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It Seems To Me That An Unjust Law Is No Law At All.

-Saint Augustine

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It Seems To Me

Saint Augustine

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It Seems To Me That An Unjust Law Is No Law At All.

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Moral Responsibility

More From Saint Augustine

He Who Made Thee Is Made In Thee. He Is Made In Thee Through Whom You Were Made.... Give Milk, O Mother, To Him Who Is Our Food; Give Milk To The Bread That Comes Down From Heaven.

Let Us Leave A Little Room For Reflection In Our Lives, Room Too For Silence. Let Us Look Within Ourselves And See Whether There Is Some Delightful Hidden Place Inside Where We Can Be Free Of Noise And Argument. Let Us Hear The Word Of God In Stillness And Perhaps We Will Then Come To Understand It.

In Our Own Times, You See, An Emperor Came To The City Of Rome, Where There's The Temple Of An Emperor, Where There's A Fisherman's Tomb. And So That Pious And Christian Emperor, Wishing To Beg For Health, For Salvation From The Lord, Did Not Proceed To The Temple Of A Proud Emperor, But To The Tomb Of A Fisherman, Where He Could Imitate That Fisherman In Humility, So That He, Being Thus Approached, Might Then Obtain Something From The Lord, Which A Haughty Emperor Would Be Quite Unable To Earn.

The Fruits Of Charity Are Joy, Peace, And Mercy; Charity Demands Beneficence And Fraternal Correction; It Is Benevolence; It Fosters Reciprocity And Remains Disinterested And Generous; It Is Friendship And Communion: Love Is Itself The Fulfillment Of All Our Works. There Is The Goal; That Is Why We Run: We Run Toward It, And Once We Reach It, In It We Shall Find Rest.

I Found Thee Not, O Lord, Without, Because I Erred In Seeking Thee Without That Wert Within.

Miracles Are Not Contrary To Nature, But Only Contrary To What We Know About Nature.

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.

I Was In Misery, And Misery Is The State Of Every Soul Overcome By Friendship With Mortal Things And Lacerated When They Are Lost. Then The Soul Becomes Aware Of The Misery Which Is Its Actual Condition Even Before It Loses Them.

I Want My Friend To Miss Me As Long As I Miss Him.

...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.

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.

O Lord, Help Me To Be Pure, But Not Yet.

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.

So You See How Endlessly Futile And Fruitless It Would Be If We Wanted To Refute Their Objections Every Time They Obstinately Resolved Not To Think Through What They Say But Merely To Speak, Just So Long As They Contradict Our Arguments In Any Way They Can.

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

Temperance Is Love Surrendering Itself Wholly To Him Who Is Its Object; Courage Is Love Bearing All Things Gladly For The Sake Of Him Who Is Its Object; Justice Is Love Serving Only Him Who Is Its Object, And Therefore Rightly Ruling; Prudence Is Love Making Wise Distinction Between What Hinders And What Helps Itself.

It Is Love That Asks, That Seeks, That Knocks, That Finds, And That Is Faithful To What It Finds.

The Will Is Truly Free, When It Is Not The Slave Of Vices And Sins.

We Speak, But It Is God Who Teaches.

Seek Not Abroad, For In The Inner Man Dwells The Truth.

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

Whoever, Therefore, Thinks That He Understands The Divine Scriptures Or Any Part Of Them So That It Does Not Build On The Double Love Of God And Of Our Neighbor Does Not Understand It At All. Thus A Man Supported By Faith, Hope, And Charity, With An Unshaken Hold Upon Them Does Not Need The Scriptures. . . And Many Live By These Three Things In Solitude Without Books.

If You Comprehend, It Is Not God.

We Are Certainly In A Common Class With The Beasts; Every Action Of Animal Life Is Concerned With Seeking Bodily Pleasure And Avoiding Pain.

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

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."

In The Mass The Blood Of Christ Flows Anew For Sinners.

