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...but We Enjoyed Playing Games And Were Punished For Them By Men Who Played Games Themselves. However, Grown-up Games Are Known As 'business' And Even Though Boys' Games Are Much The Same, They Are Punished For Them By Their Elders. No One Pities Either The Boys Or The Men, Though Surely We Deserve Pity, For I Cannot Believe That A Good Judge Would Approve Of The Beatings I Received As A Boy On The Ground That My Games Delayed My Progress In Studying Subjects Which Would Enable Me To Play A Less Creditable Game Later In Life.

-Saint Augustine

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...but We Enjoyed Playing

Saint Augustine

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...but We Enjoyed Playing Games And Were Punished For Them By Men Who Played Games Themselves. However, Grown-up Games Are Known As 'business' And Even Though Boys' Games Are Much The Same, They Are Punished For Them By Their Elders. No One Pities Either The Boys Or The Men, Though Surely We Deserve Pity, For I Cannot Believe That A Good Judge Would Approve Of The Beatings I Received As A Boy On The Ground That My Games Delayed My Progress In Studying Subjects Which Would Enable Me To Play A Less Creditable Game Later In Life.

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Not All, Nor Even A Majority, Are Saved. . . They Are Indeed Many, If Regarded By Themselves, But They Are Few In Comparison With The Far Larger Number Of Those Who Shall Be Punished With The Devil.

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If Bodies Please Thee, Praise God On Occasion Of Them, And Turn Back Thy Love Upon Their Maker; Lest In These Things Which Please Thee, Thou Displease. If Souls Please Thee, Be They Loved In God: For They Too Are Mutable, But In Him They Are Firmly Established.

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Whole Prayer Is Nothing But Love.

Be Always Displeased With What You Are If You Wish To Be What You Are Not. Always Add, Always Walk, Always Proceed. Neither Stand Still Nor Go Back Nor Deviate.

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Whoever Seems To Himself To Have Understood The Scriptures In Such A Way That He Does Not Build Up That Double Love Of God And Neighbor Has Not Yet Understood.

There Are Wolves Within, And There Are Sheep Without.

Late Have I Loved You, O Beauty Ever Ancient And Ever New! Late Have I Loved You! And, Behold, You Were Within Me, And I Out Of Myself, And There I Searched For You.

Passion Is The Evil In Adultery. If A Man Has No Opportunity Of Living With Another Man's Wife, But If It Is Obvious For Some Reason That He Would Like To Do So, And Would Do So If He Could, He Is No Less Guilty Than If He Was Caught In The Act.

God Almighty Would In No Way Permit Evil In His Works Were He Not So Omnipotent And Good That Even Out Of Evil He Could Work Good.

The Sole Purpose Of Life Is To Gain Merit For Life In Eternity.

Ignorance Itself Is Without A Doubt A Sin For Those Who Do Not Wish To Understand; For Those Who, However, Cannot Understand, It Is The Punishment Of Sin.

Christ Is Not Valued At All, Unless He Is Valued Above All.

Christian Inspirational

Really Great Things, When Discussed By Little Men, Can Usually Make Such Men Grow Big.

They, Then, Who Are Destined To Die, Need Not Be Careful To Inquire What Death They Are To Die, But Into What Place Death Will Usher Them.

Whoever, Then, Thinks That He Understands The Holy Scriptures, Or Any Part Of Them, But Puts Such An Interpretation Upon Them As Does Not Tend To Build Up This Twofold Love Of God And Our Neighbor, Does Not Yet Understand Them As He Ought.

If A Shameless Woman Expects To Be Defiled And Then Dies Of Her Fierce Love Because You Do Not Consent, Will Chastity Also Be Homicide?

The People Who Remained Victorious Were Less Like Conquerors Than Conquered.

My Mother Spoke Of Christ To My Father, By Her Feminine And Childlike Virtues, And, After Having Borne His Violence Without A Murmur Or Complaint, Gained Him At The Close Of His Life To Christ.

Not To Give To Those In Need What Is To You Superfluous Is Akin To Fraud.

What Am I Then, My God? What Is My Nature? A Life Varied, Multifaceted And Truly Immense.

Unhappy Is The Soul Enslaved By The Love Of Anything That Is Mortal.

