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

-Saint Augustine

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When God Is Our

Saint Augustine

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

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

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

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

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.

Poetry Is The Devil's Wine.

For I Did Not Know That The Soul Needs To Be Enlightened By Light From Outside Itself, So That It Can Participate In Truth, Because It Is Not Itself The Nature Of Truth.

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.

Never Judge A Philosophy By Its Abuse.

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

Seek Not To Understand That You May Believe, But Believe That You May Understand.

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.

If They Find A Christian Mistaken In A Field Which They Themselves Know Well And Hear Him Maintaining His Foolish Opinions About Our Books, How Are They Going To Believe Those Books In Matters Concerning The Resurrection Of The Dead, The Hope Of Eternal Life, And The Kingdom Of Heaven.

God Will Cleanse Your Sins If You Yourself Are Dissatisfied With Yourself And Will Keep On Changing Until You Are Perfect.

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.

For So It Is, O Lord My God, I Measure It! But What It Is I Measure, I Do Not Know.

Ninety Percent Of The Time Things Turn Out Worse Than You Thought They Would. The Other Ten Percent Of The Time You Had No Right To Expect That Much.

If We Are Perplexed By An Apparent Contradiction In Scripture, It Is Not Allowable To Say, 'the Author Of This Book Is Mistaken'; But Either The Manuscript Is Faulty, Or The Translation Is Wrong, Or You Have Not Understood.

A Christian Should Be An Alleluia From Head To Foot

Justice Being Taken Away, Then, What Are Kingdoms But Great Robberies? For What Are Robberies Themselves, But Little Kingdoms.

Love And Do What You Want. If You Stop Talking, You Will Stop Talking With Love; If You Shout, You Will Shout With Love; If You Correct, You Will Correct With Love.

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.

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].

Who Else Is It Who Calls Us Back From The Death Of Error, Except The Life That Does Not Know Death, And The Wisdom Which, Needing No Light, Enlightens Minds Which Are In Darkness, That Wisdom By Which The Whole World, Even To The Leaves Of Trees Drifting In The Wind, Is Governed?

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.

The Words Printed Here Are Concepts. You Must Go Through The Experiences.

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.

Without God, Man Cannot, And Without Man, God Will Not.

In Matters That Are So Obscure And Far Beyond Our Vision, We Find In Holy Scripture Passages Which Can Be Interpreted In Very Different Ways Without Prejudice To The Faith We Have Received. In Such Cases, We Should Not Rush In Headlong And So Firmly Take Our Stand On One Side That, If Further Progress In The Search For Truth Justly Undermines This Position, We Too Fall With It.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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

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.

The One Who Sings, Prays Twice.

Things Are Solved By Walking Around.

Though Defensive Violence Will Always Be 'a Sad Necessity' In The Eyes Of Men Of Principle, It Would Be Still More Unfortunate If Wrongdoers Should Dominate Just Men.

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.

There Is No Possible Source Of Evil Except Good.

Punishment Is Justice For The Unjust.

Suppress Prostitution, And Capricious Lusts Will Overthrow Society.

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.

Learn To Dance, So When You Get To Heaven The Angels Know What To Do With You.

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.

Men Go Forth To Wonder At The Height Of Mountains, The Huge Waves Of The Sea, The Broad Flow Of The Ocean, The Course Of The Stars-and Forget To Wonder At Themselves. Beware Of Despairing About Yourself: You Are Commanded To Put Your Trust In God, And Not In Yourself.

Your Best Servant Is The Person Who Does Not Attend So Much To Hearing What He Himself Wants As To Willing What He Has Heard From You.

Do Not Be Afraid To Throw Yourself On The Lord! He Will Not Draw Back And Let You Fall! Put Your Worries Aside And Throw Yourself On Him; He Will Welcome You And Heal You.

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

Believe That You May Understand.

We Come To God By Love And Not By Navigation.

Whole Prayer Is Nothing But Love.