What Art Thou Then, My God? What, But The Lord God? For Who Is Lord But The Lord? Or Who Is God Save Our God? Most Highest, Most Good, Most Potent, Most Omnipotent; Most Merciful, Yet Most Just; Most Hidden, Yet Most Present; Most Beautiful, Yet Most Strong; Stable, Yet Incomprehensible; Unchangeable, Yet All-changing; Never New, Never Old; All-renewing, And Bringing Age Upon The Proud, And They Know It Not; Ever Working, Ever At Rest; Still Gathering, Yet Nothing Lacking; Supporting, Filling, And Overspreading; Creating, Nourishing, And Maturing; Seeking, Yet Having All Things.

He Who Denies The Existence Of God, Has Some Reason For Wishing That God Did Not Exist.

Chastity, Or Cleanness Of Heart, Holds A Glorious And Distinguished Place Among The Virtues, Because She, Alone, Enables Man To See God; Hence Truth Itself Said, 'blessed Are The Clean Of Heart, For They Shall See God.'

Lord, Thou Madest Us For Thyself, And We Can Find No Rest Till We Find Rest In Thee.

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.

It Is The Function Of Perfection To Make One Know One's Imperfection.

Who Would Not Shudder If He Were Given The Choice Of Eternal Death Or Life Again As A Child ? Who Would Not Choose To Die ?

Eternity Is The Now That Does Not Pass Away.

Although Among Heretics And Schismatics There Is The Same Baptism, Nevertheless, The Remission Of Sins Is Not Operative Among Them Because Of The Very Rottenness Of Discord And Wickedness Of Dissension ... Baptism Was In Them, But It Did Not Profit Them Outside The Church ... Outside The Church, Baptism Works Death Because Of Discord.

Love, And He Will Draw Near; Love, And He Will Dwell Within You.

A Man May Lose The Good Things Of This Life Against His Will; But If He Loses The Eternal Blessings, He Does So With His Own Consent.

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

You Have Enemies. For Who Can Live On This Earth Without Them? Take Heed To Yourselves: Love Them. In No Way Can Your Enemy So Hurt You By His Violence, As You Hurt Yourself If You Love Him Not.

One Loving Heart Sets Another On Fire.

Wicked Sons Do Not Have The Holy Ghost In The Same Way As Do Beloved Sons, And Yet They Do Have Baptism. So, Too, Heretics Do Not Have The Church As Catholics Have, Even Though They Have Baptism.

Punishment Is Justice For The Unjust.

I Was Not Yet In Love, Yet I Loved To Love...i Sought What I Might Love, In Love With Loving.

Do You Who Are A Christian Desire To Be Revenged And Vindicated, And The Death Of Jesus Christ Has Not Yet Been Revenged, Nor His Innocence Vindicated?

Let Us, On Both Sides, Lay Aside All Arrogance. Let Us Not, On Either Side, Claim That We Have Already Discovered The Truth. Let Us Seek It Together As Something Which Is Known To Neither Of Us. For Then Only May We Seek It, Lovingly And Tranquilly, If There Be No Bold Presumption That It Is Already Discovered And Possessed.

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.

None Save Great Men Have Been The Authors Of Great Heresies.

To Sing Is To Pray Twice.

Classical Music

The Lord Says, 'whoever Has, To Him Shall Be Given' (mt. 13:12). He Will Give, Then, To Those Who Have; That Is To Say, If They Use Freely And Cheerfully What They Have Received, He Will Add To And Perfect His Gifts.

We Count On God's Mercy For Our Past Mistakes, On God's Love For Our Present Needs, On God's Sovereignty For Our Future.

This Very Moment I May, If I Desire, Become The Friend Of God.

Do Not Say That You Have Chaste Minds If You Have Unchaste Eyes, Because An Unchaste Eye Is The Messenger Of An Unchaste Heart.

When [men] Go To War, What They Want Is To Impose On Their Enemies The Victor's Will And Call It Peace.

