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No One Knows What He Himself Is Made Of, Except His Own Spirit Within Him, Yet There Is Still Some Part Of Him Which Remains Hidden Even From His Own Spirit; But You, Lord, Know Everything About A Human Being Because You Have Made Him...let Me, Then, Confess What I Know About Myself, And Confess Too What I Do Not Know, Because What I Know Of Myself I Know Only Because You Shed Light On Me, And What I Do Not Know I Shall Remain Ignorant About Until My Darkness Becomes Like Bright Noon Before Your Face.

-Saint Augustine

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No One Knows What

Saint Augustine

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No One Knows What He Himself Is Made Of, Except His Own Spirit Within Him, Yet There Is Still Some Part Of Him Which Remains Hidden Even From His Own Spirit; But You, Lord, Know Everything About A Human Being Because You Have Made Him...let Me, Then, Confess What I Know About Myself, And Confess Too What I Do Not Know, Because What I Know Of Myself I Know Only Because You Shed Light On Me, And What I Do Not Know I Shall Remain Ignorant About Until My Darkness Becomes Like Bright Noon Before Your Face.

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Moral Character Is Assessed Not By What A Man Knows But By What He Loves

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

True Happiness Is To Rejoice In The Truth, For To Rejoice In The Truth Is To Rejoice In You, O God, Who Are The Truth... Those Who Think That There Is Another Kind Of Happiness Look For Joy Elsewhere, But Theirs Is Not True Joy.

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.

Choose To Love Whomsoever Thou Wilt: All Else Will Follow.

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.

His Knowledge Is Not Like Ours, Which Has Three Tenses; Present, Past, And Future. God's Knowledge Has No Change Or Variation.

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.

Charity Is The Root Of All Good Works.

The Rich Are Like Beasts Of Burden, Carrying Treasure All Day, And At The Night Of Death Unladen; They Carry To Their Grave Only The Bruises And Marks Of Their Toil.

Such Then In Number And Importance Are The Precious Ties Belonging To The Christian Name Which Keep A Believer In The Catholic Church, As It Is Right They Should ... With You, Where There Is None Of These Things To Attract Or Keep Me... No One Shall Move Me From The Faith Which Binds My Mind With Ties So Many And So Strong To The Christian Religion... For My Part, I Should Not Believe The Gospel Except As Moved By The Authority Of The Catholic Church.

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

Suppress Prostitution, And Capricious Lusts Will Overthrow Society.

We Speak, But It Is God Who Teaches.

Six Is A Number Perfect In Itself, And Not Because God Created The World In Six Days; Rather The Contrary Is True. God Created The World In Six Days Because This Number Is Perfect, And It Would Remain Perfect, Even If The Work Of The Six Days Did Not Exist.

Love, And Do What You Will. If You Keep Silence, Do It Out Of Love. If You Cry Out, Do It Out Of Love. If You Refrain From Punishing, Do It Out Of Love.

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

Moral Responsibility

He That Is Jealous Is Not In Love.

Your First Task Is To Be Dissatisfied With Yourself, Fight Sin, And Transform Yourself Into Something Better. Your Second Task Is To Put Up With The Trials And Temptations Of This World That Will Be Brought On By The Change In Your Life And To Persevere To The Very End In The Midst Of These Things.

It Is Not The Punishment But The Cause That Makes The Martyr.

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.

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

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

Now The Apostle, Under The Inspiration Of The Holy Spirit, Says, "knowledge Inflates: But Love Edifies." The Only Correct Inerpretation Of This Saying Is That Knowledge Is Valuable When Charity Informs It. Without Charity, Knowledge Inflates; That Is, It Exalts Man To An Arrogance Which Is Nothing But A Kind Of Windy Emptiness.

Patience Is The Companion Of Wisdom.

Nothing, Therefore, Happens Unless The Omnipotent Wills It To Happen. He Either Permits It To Happen, Or He Brings It About Himself.

You Have Found That You Were More Secure Before You Accumulated So Much. See What Greed Has Imposed On You: You Have Filled Your House And Now You Fear Burglars. You Have Hoarded Money And Lost Sleep. See What Greed Has Commanded You: "do This!" And You Did It.

He Who Labours, Prays.

You (god) Have Not Only Commanded Continence, That Is, From What Things We Are To Restrain Our Love, But Also Justice, That Is, On What We Are To Bestow Our Love.

