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.
Saint AugustineThe soul is "torn apart in a painful condition as long as it prefers the eternal because of its Truth but does not discard the temporal because of familiarity.
Saint AugustinePassion is the evil in adultery. If a man has no opportunity of living with another man's wife, but if it is obvious for some reason that he would like to do so, and would do so if he could, he is no less guilty than if he was caught in the act.
Saint AugustineWhat I needed most was to love and to be loved, eager to be caught. Happily I wrapped those painful bonds around me; and sure enough, I would be lashed with the red-hot pokers or jealousy, by suspicions and fear, by burst of anger and quarrels.
Saint AugustineFor a sentence is not complete unless each word, once its syllables have been pronounced, gives way to make room for the next.
Saint AugustineLet us understand that God is a physician, and that suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation.
Saint AugustineBecause a thing is eloquently expressed it should not be taken to be as necessarily true; nor because it is uttered with stammering lips should it be supposed false.
Saint AugustineGod bestows more consideration on the purity of the intention with which our actions are performed than on the actions themselves.
Saint AugustineThou must be emptied of that wherewith thou art full, that thou mayest be filled with that whereof thou art empty.
Saint AugustineThe 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.
Saint AugustineThou 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.
Saint AugustineIt’s not in the book or in the writer that readers discern the truth of what they read; they see it in themselves, if the light of truth has penetrated their minds.
Saint AugustineThe wicked exist in this world either to be converted or that through them the good may exercise patience.
Saint AugustineThe most venerable, clearly understood, enlightened, and reliable constant in the world is not only that we want to be happy, but that we want only to be so. Our very nature requires it of us.
Saint AugustineThe 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.
Saint AugustineLonging desire prayeth always, though the tongue be silent. If thou art ever longing, thou art ever praying.
Saint AugustineThe 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.
Saint AugustineTwo loves have made two different cities: self-love hath made a terrestrial city, which rises in contempt of God; and Divine Love hath made a celestial one, which rises in contempt of self. The former glories in itself - the latter in God.
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 AugustineTo touch God a little with our mind is a great blessing, to grasp him is impossible.
Saint AugustineThere is something in humility which, strangely enough, exalts the heart, and something in pride which debases it.
Saint AugustineGod Almighty would in no way permit evil in His works were He not so omnipotent and good that even out of evil He could work good.
Saint AugustineHe who loves the coming of the Lord is not he who affirms that it is far off, nor is it he who says it is near, but rather he who, whether it be far off or near, awaits it with sincere faith, steadfast hope, and fervent love.
Saint AugustineWhere love is, what can be wanting? Where it is not, what can possibly be profitable?
Saint AugustineTake 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.
Saint AugustineYou 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.
Saint AugustineI became evil for no reason. I had no motive for my wickedness except wickedness itself. It was foul, and I loved it. I loved the self-destruction, I loved my fall, not the object for which I had fallen but my fall itself. My depraved soul leaped down from your firmament to ruin. I was seeking not to gain anything by shameful means, but shame for its own sake.
Saint AugustineThere never can have been, and never can be, and there never shall be any sin without pride.
Saint AugustineMy love for you, Lord, is not an uncertain feeling, but a matter of concious certainty. With your word you pierced my heart, and I loved you. But heaven and earth and everything in them on all sides tell me to love you.
Saint AugustineThe 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.
Saint AugustineWhen I am completely united to You, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of You, my life will be complete.
Saint AugustineSuch 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.
Saint Augustine