Why Persist In Walking Difficult And Toilsome Paths? There Is No Repose Where You Are Seeking It. Search As You Like, It Is Not Where You Are Looking. You Are Seeking A Happy Life In The Realm Of Death, And It Will Not Be Found There. How Could Life Be Happy Where There Is No Life At All?

In No Passage Of The Holy Canonical Books There Can Be Found Either Divine Precept Or Permission To Take Away Our Own Life, Whether For The Sake Of Entering On The Enjoyment Of Immortality, Or Of Shunning, Or Ridding Ourselves Of Anything Whatever. Nay, The Law, Rightly Interpreted, Even Prohibits Suicide, Where It Says, 'thou Shalt Not Kill.' This Is Proved Especially By The Omission Of The Words "thy Neighbor," Which Are Inserted When False Witness Is Forbidden.

I Was Looking For Something To Love, For I Was In Love With Loving, And I Hated Security And A Smooth Way, Free From Snares.

The Measure Of Charity May Be Taken From The Want Of Desires. As Desires Diminish In The Soul, Charity Increases In It; And When It No Longer Feels Any Desire, Then It Possesses Perfect Charity.

Two Works Of Mercy Set A Person Free: Forgive And You Will Be Forgiven, And Give And You Will Receive.

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.

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.

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.

The Confession Of Evil Works Is The First Beginning Of Good Works.

O Holy Spirit, Descend Plentifully Into My Heart. Enlighten The Dark Corners Of This Neglected Dwelling And Scatter There Thy Cheerful Beams.

Oh, Beauty, Ever Ancient And Ever New.

There Is Something In Humility Which, Strangely Enough, Exalts The Heart, And Something In Pride Which Debases It.

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.

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

By And By Never Comes.

Every Visible Thing In This World Is Put In The Charge Of An Angel.

He Indeed Possesses The Character Imposed On Him, But He Wanders As A Renegade.

People Travel To Marvel At The Mountains, Seas, Rivers And Stars And They Pass Right By Themselves Without Astonishment.

It Was Pride That Changed Angels Into Devils; It Is Humility That Makes Men As Angels.

For In Our Hope We Are Saved.

What Can Be More Excellent Than Prayer; What Is More Profitable To Our Life; What Sweeter To Our Souls; What More Sublime, In The Course Of Our Whole Life, Than The Practice Of Prayer!

Indifferent Acts Are Judged By Their Ends Sins Are Judged By Themselves.

Thou Movest Us To Delight In Praising Thee; For Thou Hast Formed Us For Thyself, And Our Hearts Are Restless Till They Find Rest In Thee.

And I Entered And Beheld With The Eye Of My Soul... The Light Unchangeable... He That Knows The Truth, Knows What That Light Is; And He That Knows It, Knows Eternity.

God Had One Son On Earth Without Sin, But Never One Without Suffering.

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

Christian Inspirational

For If It Is Not Lawful To Take The Law Into Our Own Hands And Slay Even A Guilty Person, Whose Death No Public Sentence Has Warranted. Then Certainly He Who Kills Himself Is A Homicide, And So Much The Guiltier Of His Own Death As He Was More Innocent Of That Offence For Which He Doomed Himself To Die.

The Peace Of The Celestial City Is The Perfectly Ordered And Harmonious Enjoyment Of God, And Of One Another In God. (city Of God, Book 19)

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

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

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.

God Grants Us Not Always What We Ask So As To Bestow Something Preferable.

It Is Human To Err, But It Is Devilish To Remain Willfully In Error.

O Master, Make Me Chaste, But Not Yet!

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.

The Arrogance Is Not Greatness But Swelling; And The Swelling Seems Big But It's Not Healthy.

Don't Go Outside; Get Back To Yourself, In The Inner Man Lies The Truth.

Nothing So Clearly Distinguishes A Spiritual Man As His Treatment Of An Erring Brother.