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.

He Who Commends The Nature Of The Soul As The Supreme Good, And Condemns The Nature Of The Flesh As Evil, At Once Both Carnally Desires The Soul, And Carnally Flies The Flesh, Because He Feels Thus From Human Vanity, Not From Divine Truth.

For A Sentence Is Not Complete Unless Each Word, Once Its Syllables Have Been Pronounced, Gives Way To Make Room For The Next...they Are Set Up On The Course Of Their Existence, And The Faster They Climb Towards Its Zenith, The More They Hasten Towards The Point Where They Exist No More.

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

I Had A Clear Idea About What Time Is Till I Was Asked To Explain It And Ceased To Understand It Altogether As Soon As I Began Explaining It.

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.

Come Unto Me, All Ye That Labor And Are Heavy Laden.

I Do Not Doubt That All Those Who Have Received Baptism Anywhere And From Whomever Do Have Baptism, As Long As It Was Consecrated With The Words Of The Gospel And They Received It Without Pretence On Their Part And With Some Degree Of Faith. However, It Would Not Avail Them For Their Spiritual Salvation If They Were Lacking In That Charity By Which They Might Be Implanted In The Catholic Church.

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

It Is Not In Virtue Of Its Liberty That The Human Will Attains To Grace, It Is Much Rather By Grace That It Attains To Liberty.

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

The Gods Occupy The Loftiest Regions, Men The Lowest, The Demons The Middle Region...they Have Immortality Of Body, But Passions Of The Mind In Common With Men.

In Order To Discover The Character Of People We Have Only To Observe What They Love.

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

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.

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.

Without God, We Cannot. Without Us, God Will Not.

Christian Inspirational

What You Are Must Always Displease You, If You Would Attain To That Which You Are Not.

Keep On Adding, Keep On Walking, Keep On Progressing: Do Not Delay On The Road, Do Not Go Back, Do Not Deviate.

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

The Truth Is Like A Lion; You Don’t Have To Defend It. Let It Loose; It Will Defend Itself.

Our Bodies Are Shaped To Bear Children, And Our Lives Are A Working Out Of The Processes Of Creation. All Our Ambitions And Intelligence Are Beside That Great Elemental Point.

I Believe In Order To Understand

God Without Us Will Not As We Without God Cannot.

The Desire For Fame Tempts Even Noble Minds.

When All Is Said And Done, Is There Any More Wonderful Sight, Any Moment When Man's Reason Is Nearer To Some Sort Of Contact With The Nature Of The World Than The Sowing Of Seeds, The Planting Of Cuttings, The Transplanting Of Shrubs Or The Grafting Of Slips?

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

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.

Love And Do As You Will.

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)

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

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.

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

A Christian Is: A Mind Through Which Christ Thinks, A Heart Through Which Christ Loves, A Voice Through Which Christ Speaks, And A Hand Through Which Christ Helps.

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.

Love Is Ever New Because It Never Groweth Old.

Sin Is Believing The Lie That You Are Self-created, Self-dependent And Self-sustained.

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

By And By Never Comes.

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.

Complete Abstinence Is Easier Than Perfect Moderation.

Understanding Is The Wages Of Faith.

Ex Malo Bounum (good Out Of Evil).

To Fall In Love With God Is The Greatest Romance; To Seek Him The Greatest Adventure; To Find Him, The Greatest Human Achievement.

Falling In Love

Whatever Skills I Have Acquired, Whatever Gifts I Have Been Given, I Place Them At Your Service.

Lord Jesus, Don't Let Me Lie When I Say That I Love You.....and Protect Me, For Today I Could Betray You.

Your Wisdom Should Be Without Pride.

Let Necessity, And Not Your Will, Slay The Enemy Who Fights Against You.

The Argument Is At An End.

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."

God Will Not Suffer Man To Have A Knowledge Of Things To Come For If He Had Prescience Of His Prosperity, He Would Be Careless And If Understanding Of His Adversity, He Would Be Despairing And Senseless

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

Between Urine And Filth We Are Born.

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.

Near Our Vineyard There Was A Pear Tree Laden With Fruit That Was Not Attractive In Either Flavor Or Form. One Night, When I [at The Age Of Sixteen] Had Played Until Dark On The Sandlot With Some Other Juvenile Delinquents, We Went To Shake That Tree And Carry Off Its Fruit. From It We Carried Off Huge Loads, Not To Feast On, But To Throw To The Pigs, Although We Did Eat A Few Ourselves. We Did It Just Because It Was Forbidden.

