A Quote by Teresa of Avila

Untilled soil, however fertile it may be, will bear thistles and thorns; so it is with man's mind.

Teresa of Avila

Quote Topics

Bear Fertile However Man May Mind Soil Thistles Thorns Will

Quote Author

Teresa of Avila
Spanish - Saint
March 28, 1515 - October 4, 1582

Untilled ground, however rich, will bring forth thistles and thorns; so also the mind of man.

Teresa of Avila

Even though one is well advanced in virtue, should he stop mortifying himself, he soon would lose his modesty and virtue - just as fertile soul quickly becomes dry and arid and produces nothing but thorns and thistles if it is not cultivated.

John Climacus

I think most American churchgoers are the soil that chokes the seed because of all the thorns. Thorns are anything that distracts us from God. When we want God and a bunch of other stuff, then that means we have thorns in our soil. A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions, or commitments are piled on top of it.

Francis Chan

A mind without instruction can no more bear fruit than can a field, however fertile, without cultivation.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

... continual hard labor deadens the energies of the soul, and benumbs the faculties of the mind; the ideas become confined, the mind barren, and, like the scorching sands of Arabia, produces nothing; or, like the uncultivated soil, brings forth thorns and thistles. Again, continual hard labor irritates our tempers and sours our dispositions; the whole system become worn out with toil and fatigue; nature herself becomes almost exhausted, and we care but little whether we live or die.

Maria W. Stewart

Talent is like a seed which needs fertile soil. There is no less talent now, there is less fertile soil to nourish it.

Walter Darby Bannard

When one speaks of humanity, the idea is fundamental that this is something which separates and distinguishes man from nature. In reality, however, there is no such separation: "natural" qualities and those called truly "human" are inseparably grown together. Man, in his highest and noblest capacities, is wholly nature and embodies its uncanny dual character. Those of his abilities which are terrifying and considered inhuman may even be the fertile soil out of which alone all humanity can grow in impulse, deed, and work.

Friedrich Nietzsche

The destroyer of weeds, thistles, and thorns is a benefactor whether he soweth grain or not.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Tilling the fertile soil of man's vanity.

Ellen Glasgow

Bear figs for a season or two, and the world outside the orchard is very unwilling you should bear thistles.

Kate Douglas Wiggin

Be thankful for the thorns and thistles, which keep you from being in love with this world, and becoming an idolater.

Charles Spurgeon

These are my politics: to change what we can; to better what we can; but still to bear in mind that man is but a devil weakly fettered by some generous beliefs and impositions; and for no word however sounding, and no cause however just and pious, to relax the stricture on these bonds.

Robert Louis Stevenson

There would be no call for ecological campaigning had nature not been exploited and abused. We experience the ground now bringing forth thistles as soil erosion devastates formerly arable land and deserts overtake fertile farms. Rivers and the atmosphere are polluted thoughtlessly and we are fearful of the consequences of a depleted ozone layer and the devastation of the greenhouse effect. We are not quite at home in our world, and somewhere in each of us there is a nostalgia for a paradise that has been lost.

Desmond Tutu

But the world turns, and even legends change; and somewhere there is a border, and sometime, perhaps, someone will decide to cross it, however well guarded its thorns may be.

Robin McKinley

Even as a very young man, I knew that my family is like a plant. Uproot it, and it will wilt. Pluck away at it, and it will die. But leave it to thrive in the soil, untouched, and it will weather both gods and winds. It is born with the soil, and it will live so long as the soil shall live.