And Yet I Do Love A Kind Of Light, Melody, Fragrance, Food, Embracement When I Love My God; For He Is The Light, The Melody, The Fragrance, The Food, The Embracement Of My Inner Self - There Where Is A Brillance That Space Cannot Contain, A Sound That Time Cannot Carry Away, A Perfume That No Breeze Disperses, A Taste Undimisnished By Eating, A Clinging Together That No Saiety Will Sunder. This Is What I Love When I Love My God.

Quid Est Ergo Tempus? Si Nemo Ex Me Quaerat, Scio; Si Quaerenti Explicare Velim, Nescio. What, Then, Is Time? I Know Well Enough What It Is, Provided That Nobodyasksme; But If Iamasked What It Is And Try To Explain, I Am Baffled.

The Customs Of God's People And The Institutions Of Our Ancestors Are To Be Considered As Laws. And Those Who Throw Contempt On The Customs Of The Church Ought To Be Punished As Those Who Disobey The Law Of God.

Grant What Thou Commandest, And Command What Thou Wilt.

Woman Was Merely Man's Helpmate, A Function Which Pertains To Her Alone. She Is Not The Image Of God But As Far As Man Is Concerned, He Is By Himself The Image Of God.

Love All Men, Even Your Enemies; Love Them, Not Because They Are Your Brothers, But That They May Become Your Brothers. Thus You Will Ever Burn With Fraternal Love, Both For Him Who Is Already Your Brother And For Your Enemy, That He May By Loving Become Your Brother.

God Loves Each Of Us As If There Were Only One Of Us.

Nothing So Casts Down The Manly Mind From It's Height As The Fondling Of Women And Those Bodily Contacts Which Belong To The Married State.

If By Fate Anyone Means The Will Or Power Of God, Let Him Keep His Meaning But Mend His Language; For Fate Commonly Means A Necessary Process Which Will Have Its Way Apart From The Will Of God And Men.

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.

And I Will Ask The Father, And He Shall Give You Another Paraclete, Seeing He Saith This Of The Holy Spirit, Whom Except We Have, We Can Neither Love God, Nor Keep His Commandments?

Christ Was Born Of A Woman Without The Man.

There Can Only Be Two Basic Loves... The Love Of God Unto The Forgetfulness Of Self, Or The Love Of Self Unto The Forgetfulness And Denial Of God.

If A Parricide Is More Wicked Than Anyone Who Commits Homicide-because He Kills Not Merely A Man But A Near Relative-without Doubt Worse Still Is He Who Kills Himself, Because There Is None Nearer To A Man Than Himself.

If We Did Not Have Rational Souls, We Would Not Be Able To Believe.

It Is Better To Be Cured In The Church Than To Be Cut Off From This Body As Incurable ... For, As Long As The Member Is Still Attached To The Body, His Cure Is Not Beyond Hope, But When He Has Been Cut Off, He Can Neither Be Treated Nor Cured.

We Can Know What God Is Not, But We Cannot Know What He Is.

We Come To God By Love And Not By Navigation.

I Have Said Before, And I Shall Say Again, That I Write This Book For Love Of Your Love.

Carnal Lust Rules Where There Is No Love Of God.

Complete Abstinence Is Easier Than Perfect Moderation.

If You Comprehend, It Is Not God.

Solvitur Ambulando . . . It Is Solved By Walking.

Give Me Chastity And Continence, But Not Yet.

Jesus Took His Flesh From The Flesh Of Mary

The Way To Christ Is First Through Humility, Second Through Humility, And Third Through Humility. If Humility Does Not Precede And Accompany And Follow Every Good Work We Do, If It Is Not Before Us To Focus On, It It Is Not Beside Us To Lean Upon, If It Is Not Behind Us To Fence Us In, Pride Will Wrench From Our Hand Any Good Deed We Do At The Very Moment We Do It.

Our Rewards In Heaven Are A Result Of God's Crowning His Own Gifts.

Oh, Beauty, Ever Ancient And Ever New.

If God Is, Why Is There Evil? But If God Is Not, Why Is There Good?