The Mind Commands The Body, And It Obeys Forthwith; The Mind Commands Itself, And Is Resisted. The Mind Commands The Hand To Be Moved, And Such Readiness Is There That The Command Is Scarce To Be Distinguished From The Obedience. Yet The Mind Is Mind, And The Hand Is Body. The Mind Commands The Mind To Will, And Yet, Though It Be Itself, It Obeyeth Not. Whence This Monstrous Thing? And Why Is It?

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

The Fellow Who Eggs You On To Avenge Yourself Will Rob You Of What You Were Going To Say - As We Forgive Our Debtors . When You Have Forfeited That, All Your Sins Will Be Held Against You; Absolutely Nothing Is Forgiven.

In All Your Movements, Let Nothing Be Evident That Would Offend The Eyes Of Another.

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

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

Grace Alone Brings About Every Good Work In Us.

We Judge All Things According To The Divine Truth.

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

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.

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.

One Can't Reach The Truth But Through Love.

I Am Convinced That In All History There Has Never Been A Greater Need To Pray For Our Pastors Than Exists Right Now! Pastors Are Experiencing An Unprecedented Wave Of Attacks, Stresses, Challenges. Obstacles. Pressures.

Do You Desire Security? Here You Have It. The Lord Says To You, "i Will Never Abandon You, I Will Always Be With You." If A Good Man Made You Such A Promise, You Would Trust Him. God Makes It, And Do You Doubt? Do You Seek A Support More Sure Than The Word Of God, Which Is Infallible? Surely, He Has Made The Promise, He Has Written It, He Has Pledged His Word For It, It Is Most Certain.

The Ministry Is A Weight From Which Even An Angel Might Shrink

Do You Wish To Be Great? Then Begin By Being Little. 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. Modest Humility Is Beauty's Crown.

Do You Know Who The Upright Of Heart Are? They Are Those Who Wish What God Wishes. Therefore, Do Not Try To Twist God's Will To You Own But Correct Your Will To That Of God. The Will Of God Is A Rule Of Conduct. By It You Have The Means Of Being Converted And Of Correcting Your Evil Ways.

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.

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.

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

God Is Best Known In Not Knowing Him.

Then Assuredly The World Was Made, Not In Time, But Simultaneously With Time.

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

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.

Remove Justice, And What Are Kingdoms But Gangs Of Criminals On A Large Scale?... A Gang Is A Group Of Men... In Which The Plunder Is Divided According To An Agreed Convention. If This Villainy... Acquires Territory, Establishes A Base, Captures Cities And Subdues People, It Then Openly Arrogates To Itself The Title Of Kingdom.

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.

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.

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.

If You Comprehend, It Is Not God.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

The Desire For Fame Tempts Even Noble Minds.

Order Your Soul; Reduce Your Wants; Live In Charity; Associate In Christian Community; Obey The Laws; Trust In Providence.

If Faith Fails, Prayer Perishes.

That One Woman Is Both Mother And Virgin, Not In Spirit Only But Even In Body. In Spirit She Is Mother, Not Of Our Head, Who Is Our Savior Himself-of Whom All, Even She Herself, Are Rightly Called Children Of The Bridegroom-but Plainly She Is The Mother Of Us Who Are His Members, Because By Love She Has Cooperated So That The Faithful, Who Are The Members Of That Head, Might Be Born In The Church. In Body, Indeed, She Is The Mother Of That Very Head.

Habit, If Not Resisted, Soon Becomes Necessity.

Angels Are Spirits, But It Is Not Because They Are Spirits That They Are Angels. They Become Angels When They Are Sent. For The Name Angel Refers To Their Office, Not Their Nature. You Ask The Name Of This Nature, It Is Spirit; You Ask Its Office, It Is That Of An Angel, Which Is A Messenger.

No One Reaches The Kingdom Of Heaven Except By Humility

Desire Only God, And Your Heart Will Be Satisfied.

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.