Why Is It That We Remember With Difficulty And Without Difficulty Forget? Learn With Difficulty And Without Difficulty Remain Ignorant?

Love God, And Do What You Like.

No One Can Begin A New Life, Unless He Repent Of The Old.

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.

Beware Of Bad Catholics.

We Enjoy Some Gratification When Our Good Friends Die; For Though Their Death Leaves Us In Sorrow, We Have The Consolatory Assurance That They Are Beyond The Ills By Which In This Life Even The Best Of People Are Broken Down Or Corrupted.

You Have Been Professing Yourself Reluctant To Throw Off Your Load Of Illusion Because Truth Was Uncertain. Well, It Is Certain Now, Yet The Burden Still Weighs You Down, While Other People Are Given Wings On Freer Shoulders, People Who Have Not Worn Themselves Out With Research, Nor Spent A Decade And More Reflecting On These Questions.

Thy Word Remaineth For Ever, Which Word Now Appeareth Unto Us In The Riddle Of The Clouds, And Through The Mirror Of The Heavens, Not As It Is: Because That Even We, Though The Well Beloved Of Thy Son, Yet It Hath Not Yet Appeared What We Shall Be. He Looked Through The Lattice Of Our Flesh And He Spake Us Fair, Yea, He Set Us On Fire, And We Hasten On His Scent. But When He Shall Appear, Then Shall We Be Like Him, For We Shall See Him As He Is: As He Is, Lord, Will Our Sight Be, Though The Time Be Not Yet.

Often A Non-christian Knows Something About The Earth, The Heavens, And The Other Parts Of The World, About The Motions And Orbits Of The Stars And Even Their Sizes And Distances... And This Knowledge He Holds With Certainty From Reason And Experience. It Is Thus Offensive And Disgraceful For An Unbeliever To Hear A Christian Talk Nonsense About Such Things, Claiming That What He Is Saying Is Based In Scripture. We Should Do All That We Can To Avoid Such An Embarrassing Situation, Which People See As Ignorance In The Christian And Laugh To Scorn.

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

The Heart Of Man Is Restless Until He Finds Rest In Thee.

Beauty Is The Brilliance Of Truth.

Love And Say It With Your Life.

Of This I Am Certain, That No One Has Ever Died Who Was Not Destined To Die Some Time. Now The End Of Life Puts The Longest Life On A Par With The Shortest... And Of What Consequence Is It What Kind Of Death Puts An End To Life, Since He Who Has Died Once Is Not Forced To Go Through The Same Ordeal A Second Time? 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.

The Mind Commands The Body And Is Instantly Obeyed. The Mind Commands Itself And Meets Resistance. The Mind Commands The Hand To Move, And It So Easy That One Hardly Distinguishes The Order From Its Execution. Yet Mind Is Mind And Hand Is Body. The Mind Orders The Mind To Will. The Recipient Of The Order Is Itself, Yet It Does Not Perform It.

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

Therefore, Give To The Poor. I Beg You, I Admonish You, I Charge You, I Command You To Give.

O That Men Would Know Themselves To Be Men; And That He That Glorieth Would Glory In The Lord.

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.

Da Mihi Castitatem Et Continentiam, Sed Noli Modo (give Me Chastity And Continence, But Not Just Yet)!

God Is Not Greater If You Reverence Him, But You Are Greater If You Serve Him.

It Is A Sin To Judge Any Man By His Post

In Failing To Confess, Lord, I Would Only Hide You From Myself, Not Myself From You.

A Free Curiosity Is More Effective In Learning Than A Rigid Discipline.

Poetry Is Devil's Wine.

My Love Is My Weight. Because Of It, I Move.

As To The Fable That There Are Antipodes, That Is To Say, Men On The Opposite Side Of The Earth Where The Sun Rises When It Sets To Us, Men Who Walk With Their Feet Opposite Ours, That Is On No Ground Credible. Even If Some Unknown Landmass Is There, And Not Just Ocean, There Was Only One Pair Of Original Ancestors, And It Is Inconceivable That Such Distant Regions Should Have Been Peopled By Adam's Descendants.

