; it is carried along to dwell in the blood.

I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.

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

To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it.

There is no possible source of evil except good.

He who labours, prays.

If we did not have rational souls, we would not be able to believe.

If you should ask me what are the ways of God, I would tell you that the first is humility, the second is humility, and the third is humility. Not that there are no other precepts to give, but if humility does not preceed all that we do, our efforts are fruitless.

Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His providence.

Do you desire security? Here you have it. The Lord says to you, "I will never abandon you, I will always be with you." If a good man made you such a promise, you would trust him. God makes it, and do you doubt? Do you seek a support more sure than the word of God, which is infallible? Surely, He has made the promise, He has written it, He has pledged His word for it, it is most certain.

There is no love without hope, no hope without love, and neither hope nor love without faith.

Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.

Sin is believing the lie that you are self-created, self-dependent and self-sustained.

God's love is unconditional. Be sure that yours is too!

In order to discover the character of people we have only to observe what they love.

The measure of love is to love without measuring.

Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being in love which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

Peace in society depends upon peace in the family.

Remember this. When people choose to withdraw far from a fire, the fire continues to give warmth, but they grow cold. When people choose to withdraw far from light, the light continues to be bright in itself but they are in darkness. This is also the case when people withdraw from God.

A Christian is: a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ helps.

Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.

Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.

If you are silent, be silent out of love. If you speak, speak out of love.

God of our life, there are days when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and weigh us down; when the road seems dreary and endless, the skies gray and threatening; when our lives have no music in them, and our hearts are lonely, and our souls have lost their courage. Flood the path with light, run our eyes to where the skies are full of promise; tune our hearts to brave music; give us the sense of comradeship with heroes and saints of every age; and so quicken our spirits that we may be able to encourage the souls of all who journey with us on the road of life, to your honor and glory.

It is no advantage to be near the light if the eyes are closed.

In all trouble you should seek God. You should not set Him over against your troubles, but within them. God can only relieve your troubles if you in your anxiety cling to Him. Trouble should not really be thought of as this thing or that in particular, for our whole life on earth involves trouble; and through the troubles of our earthly pilgrimage we find God.

Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, and kindles the true light of chastity.

God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.

The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.

To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.

If God seems slow in responding, it is because He is preparing a better gift. He will not deny us. God withholds what you are not yet ready for. He wants you to have a lively desire for His greatest gifts. All of which is to say, pray always and do not lose heart.

To be under pressure is inescapable. Pressure takes place through all the world; war, siege, the worries of state. We all know men who grumble under these pressures and complain. They are cowards. They lack splendour. But there is another sort of man who is under the same pressure but does not complain, for it is the friction which polishes him. It is the pressure which refines and makes him noble

Beware of despairing about yourself: you are commanded to put your trust in God, and not in yourself.

The cost of obedience is small compared with the cost of disobedience.

He who denies the existence of God, has some reason for wishing that God did not exist.

There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.

Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.

He who has God has everything; he who has everything but God has nothing.