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.
Saint AugustineIt 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.
Saint AugustineWho would not shudder if he were given the choice of eternal death or life again as a child ? Who would not choose to die ?
Saint AugustineFurthermore, 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.
Saint Augustine