You Can Live, Provided You Live; That Is, You Can Live For Ever, Provided You Live A Good Life.

O Eternal Truth And True Love And Beloved Eternity! You Are My God; To You I Sigh By Day And By Night. And When I First Knew You, You Raised Me Up So That I Could See That There Was Something To See And That I Still Lacked The Ability To See It. And You Beat Back The Weakness Of My Sight, Blazing Upon Me With Your Rays, And I Trembled In Love And In Dread.

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

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.

If Faith Fails, Prayer Perishes.

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

Nobody Should Ever Doubt That In The Washing Of Rebirth (titus 3:5) Absolutely All Sins, From The Least To The Greatest, Are Altogether Forgiven.

If You Should Ask Me What Are The Ways Of God, I Would Tell You That The First Is Humility, The Second Is Humility, And The Third Is Humility. Not That There Are No Other Precepts To Give, But If Humility Does Not Preceed All That We Do, Our Efforts Are Fruitless.

Nothing Conquers Except Truth And The Victory Of Truth Is Love.

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.

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

It Is Easy To Want Things From The Lord And Yet Not Want The Lord Himself, As Though The Gift Could Ever Be Preferable To The Giver.

War Should We Waged Without Love Of Violence, Cruelty, Or Enmity.

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.

God In His Omnipotence Could Not Give More, In His Wisdom He Knew Not How To Give More, In His Riches He Had Not More To Give, Than The Eucharist.

God Does Not Give Heed To The Ambitiousness Of Our Prayers, Because He Is Always Ready To Give To Us His Light, Not A Visible Light But An Intellectual And Spiritual One; But We Are Not Always Ready To Receive It When We Turn Aside And Down To Other Things Out Of A Desire For Temporal Things.

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.

Our Lord Reserved To Himself Certain Things Which He Would Do In Due Time In A Manner Outside The Course And Order Of Nature, So That They Would Wonder And Be Astonished At Seeing Not Great But Unusual Things, Who Are Unmoved By Things Daily Seen. For The Government Of The World Is A Greater Miracle Than Feeding Five Thousand Men From Five Loaves; Yet At The Former No One Wonders, The Latter Astonishes All Men: Not As A Greater Wonder, But As A Rarer.

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.

Love, And Do What You Will. If You Are Silent, Be Silent For Love; Or If You Cry Out, Cry Out For Love. If You Chastise, Chastise For Love; If You Spare, Spare For Love.

Indeed, Man Wishes To Be Happy Even When He So Lives As To Make Happiness Impossible.

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.

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

Understanding Is The Reward Of Faith.

You Aspire To Great Things? Begin With The Little Ones.

If You Understood Him, It Would Not Be God.

Christian Inspirational

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

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.

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

When People Truly Open Their Minds, And Contemplate The Way In Which The Universe Is Ordered And Governed, They Are Amazed-overwhelmed By A Sense Of The Miraculous. When People Contemplate With Open Minds The Germination Of A Single Seed, They Are Equally Overwhelmed-yet Numerous Babies Are Born Every Day, And No-one Marvels. If Only People Opened Their Minds, They Would See That The Birth Of A Baby, In Which A New Life Is Created, Is A Greater Miracle Than Restoring Life.

Poltinus The Platonist Proves By Means Of The Blossoms And Leaves That From The Supreme God, Whose Beauty Is Invisible And Ineffable, Providence Reaches Down To The Things Of Earth Here Below. He Points Out That These Frail And Mortal Objects Could Not Be Endowed With A Beauty So Immaculate And So Exquisitely Wrought, Did They Not Issue From The Divinity Which Endlessly Prevades With Its Invisible And Unchanging Beauty All Things.

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.

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.

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

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

Never Judge A Philosophy By Its Abuse.

Baptism Does Not Profit A Man Outside Unity With The Church ... For Many Heretics Also Possess This Sacrament But Not The Fruits Of Salvation ... The Benefits Which Flow From Baptism Are Necessarily Fruits Which Belong To The True Church Alone. Children Baptized In Other Communions Cease To Be Members Of The Church When, After Reaching The Age Of Reason, They Make Formal Profession Of Heresy, As, For Example, By Receiving Communion In A Non-catholic Church.