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

Though He Avoided Outright Endorsement Of The View, Fifth-century Church Father Saint Augustine Was Clearly Familiar With The Theory Of The Spherical Earth: "they [those Who Believe That "there Are Men On The Other Side Of The Earth"] Fail To Observe That Even If The World Is Held To Be Global Or Rounded In Shape, Or If Some Process Of Reasoning Should Prove This To Be The Case, It Would Still Not Necessarily Follow That The Land On The Opposite Side Is Not Covered By Masses Of Water."

You Are What You Love.

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

If You Are Suffering From A Bad Man's Injustice, Forgive Him Lest There Be Two Bad Men.

Temperance Is A Disposition That Restrains Our Desires For Things Which It Is Base To Desire.

What Are Kingdoms Without Justice? They're Just Gangs Of Bandits.

What Difference, If You Are Mistaken? For If I Am Mistaken, I Am. For He Who Is Not, Assuredly Cannot Be Mistaken; And Therefore I Am, If I Am Mistaken. Therefore Because I Am If I Am Mistaken, How Am I Mistaken That I Am, When It Is Sure That I Am, If I Am Mistaken.

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.

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.

The Measure Of Love Is To Love Without Measuring.

We Take For Granted The Slow Miracle Whereby Water In The Irrigation Of A Vineyard Becomes Wine. It Is Only When Christ Turns Water Into Wine, In A Quick Motion, As It Were, That We Stand Amazed.

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

Repentant Tears Wash Out The Stain Of Guilt.

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 Dove Loves When It Quarrels; The Wolf Hates When It Flatters.

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

In The House Of God There Is Never Ending Festival; The Angel Choir Makes Eternal Holiday; The Presence Of God's Face Gives Joy That Never Fails.

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

Whoever Is Still Seeking For Miracles So That He May Believe Is Himself A Wonder, Who Does Not Believe While The World Around Him Does.

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.

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

There Are Wolves Within, And There Are Sheep Without.

No One Can Have God As His Father Who Does Not Have The Church As His Mother.

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.

We Cannot Pass Our Guardian Angel's Bounds, Resigned Or Sullen, He Will Hear Our Sighs.

Peace In Society Depends Upon Peace In The Family.

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)

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 Provides The Wind, Man Must Raise The Sail.

What Is Reprehensible Is That While Leading Good Lives Themselves And Abhorring Those Of Wicked Men, Some, Fearing To Offend, Shut Their Eyes To Evil Deeds Instead Of Condemning Them And Pointing Out Their Malice.

Woman Does Not Possess The Image Of God In Herself But Only When Taken Together With The Male Who Is Her Head, So That The Whole Substance Is One Image. But When She Is Assigned The Role As Helpmate, A Function That Pertains To Her Alone, Then She Is Not The Image Of God. But As Far As The Man Is Concerned, He Is By Himself Alone The Image Of God Just As Fully And Completely As When He And The Woman Are Joined Together Into One.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

It Is Salutary For Us To Learn To Hold Cheap Such Things, Be They Good Or Evil, As Attach Indifferently To Good Men And Bad, And To Covet Those Good Things Which Belong Only To Good Men, And Flee Those Evils Which Belong Only To Evil Men.

Let Him Who Desires To Be Harsh In Making Demands Upon His Debtors Consider That He Is God’s Debtor.

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.

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.

If You Don't Believe It You Won't Understand It.

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.

He That Is Kind Is Free, Though He Is A Slave; He That Is Evil Is A Slave, Though He Be A King.

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

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

Purity And Love

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.

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.

The Spiritual Virtue Of A Sacrament Is Like Light; Although It Passes Among The Impure, It Is Not Polluted.

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

...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.

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

Does God Proclaim Himself In The Wonders Of Creation? No. All Things Proclaim Him, All Things Speak. Their Beauty Is The Voice By Which They Announce God, By Which They Sing, "it Is You Who Made Me Beautiful, Not Me Myself But You.

