Saint Augustine Quotes

I asked the whole frame of the world about my God; and he answered, I am not He, but He made me.

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.

This awful catastrophe is not the end but the beginning. History does not end so. It is the way its chapters open.

Not to give to those in need what is to you superfluous is akin to fraud.

Lord Jesus, don't let me lie when I say that I love you.....and protect me, for today I could betray you.

We come to God by love and not by navigation.

If there is something more excellent than the truth, then that is God; if not, then truth itself is God.

It is not often that we use language correctly; usually we use it incorrectly, though we understand each others meaning.

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.

Beware of bad Catholics.

When, therefore, man lives according to man, not according to God, he is like the devil.

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.

Choose to love whomsoever thou wilt: all else will follow.

He who does little, but in a state to which God calls him, does more than he who labors much, but in a state which he has thoughtlessly chosen: a cripple limping in the right way is better than a racer out of 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.

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.

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.

Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.

The sufficiency of my merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient.

Someone who knows enough to become the owner of a tree, and gives thanks to you for the benefits it brings him, is in a better state, even if ignorant of its height in feet and the extent of its spread, than another who measures and counts all its branches but neither owns it nor knows its creator nor loves him.

Blessedness consists in the accomplishment of our desires, and in our having only regular desires.

There is no love without hope, no hope without love, and neither hope nor love without faith.

God is more truly imagined than expressed, and He exists more truly than He is imagined.

Narrow is the mansion of my soul; enlarge Thou it, that Thou mayest enter in. It is ruinous; repair Thou it. It has that within which must offend Thine eyes; I confess and know it. But who shall cleanse it? or to whom should I cry, save Thee? Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults, and spare Thy servant from the power of the enemy. I believe, and therefore do I speak.

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.

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 ?

A free curiosity is more effective in learning than a rigid discipline.

The one who is good, is free even being a slave; the one who is bad remains a slave even being a king.

There is no remedy so powerful against the heat of concupiscence as the remembrance of our Savior's Passion. In all my difficulties I never found anything so efficacious as the wounds of Christ: In them I sleep secure; from them I derive new life.

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending.

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.

Fill yourselves first and then only will you be able to give to others.

Better that I find you, God, and leave the questions unanswered, than to find the answers without finding you.

When we read a book, our most essential trait - imagination - is given the opportunity to soar.

No one can begin a new life, unless he repent of the old.

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.

Before God can deliver us we must undeceive ourselves.

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.

The world's verdict is conclusive.

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.

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.

Trials and tribulations offer us a chance to make reparation for our past faults and sins. On such occasions the Lord comes to us like a physician to heal the wounds left by our sins. Tribulation is the divine medicine.

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.

Grace alone brings about every good work in us.

Do not say that you have chaste minds if you have unchaste eyes, because an unchaste eye is the messenger of an unchaste heart.

God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.

There are wolves within, and there are sheep without.

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.