I Too Have Sworn Heedlessly And All The Time, I Have Had This Most Repulsive And Death-dealing Habit. I'm Telling Your Graces; From The Moment I Began To Serve God , And Saw What Evil There Is In Forswearing Oneself, I Grew Very Afraid Indeed, And Out Of Fear I Applied The Brakes To This Old, Old, Habit.

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.

Purity Of Soul Cannot Be Lost Without Consent.

Blessedness Consists In The Accomplishment Of Our Desires, And In Our Having Only Regular Desires.

The World Being Unworthy To Receive The Son Of God Directly From The Hands Of The Father, He Gave His Son To Mary For The World To Receive Him From Her.

God Bestows More Consideration On The Purity Of The Intention With Which Our Actions Are Performed Than On The Actions Themselves.

Purity And Love

You Called And Shouted And Burst My Deafness. You Flashed, Shone, And Scattered My Blindness. You Breathed Odors, And I Drew In Breath And Panted For You. I Tasted, And I Hunger And Thirst. You Touched Me, And I Burned For Your Peace.

Hunger And Thirst

All Truth And Understanding Is A Result Of A Divine Light Which Is God Himself.

Alternate Translation: Come Brethren, If You Have A Mind To Be Ingrafted In The Vine, It Is A Pity To See You Lopped Off In This Manner From The Stock. Reckon Up The Prelates In The Very See Of Peter; And In That Order Of Fathers See Which Has Succeeded Which. This Is The Rock Over Which The Proud Gates Of Hell Prevail Not.

No One Reaches The Kingdom Of Heaven Except By Humility

All The Dancer's Gestures Are Signs Of Things, And The Dance Called Rational, Because It Aptly Signifies And Displays Something Over And Above The Pleasure Of The Senses.

Two Cities Have Been Formed By Two Loves: The Earthly By The Love Of Self; The Heavenly By The Love Of God.

It Is A Sin To Judge Any Man By His Post

The Kingdom Of Heaven, O Man, Requires No Other Price Than Yourself. The Value Of It Is Yourself. Give Yourself For It And You Shall Have It.

We Must Be On Our Guard Against Giving Interpretations Which Are Hazardous Or Opposed To Science, And So Exposing The Word Of God To The Ridicule Of Unbelievers.

Let Those Who Think I Have Said Too Little And Those Who Think I Have Said Too Much, Forgive Me; And Let Those Who Think I Have Said Just Enough Thank God With Me.

Free Curiosity Is Of More Value In Learning Than Harsh Discipline.

Any Woman Who Does Not Give Birth To As Many Children As She Is Capable Is Guilty Of Murder.

It Is Not The Being Seen Of Men That Is Wrong, But Doing These Things For The Purpose Of Being Seen Of Men. The Problem With The Hypocrite Is His Motivation.

When God Is Our Strength, It Is Strength Indeed; When Our Strength Is Our Own, It Is Only Weakness.

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.

Unjust Laws Aren't Laws At All.

By The Fall A Poison Was Handed To Mankind Through A Woman [eve], By The Redemption Man Was Given Salvation Also Through A Woman [mary].

Did My Infancy Succeed Another Age Of Mine That Dies Before It? Was It That Which I Spent Within My Mother's Womb?... And What Before That Life Again, O God Of My Joy, Was I Anywhere Or In Any Body?

Now, Justification In This Life Is Given To Us According To These Three Things: First By The Laver Of Regeneration By Which All Sins Are Forgiven; Then, By A Struggle With The Faults From Whose Guilt We Have Been Absolved; The Third, When Our Prayer Is Heard, In Which We Say: 'forgive Us Our Debts,' Because However Bravely We Fight Against Our Faults, We Are Men; But The Grace Of God So Aids As We Fight In This Corruptible Body That There Is Reason For His Hearing Us As We Ask Forgiveness.

My Love For You, Lord, Is Not An Uncertain Feeling, But A Matter Of Concious Certainty. With Your Word You Pierced My Heart, And I Loved You. But Heaven And Earth And Everything In Them On All Sides Tell Me To Love You.

Just As It Is Agreed That We All Wish To Be Happy, So It Is That We All Wish To Be Wise, Since No One Without Wisdom Is Happy.

When, Therefore, Man Lives According To Man, Not According To God, He Is Like The Devil.