He Who Labours, Prays.

Try As They May To Savor The Taste Of Eternity, Their Thoughts Still Twist And Turn Upon The Ebb And Flow Of Things In Past And Future Time. But If Only Their Minds Could Be Seized And Held Steady, They Would Be Still For A While And, For That Short Moment, They Would Glimse The Splendor Of Eternity, Which Is Forever Still.

So While He Made You Without You, He Doesn't Justify You Without You.

We Were Ensnared By The Wisdom Of The Serpent; We Are Set Free By The Foolishness Of God .

Purity Of Soul Cannot Be Lost Without Consent.

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

Purity And Love

Consequently, Heretics And Schismatics, Separated From The Unity Of This Body, Are Able To Receive The Same Sacrament, But With No Benefit To Themselves; Indeed, More To Their Own Harm, In That They Are Judged The More Severely Rather Than Being Liberated.

Cantare Amantis Est ... Singing Belongs To One Who Loves." (s. 336, 1 – Pl 38, 1472).

You Wish To Be Great, Begin From The Least. You Are Thinking To Construct Some Mighty Fabric In Height; First Think Of The Foundation Of Humility. And How Great Soever A Mass Of Building One May Wish And Design To Place Above It, The Greater The Building Is To Be, The Deeper Does He Dig His Foundation.

The Sacraments Are The Salvation Of Those Who Use Them Rightly, And The Damnation Of Those Who Misuse Them.

The Same Divine Authority That Forbids The Killing Of A Human Being Establishes Certain Exceptions, As When God Authorizes Killing By A General Law Or When He Gives An Explicit Commission To An Individual For A Limited Time.

Symbols Are Powerful Because They Are The Visible Signs Of Invisible Realities.

Hell Was Made For The Inquisitive.

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.

It Is Indeed Better (as No One Ever Could Deny) That Men Should Be Led To Worship God By Teaching, Than That They Should Be Driven To It By Fear Of Punishment Or Pain; But It Does Not Follow That Because The Former Course Produces The Better Men, Therefore Those Who Do Not Yield To It Should Be Neglected. For Many Have Found Advantage (as We Have Proved, And Are Daily Proving By Actual Experiment), In Being First Compelled By Fear Or Pain, So That They Might Afterwards Be Influenced By Teaching, Or Might Follow Out In Act What They Had Already Learned In Word.

In My Deepest Wound I Saw Your Glory, And It Dazzled Me.

The One Who Is Good, Is Free Even Being A Slave; The One Who Is Bad Remains A Slave Even Being A King.

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.

It Will Not Be Held Against You That You Are Ignorant Against Your Will, But That You Neglect To Seek Out What It Is That Makes You Ignorant; Not That You Cannot Bring Together Your Wounded Limbs, But That You Reject Him That Would Heal Them.

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

Grant What Thou Commandest, And Command What Thou Wilt.

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.

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

Love Is Ever New Because It Never Groweth Old.

Whoever Possesses God Is Happy.

While The Best Men Are Guided By Love, Most Mean Are Still Goaded By Fear.

There Is No Salvation Outside The Church.

Even In Waging War, Cherish The Spirit Of Peace-maker; That, By Conquering Those Whom You Attack, You May Lead Them Back To The Advantages Of Peace.

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.

O Lord, Grant That I May Do Thy Will As If It Were My Will, So That Thou Mayest Do My Will As If It Were Thy Will.

I Believe In Order To Understand

Where Was My Heart To Flee For Refuge From My Heart? Whither Was I To Fly, Where I Would Not Follow? In What Place Should I Not Be Prey To Myself?

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

God Without Us Will Not As We Without God Cannot.

Better To Have Fewer Wants Than Greater Riches To Supply Increasing Wants.

