50 Gifted Quotes From Saint Augustine

1. The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
2. God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.
3. Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
4. What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.
5. It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.
6. Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.
7. Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.
8. Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.
9. Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.
10. Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.
11. Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.
12. Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider.
13. O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.
14. O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet.
15. If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don't accept, because you will lose one friend; on the other hand, if two strangers come with the same request, accept because you will gain one friend.
16. Love is the beauty of the soul.
17. I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him.
18. Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee.
19. Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.
20. Patience is the companion of wisdom.
21. Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.
22. In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?
23. The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.
24. The greatest evil is physical pain.
25. 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.
26. Punishment is justice for the unjust.
27. By faithfulness we are collected and wound up into unity within ourselves, whereas we had been scattered abroad in multiplicity.
28. It is not the punishment but the cause that makes the martyr.
29. We are certainly in a common class with the beasts; every action of animal life is concerned with seeking bodily pleasure and avoiding pain.
30. If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.
31. He that is jealous is not in love.
32. Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.
33. Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.
34. Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.
35. What I needed most was to love and to be loved, eager to be caught. Happily I wrapped those painful bonds around me; and sure enough, I would be lashed with the red-hot pokers or jealousy, by suspicions and fear, by burst of anger and quarrels.
36. The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.
37. What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.
38. The same thing which is now called Christian religion existed among the ancients. They have begun to call 'Christian' the true religion which existed before.
39. Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.
40. We make ourselves a ladder out of our vices if we trample the vices themselves underfoot.
41. Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked.
42. Love, and do what you like.
43. This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.
44. There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart.
45. The spiritual virtue of a sacrament is like light; although it passes among the impure, it is not polluted.
46. Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.
47. It seems to me that an unjust law is no law at all.
48. 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.
49. 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.
50. If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.