Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
No one can obtain from the Pope a dispensation for never dying. [Lat., Nemo impetrare potest a papa bullam numquam moriendi.]
If your heart were sincere and upright, every creature would be unto you a looking-glass of life and a book of holy doctrine.
It is better to be affected with a true penitent sorrow for sin than to be able to resolve the most difficult cases about it.
Cling, therefore, to Jesus in life and death; trust yourself to the glory of Him who alone can help you when all others fail.
If thou canst not make thyself such an one as thou wouldst, how canst thou expect to have another in all things to thy liking?
Study, therefore, to withdraw the love of your soul from all things that are visible, and turn it to things that are invisible.
O Lord, self-renunciation is not the work of one day, nor children's sport; yea, rather in this word is included all perfection.
Whoever would fully and feelingly understand the words of Christ, must endeavor to conform his life wholly to the life of Christ.
Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying or meditating or endeavoring something for the public good.
Love is a great thing, yea, a great and thorough good. By itself it makes what is heavy light; and bears evenly all that is uneven.
Wait for the Lord. Behave yourself manfully, and be of good courage. Do not be faithless, but stay in your place and do not turn back.
O Lord, you know what is best for me. Let this or that be done, as you please. Give what you will, how much you will, and when you will.
What difference does it make to you what someone else becomes, or says, or does? You do not need to answer for others, only for yourself.
Forasmuch as many people study more to have knowledge than to live well therefore ofttimes they err and bring forth little fruit or none.
To be able to live peaceably with hard and perverse persons, or with the disorderly, or with such as go contrary to us, is a great grace.
The measure of every man’s virtue is best revealed in time of adversity - adversity that does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is.
If you seek Jesus in all things you will surely find Jesus. And if you seek yourself, you will surely find yourself, but only to your ruin.
But because many endeavor to get knowledge rather than to live well, they are often deceived and reap little or no benefit from their labor.
The enemy is more easily overcome if he be not suffered to enter the door of our hearts, but be resisted without the gate at his first knock.
In the morning fix thy good purpose; and at night examine thyself what thou hast done, how thou hast behaved thyself in word, deed, and thought.
One who views thing as they are in reality, and not as they are said or thought to be, is truly wise, taught by God rather than by other persons
Occasions of adversity best discover how great virtue or strength each one hath. For occasions do not make a man frail, but they show what he is.
May not be your peace in the mouth of the men; since no matter if they thing good or bad about you, you should not be a different man because of that.
What canst thou see elsewhere which thou canst not see here? Behold the heaven and the earth and all the elements; for of these are all things created.
Let not your peace rest in the utterances of men, for whether they put a good or bad construction on your conduct does not make you other than you are.
The intention which is fixed on God as its only end will keep people steady in their purposes, and deliver them from being the joke and scorn of fortune.
Too many instances there are of daring men, who by presuming to sound the deep things of religion, have cavilled and argued themselves out of all religion.
Do not let your peace depend on the hearts of men; whatever they say about you, good or bad, you are not because of it another man, for as you are, you are.
Grace is the mastery of truth, the teacher of discipline, the light of the heart, the comforter of affliction, the banisher of sorrow, the nurse of devotion.
As iron cast into fire loses its rust and becomes glowing white, so he who turns completely to God is stripped of his sluggishness and changed into a new man.
Trust not to friends and kindred, neither do thou put off the care of thy soul's welfare til hereafter; for men will sooner forget thee than thou art aware of.
Let this be thy whole endeavor, this thy prayer, this thy desire,-that thou mayest be stripped of all selfishness, and with entire simplicity follow Jesus only.
Love feels no burden, regards not labors, strives toward more than it attains, argues not of impossibility, since it believes that it may and can do all things.
In judging others a man laboreth in vain; he often erreth, and easily falleth into sin; but in judging and examining himself he always laboreth to good purpose.
He does much who loves God much, and he does much who does his deed well, and he does his deed well who does it rather for the common good than for his own will.
Let nothing disturb thee, Let nothing affright thee; All passeth away: God only shall stay. Patience wins all: Who hath God, needeth nothing; For God is his All.
Praise adds nothing to your holiness, nor does blame take anything from it. You are what you are, and you cannot be said to be better than you are in God's sight.
Leave off that excessive desire of knowing; therein is found much distraction. There are many things the knowledge of which is of little or no profit to the soul.
Our dependence upon God ought to be so entire and absolute that we should never think it necessary, in any kind of distress, to have recourse to human consolations.
Love longs to be free, a stranger to every worldly desire, lest its inner vision become dimmed, and lest worldly self-interest hinder it or ill-fortune cast it down.
God evaluates by this criterion: How much love you invest in what you do is more important than how you do. The one who loves much is actually the one who does much.
Anyone who thinks hard work will never hurt you has never had to pay to have it done. Jesus now has many lovers of his Heavenly Kingdom, but few bearers of his cross.
You will never be an inwardly religious and devout man unless you pass over in silence the shortcomings of your fellow men, and diligently examine your own weaknesses.
For they truly know their Lord in the breaking of bread, whose heart within them so vehemently burneth, whilst Thou, O blessed Jesus, dost walk and converse with them.
Always keep a good distance between yourself and lying, quarreling, detracting, insulting and gossip. The person who can do that will some day learn to enjoy the silence.
How should thy patience be crowned in heaven if none adversity should befall to thee in earth? If thou wilt suffer none adversity how mayest thou be the friend of Christ?
Do not try to find a place free from temptations and troubles. Rather, seek a peace that endures even when you are beset by various temptations and tried by much adversity.
If you want to learn something that will really help you, learn to see yourself as God sees you and not as you see yourself in the distorted mirror of your own self-importance.
As iron put into the fire loseth its rust and becometh clearly red-hot, so he that wholly turneth himself unto God puts off all slothfulness, and is transformed into a new man.
No one is so good that he is immune from temptation. We will never be entirely free from it. . . . There is no order so holy, no place so secret where there will be no temptation.