Some People, In Order To Discover God, Read Books. But There Is A Great Book: The Very Appearance Of Created Things. Look Above You! Look Below You! Read It. God, Whom You Want To Discover, Never Wrote That Book With Ink. Instead, He Set Before Your Eyes The Things That He Had Made. Can You Ask For A Louder Voice Than That?

Longing Desire Prayeth Always, Though The Tongue Be Silent. If Thou Art Ever Longing, Thou Art Ever Praying.

Late Have I Loved You, O Beauty Ever Ancient, Ever New. Late Have I Loved You. You Have Called To Me, And Have Called Out, And Have Shattered My Deafness. You Have Blazed Forth With Light And Have Put My Blindness To Flight! You Have Sent Forth Fragrance, And I Have Drawn In My Breath, And I Pant After You. I Have Tasted You, And I Hunger And Thirst After You. You Have Touched Me, And I Have Burned For Your Peace.

Hunger And Thirst

The Devil Invented Gambling.

Men Go Forth To Marvel At The Height Of Mountains, And The Huge Waves Of The Sea, The Broad Flow Of The Rivers, The Vastness Of The Ocean, The Orbits Of The Stars, And Yet They Neglect To Marvel At Themselves. Variant: Men Go Abroad To Admire The Heights Of Mountains, The Mighty Billows Of The Sea, The Broad Tides Of Rivers, The Compass Of The Ocean, And The Circuits Of The Stars, And Pass Themselves By.

The Custom Of Mother Church In Baptizing Infants Is Certainly Not To Be Scorned, Nor Is It To Be Regarded In Any Way As Superfluous, Nor Is It To Be Believed That Its Tradition Is Anything Except Apostolic.

For I Wondered That Others, Subject To Death, Did Live, Since He Whom I Loved, As If He Should Never Die, Was Dead; And I Wondered Yet More That Myself, Who Was To Him A Second Self, Could Live, He Being Dead. Well Said One Of His Friend, "thou Half Of My Soul"; For I Felt That My Soul And His Soul Were "one Soul In Two Bodies": And Therefore Was My Life A Horror To Me, Because I Would Not Live Halved. And Therefore Perchance I Feared To Die, Lest He Whom I Had Much Loved Should Die Wholly.

God Is More Truly Imagined Than Expressed, And He Exists More Truly Than He Is Imagined.

All Plenty Which Is Not My God Is Poverty To Me.

Overconsumption

Therefore Once For All This Short Command Is Given To You. 'love And Do What You Will.' If You Keep Silent, Keep Silent By Love; If You Speak, Speak By Love; If You Correct, Correct By Love; If You Pardon, Pardon By Love: Let Love Be Rooted In You, And From The Root Nothing But Good Can Grow.

This Is The Very Perfection Of A Man, To Find Out His Own Imperfections.

Divine Scripture Is Wont To Frame, As It Were, Allurements For Children From The Things Which Are Found In The Creature; Whereby, According To Their Measure, And As It Were By Steps, The Affections Of The Weak May Be Moved To Seek Those Things That Are Above, And To Leave Those Things That Are Below. But The Same Scripture Rarely Employs Those Things Which Are Spoken Properly Of God, And Are Not Found In Any Creature; As, For Instance, That Which Was Said To Moses, I Am That I Am; And, I Am Has Sent Me To You."

Sin Is Energy In The Wrong Channel.

I Thought That Continence Was A Matter Of Our Own Strength, And I Knew That I Had Not The Strength: For In My Utter Foolishness I Did Not Know The Word Of Your Scripture That None Can Be Continent Unless You Give It.

An Apt And True Reply Was Given To Alexander The Great By A Pirate Who Had Been Seized. For When That King Had Asked The Man What He Meant By Keeping Hostile Possession Of The Sea, He Answered With Bold Pride. "what Thou Meanest By Seizing The Whole Earth; But Because I Do It With A Petty Ship, I Am Called A Robber, Whilst Thou Who Dost It With A Great Fleet Art Styled Emperor."