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].

For A Sentence Is Not Complete Unless Each Word, Once Its Syllables Have Been Pronounced, Gives Way To Make Room For The Next.

Great Are Those Two Gifts, Wisdom And Continence: Wisdom, Forsooth, Whereby We Are Formed In The Knowledge Of God; Continence Whereby We Are Not Conformed To This World.

Knowledge Of God

The World Is A Great Book, Of Which They That Never Stir From Home Read Only A Page.

Our Life Is A Gymnasium Of Desire.... When Christians Say "god," What Do We Wish To Express? This Word Is All That We Yearn For."

Let No One Flatter Himself; Of Himself He Is Satan. Let Man Take Sin, Which Is His Own, And Leave Righteousness With God.

The Law Is Not In Fault, But Our Evil And Wicked Nature; Even As A Heap Of Lime Is Still And Quiet Until Water Is Poured On It, But Then It Begins To Smoke And Burn, Not From The Fault Of The Water, But From The Nature Of The Lime, Which Will Not Endure It.

God Judged It Better To Bring Good Out Of Evil Than To Suffer No Evil To Exist.

That Your Enemies Have Been Created Is God's Doing; That They Hate You And Wish To Ruin You Is Their Own Doing. What Should You Say About Them In Your Mind? "lord Be Merciful To Them, Forgive Them Their Sins, Put The Fear Of God In Them, Change Them!" You Are Loving In Them Not What They Are, But What You Would Have Them To Become.

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

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.

It Is Not With Respect To Our Convenience Or Discomfort, But With Respect To Their Own Nature That The Creatures Are Glorifying To Their Artificer.

The Old (testament) Is In The New (testament) Revealed, The New Is In The Old Concealed.

We Come To God By Love And Not By Navigation.

This Awful Catastrophe Is Not The End But The Beginning. History Does Not End So. It Is The Way Its Chapters Open.

Every City Is A Living Body.

For Whenever Unbaptized Persons Die Confessing Christ, This Confession Is Of The Same Efficacy For The Remission Of Sins As If They Were Washed In The Sacred Font Of Baptism.

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.

Slavery Is Not Penal In Character And Planned By That Law Which Commands The Preservation Of The Natural Order And Forbids Disturbance.

For Why, My Brothers And Sisters, Would You Rejoice In Silver? Either Your Silver Will Perish, Or You Will, And No One Knows Which Will Perish First. For Neither Can You Remain Here Always, Nor Can Silver Remain Here Always; So Also With Gold, Wardrobes, Houses, Money, Real Estate-and In The End, Even The Light By Which We Enjoy All These Things. So Do Not Be Willing Then To Rejoice In Such Things As These. Rejoice Instead In The Light That Has No Setting; Rejoice In The Dawn Which No Yesterday Precedes, And No Tomorrow Follows.

Venerate The Martyrs, Praise, Love, Proclaim, Honor Them. But Worship The God Of The Martyrs.

Only He Who Made Man Makes Man Happy.

If But For The Mercy Of My Lord, That My Paradise Becomes A Woman's Hell.

Whole Prayer Is Nothing But Love.

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.

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.

Desire Only God, And Your Heart Will Be Satisfied.

Mary Heard God's Word And Kept It, And So She Is Blessed. She Kept God's Truth In Her Mind, A Nobler Thing Than Carrying His Body In Her Womb.

Put No Faith In Salvation Through The Political Order.

When I Am Completely United To You, There Will Be No More Sorrow Or Trials; Entirely Full Of You, My Life Will Be Complete.

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?

One Can't Reach The Truth But Through Love.

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.

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.

The Holy Scriptures Are Our Letters From Home.

Often The Contempt Of Vainglory Becomes A Source Of Even More Vainglory, For It Is Not Being Scorned When The Contempt Is Something One Is Proud Of.

Sin Is Looking For The Right Thing In The Wrong Place.

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

For If A Thing Is Not Diminished By Being Shared With Others, It Is Not Rightly Owned If It Is Only Owned And Not Shared.

The Good Man, Though A Slave, Is Free; The Wicked, Though He Reigns, Is A Slave, And Not The Slave Of A Single Man, But- What Is Worse - The Slave Of As Many Masters As He Has Vices.

Hope Has Two Beautiful Daughters; Their Names Are Anger And Courage. Anger At The Way Things Are, And Courage To See That They Do Not Remain As They Are.