Peace In Society Depends Upon Peace In The Family.

If We Tread Our Vices Under Our Feet, We Make Of Them A Ladder By Which To Rise To Higher Things.

Let Your Old Age Be Childlike, And Your Childhood Like Old Age; That Is, So That Neither May Your Wisdom Be With Pride, Nor Your Humility Without Wisdom.

Habit, If Not Resisted, Soon Becomes Necessity.

When I Come To Be United To Thee With All My Being, Then There Will Be No More Pain And Toil For Me, And My Life Shall Be A Real Life, Being Wholly Filled By Thee.

Faith Is To Believe What You Do Not See; The Reward Of This Faith Is To See What You Believe.

Temporal Punishments Are Suffered By Some In This Life Only, By Some After Death, By Some Both Here And Hereafter, But All Of Them Before That Last And Strictest Judgment. But Not All Who Suffer Temporal Punishments After Death Will Come To Eternal Punishments, Which Are To Follow After That Judgment.

I Was Unhappy And So Is Every Soul Unhappy Which Is Tied To Its Love For Mortal Things; When It Loses Them, It Is Torn In Pieces, And It Is Then That It Comes To Realize The Unhappiness Which Was There Even Before It Lost Them.

By Faithfulness We Are Collected And Wound Up Into Unity Within Ourselves, Whereas We Had Been Scattered Abroad In Multiplicity.

No Man Has A Right To Lead Such A Life Of Contemplation As To Forget In His Own Ease The Service Due To His Neighbor.

We Speak, But It Is God Who Teaches.

Beware Of Despairing About Yourself: You Are Commanded To Put Your Trust In God, And Not In Yourself.

Since God Is The Highest Good, He Would Not Allow Any Evil To Exist In His Works Unless His Omnipotence And Goodness Were Such As To Bring Good Even Out Of Evil.

That There Should Be Some Fire Even After This Life Is Not Incredible, And It Can Be Inquired Into And Either Be Discovered Or Left Hidden Whether Some Of The Faithful May Be Saved, Some More Slowly And Some More Quickly In The Greater Or Lesser Degree In Which They Loved The Good Things That Perish, Through A Certain Purgatorial Fire.

I Do Not Comprehend All That I Am. Is The Mind, Therefore, Too Limited To Possess Itself?

The Bread That You See On The Altar Is The Body Of Christ As Soon As It Is Sanctified By God's Word. The Chalice, Or Better What Is Contained In The Chalice, Is The Blood Of Christ As Soon As It Is Sanctified By God's Word

Virginity Is Not Honored Simply Because It Is Virginity, But Because It Is Consecrated Of God.

Within The Church, Sins Are Forgiven In Three Ways: By Baptism, By Prayer, And By The Greater Humility Of Penance; Yet God Does Not Forgive Sins Except To The Baptized.

A Thing Is Not Necessarily True Because Badly Uttered, Nor False Because Spoken Magnificently.

What The Universal Church Holds, Not As Instituted [invented] By Councils But As Something Always Held, Is Most Correctly Believed To Have Been Handed Down By Apostolic Authority. Since Others Respond For Children, So That The Celebration Of The Sacrament May Be Complete For Them, It Is Certainly Availing To Them For Their Consecration, Because They Themselves Are Not Able To Respond.

The Flesh Does Not By Its Own Virtue Purify, But Is Purified By Virtue Of The Word By Which It Was Assumed, When 'the Word Became Flesh And Dwelt Among Us' (jn. 1:14).

A Brotherly Person Rejoices On My Account When He Approves Me, But When He Disapproves, He Is Loving Me. To Such People I Will Reveal Myself. They Will Take Heart From My Good Traits, And Sigh With Sadness At My Bad Ones. My Good Points Are Instilled By You And Are Your Gifts. My Bad Points Are My Faults And Your Judgements On Them. Let Them Take Heart From The One And Regret The Other. Let Both Praise And Tears Ascend In Your Sight From Brotherly Hearts, Your Censers. ...but You Lord...make Perfect My Imperfections.

To Wisdom Belongs The Intellectual Apprehension Of Eternal Things; To Knowledge, The Rational Knowledge Of Temporal Things.