You Don't Love In Your Enemies What They Are, But What You Would Have Them Become By Your Prayers.

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

I Did Not Find You Outside, O Lord, Because I Made The Mistake Of Seeking Outside You Who Were Within

You Say To Me 'show Me Your God.' I Answer You, 'everything You See In Your Heart That Might Sadden God, Remove.'

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.

Custom Is Second Nature.

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

Love God, And Do What You Like.

God Bids You Not To Commit Lechery, That Is, Not To Have Sex With Any Woman Except Your Wife. You Ask Of Her That She Should Not Have Sex With Anyone Except You -- Yet You Are Not Willing To Observe The Same Restraint In Return.

The Human Race Is Inquisitive About Other People's Lives, But Negligent To Correct Their Own.

He That Loveth Little Prayeth Little, He That Loveth Much Prayeth Much.

Will Is To Grace As The Horse Is To The Rider.

On The Altar You Are Looking At The Same Thing As You Saw There Last Night. You Have Not Heard, However, What This Is, What It Signifies, Or About The Greatness Of The Reality Of Which It Is A Sacrament. Your Eyes Are Looking At Bread And Cup. This Is The Evidence Before Your Physical Sight. But Your Faith Must Be Instructed Concerning It- This Bread Being Christ 's Body And The Cup Containing His Blood. Though Perhaps These Words May Be Enough To Initiate Faith, Faith Must Be Further Instructed In Accordance With The Prophet's Words: 'believe That You May Understand'

Complete Abstinence Is Easier Than Perfect Moderation.

Hope Has Two Lovely Daughters, Anger And Courage.

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 You Excuse Yourself In Confession, You Shut Up Sin Within Your Soul, And Shut Out Pardon.

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.

The World's Verdict Is Conclusive.

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.

Wonderful Is The Depth Of Thy Words, Whose Surface Is Before Us, Gently Leading On The Little Ones: And Yet A Wonderful Deepness, O My God, A Wonderful Deepness. It Is Awe To Look Into It; Even An Awfulness Of Honour, And A Trembling Of Love.

Love Can Be Angry... With A Kind Of Anger In Which There Is No Gall, Like The Dove's And Not The Ravens.

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.

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

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

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.

Truth Is Not Private Property.

Private Property

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.

There Is No Saint Without A Past, No Sinner Without A Future.

Peace Is Not Sought In Order To Provoke War, But War Is Waged In Order To Attain Peace.

It Was In His Flesh That Christ Walked Among Us And It Is His Flesh That He Has Given Us To Eat For Our Salvation; But No One Eats Of This Flesh Without Having First Adored It . . . And Not Only Do We Not Sin In Thus Adoring It, But We Would Be Sinning If We Did Not Do So.

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.

A Marriage Without Children Is The World Without The Sun.

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.

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.

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.

Where Your Pleasure Is, There Is Your Treasure: Where Your Treasure, There Your Heart; Where Your Heart, There Your Happiness

Why Is It That Man Desires To Be Made Sad, Beholding Doleful And Tragical Things, Which Yet Himself Would By No Means Suffer?

Disturbers Are To Be Rebuked, The Low Spirited To Be Encouraged, The Infirm To Be Supported, Objectors Confuted, The Treacherous Guarded Against, The Unskilled Taught, The Lazy Aroused, The Contentious Restrained, The Haughty Repressed, The Poor Relieved, The Oppressed Liberated, The Good Approved, The Evil Borne With, And All Are To Be Loved!

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

He Who Has God Has Everything; He Who Has Everything But God Has Nothing.

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.

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

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?

In My Unloveliness I Plunged Into The Lovely Things Which You Created. You Were With Me, But I Was Not With You. Created Things Kept Me From You; Yet If They Had Not Been In You, They Would Have Not Been At All.

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

Overconsumption

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

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.

The Verdict Of The World Is Conclusive.

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

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Samuel Richardson

David Hyde Pierce

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