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

Although God Is All Powerful, He Is Unable To Give More; Though Supremely Wise, He Knows Not How To Give More; Though Vastly Rich, He Has Not More To Give.

When Regard For Truth Has Been Broken Down Or Even Slightly Weakened, All Things Will Remain Doubtful.

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.

The Soul, Which Is Spirit, Can Not Dwell In Dust; It Is Carried Along To Dwell In The Blood.

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

There Is No Love Without Hope, No Hope Without Love, And Neither Hope Nor Love Without Faith.

Make Me A Captive Lord, Then I Shall Be Truly Free.

Every Infinity... Is Made Finite To God.

Education Is The Food Of Youth, The Delight Of Old Age, The Ornament Of Prosperity, The Refuge And Comfort Of Adversity, And The Provocation To Grace In The Soul.

Our Whole Business In This Life Is To Restore To Health The Eye Of The Heart Whereby God May Be Seen.

The Mere Change Of Custom, Even Though It May Be Of Advantage In Some Respects, Unsettles Men By Reason Of The Novelty: Therefore, If It Brings No Advantage, It Does Much Harm By Unprofitably Disturbing The Church.

Unjust Laws Aren't Laws At All.

Blessed Is He Who Devotes His Life To Great And Noble Ends, And Who Forms His Well-considered Plans With Deliberate Wisdom.

It Is Not Earthly Riches Which Make Us Or Our Sons Happy; For They Must Either Be Lost By Us In Our Lifetime, Or Be Possessed When We Are Dead, By Whom We Know Not, Or Perhaps By Whom We Would Not.

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."

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

Do You Wish To Rise? Begin By Descending. You Plan A Tower That Will Pierce The Clouds? Lay First The Foundation Of Humility.

Inspirational Life

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

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.'

The Church Even Now Is The Kingdom Of Christ And The Kingdom Of Heaven. Accordingly, Even Now His Saints Reign With Him, Though Otherwise Than As They Shall Reign Hereafter; And Yet, Though The Tares Grow In The Church Along With The Wheat, They Do Not Reign With Him. For They Reign With Him Who Do What The Apostle Says, 'if You Are Risen With Christ, Mind The Things Which Are Above, Where Christ Sits At The Right Hand Of God. Seek Those Things Which Are Above, Not The Things Which Are On The Earth'.

Custom Is Second Nature.

They Who Shall Enter Into [the] Joy [of The Lord] Shall Know What Is Going On Outside In The Outer Darkness. . .the Saints'. . . Knowledge, Which Shall Be Great, Shall Keep Them Acquainted. . .with The Eternal Sufferings Of The Lost.

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.

For, Were It Not Good That Evil Things Should Also Exist, The Omnipotent God Would Almost Certainly Not Allow Evil To Be, Since Beyond Doubt It Is Just As Easy For Him Not To Allow What He Does Not Will, As For Him To Do What He Will.

The Bible Was Composed In Such A Way That As Beginners Mature, Its Meaning Grows With Them.

I Have Learnt To Love You Late, Beauty At Once So Ancient And So New!

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.

A Christian Man Is On His Guard With Respect To Those Who Philosophize According To The Elements Of This World, Not According To God, By Whom The World Itself Was Made; For He Is Warned By The Precept Of The Apostle And Faithfully Hears What Has Been Said, 'beware That No One Deceive You Through Philosophy And Vain Deceit, According To The Elements Of The World'

The Entire Most Beautiful Order Of Things That Are Very Good, When Their Measures Have Been Accomplished, Is To Pass Away.

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 ?

Do Not Follow Any Road, But That Which Christ Trod. This Road Seems Hard, But It Is Safe.

There Is A Joy Which Is Not Given To The Ungodly, But To Those Who Love Thee For Thine Own Sake, Whose Joy Thou Thyself Art. And This Is The Happy Life, To Rejoice To Thee, Of Thee, For Thee; This It Is, And There Is No Other.

He Who Created Us Without Our Help Will Not Save Us Without Our Consent.

There Is No Health In Those Who Are Displeased By An Element In Your Creation, Just As There Was None In Me When I Was Displeased By Many Things You Had Made. Because My Soul Didn't Dare To Say That My God Displeased Me, It Refused To Attribute To You Whatever Was Displeasing.

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

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

You Are My Lord, Because You Have No Need Of My Goodness.

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