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.

The Honors Of This World, What Are They But Puff, And Emptiness, And Peril Of Falling?

Falling In Love

I Make Bold To Say That It Is Profitable For The Proud To Fall, In Order That They May Be Humbled In That For Which They Have Exalted Themselves.

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

We Both Exist And Know That We Exist, And Rejoice In This Knowledge.

When We Read A Book, Our Most Essential Trait - Imagination - Is Given The Opportunity To Soar.

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

The Sky And The Earth And The Waters And The Things That Are In Them, The Fishes, And The Birds And The Trees Are Not Evil. All These Are Good; It Is Evil Men Who Make This Evil World.

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

The Verdict Of The World Is Conclusive.

Things Are Solved By Walking Around.

The Measure Of Love Is To Love Without Measuring.

Oh, God, To Know You Is Life. To Serve You Is Freedom. To Praise You Is The Soul's Joy And Delight. Guard Me With The Power Of Your Grace Here And In All Places. Now And At All Times, Forever. Amen.

In The Usual Course Of Study I Had Come To A Book Of A Certain Cicero.

For What Am I To Myself Without You, But A Guide To My Own Downfall?

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.

A Person Can Do Other Things Against His Will, But Belief Is Possible Only In One Who Is Willing.

When The King Asked Him What He Meant By Infesting The Sea, The Pirate Defiantly Replied: The Same As You Do When You Infest The Whole World; But Because I Do It With A Little Ship I Am Called A Robber, And Because You Do It With A Great Fleet, You Are An Emperor.

Far Be It From Us To Doubt That All Number Is Known To Him 'whose Understanding Is Infinite' (ps. 147:5). The Infinity Of Number, Though There Be No Numbering Of Infinite Numbers, Is Yet Not Incomprehensible By Him Whose Understanding Is Infinite. And Thus, If Everything Which Is Comprehended Is Defined Or Made Finite By The Comprehension Of Him Who Knows It, Then All Infinity Is In Some Ineffable Way Made Finite To God, For It Is Comprehensible By His Knowledge.

What Matters It To Me If Someone Does Not Understand This? Let Him Too Rejoice And Say, “what Is This?” Let Him Rejoice Even At This, And Let Him Love To Find You While Not Finding It Out, Rather Than, While Finding It Out, Not To Find You.

I Asked The Whole Frame Of The World About My God; And He Answered, I Am Not He, But He Made Me.

I Acknowledge Thee, Lord Of Heaven And Earth, And Praise Thee For My First Rudiments Of Being, And My Infancy, Whereof I Remember Nothing; For Thou Hast Appointed That Man Should From Others Guess Much As To Himself; And Believe Much On The Strength Of Weak Females.

God Has Promised Forgiveness To Your Repentance, But He Has Not Promised Tomorrow To Your Procrastination.

Procrastination

The One Who Sings, Prays Twice.

And He Departed From Our Sight That We Might Return To Our Hearts And Find Him There. For He Left Us, And Behold, He Is Here.

The Sufficiency Of My Merit Is To Know That My Merit Is Not Sufficient.

He Pleaseth God Whom God Pleaseth.

For Great Are You, Lord, And You Look Kindly On What Is Humble, But The Lofty-minded You Regard From Afar. Only To Those Whose Hearts Are Crushed Do You Draw Close. You Will Not Let Yourself Be Found By The Proud, Nor Even By Those Who In Their Inquisitive Skill Count Stars Or Grains Of Sand, Or Measure The Expanses Of Heaven, Or Trace The Paths Of The Planets.

He Cannot Have God For His Father Who Will Not Have The Church For His Mother.

Don't You Believe That There Is In Man A Deep So Profound As To Be Hidden Even To Him In Whom It Is?

There Is No Greater Invitation To Love Than Loving First.

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