Nothing Whatever Pertaining To Godliness And Real Holiness Can Be Accomplished Without Grace .

Whoever Possesses God Is Happy.

Two Criminals Were Crucified With Christ. One Was Saved; Do Not Despair. One Was Not; Do Not Presume.

If The Future And The Past Really Exist, Where Are They?

He Who Is Filled With Love Is Filled With God Himself.

If You Are Pleased With What You Are, You Have Stopped Already. If You Say, "it Is Enough," You Are Lost. Keep On Walking, Moving Forward, Trying For The Goal.

No Eulogy Is Due To Him Who Simply Does His Duty And Nothing More.

If You Lose Your Soul, There Is A Danger Of Its Being Destroyed. Therefore, You May Not Love It, Since You Do Not Want It To Be Destroyed. But In Not Wanting It To Be Destroyed, You Love It.

It Is This One Spirit Who Makes It Possible For An Infant To Be Regenerated . . . When That Infant Is Brought To Baptism; And It Is Through This One Spirit That The Infant So Presented Is Reborn. For It Is Not Written, 'unless A Man Be Born Again By The Will Of His Parents' Or 'by The Faith Of Those Presenting Him Or Ministering To Him,' But, 'unless A Man Be Born Again Of Water And The Holy Spirit.' The Water, Therefore, Manifesting Exteriorly The Sacrament Of Grace, And The Spirit Effecting Interiorly The Benefit Of Grace, Both Regenerate In One Christ That Man Who Was Generated In Adam.

Fortitude Is The Disposition Of Soul Which Enables Us To Despise All Inconveniences And The Loss Of Things Not In Our Power.

Where Scripture Speaks Of The World's Creation, It Is Not Plainly Said Whether Or When The Angels Were Created; But If Mention Is Made, It Is Implicit Under The Name Of "heaven," When It Is Said, "in The Beginning God Created The Heavens And The Earth."

Once For All, Then, A Short Precept Is Given Thee: Love, And Do What Thou Wilt: Whether Thou Hold Thy Peace, Through Love Hold Thy Peace; Whether Thou Cry Out, Through Love Cry Out; Whether Thou Correct, Through Love Correct; Whether Thou Spare, Through Love Do Thou Spare: Let The Root Of Love Be Within, Of This Root Can Nothing Spring But What Is Good.

Furthermore, What Profit Was It To Me That I, Rascally Slave Of Selfish Ambitions That I Was, Read And Understood By Myself As Many Books As I Could Get Concerning The So-called Liberal Arts?...i Had Turned My Back To The Light And My Face To The Things It Illuminated, And So No Light Played Upon My Own Face, Or On The Eyes That Perceived Them.

Man's Maker Was Made Man That He, Ruler Of The Stars, Might Nurse At His Mother's Breast; That The Bread Might Hunger, The Fountain Thirst, The Light Sleep, The Way Be Tired On Its Journey; That Truth Might Be Accused Of False Witnesses, The Teacher Be Beaten With Whips, The Foundation Be Suspended On Wood; That Strength Might Grow Weak; That The Healer Might Be Wounded; That Life Might Die.

He Was Created Of A Mother Whom He Created. He Was Carried By Hands That He Formed. He Cried In The Manger In Wordless Infancy. He, The Word, Without Whom All Human Eloquence Is Mute.

Eternity Is The Now That Does Not Pass Away.

Conscience And Reputation Are Two Things. Conscience Is Due To Yourself, Reputation To Your Neighbour.

God Is Not What You Imagine Or What You Think You Understand. If You Understand You Have Failed.

It Is Said That There Is No Salvation Outside The Church. Who Denies This? And Therefore Whatever Things Of The Church Are Had Outside The Church Do Not Avail Unto Salvation.

Don't Let Your Life Give Evidence Against Your Tongue. Sing With Your Voices... Sing Also With Your Conduct.

If You Understood Him, It Would Not Be God.

Christian Inspirational

The Entire Life Of A Good Christian Is In Fact An Exercise Of Holy Desire. You Do Not Yet See What You Long For, But The Very Act Of Desiring Prepares You, So That When He Comes You May See And Be Utterly Satisfied.

The Cost Of Obedience Is Small Compared With The Cost Of Disobedience.

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