Francois Fenelon Quotes
Exactness and neatness in moderation is a virtue, but carried to extremes narrows the mind.
The art of cookery is the art of poisoning mankind, by rendering the appetite still importunate, when the wants of nature are supplied.
A general rule for the good use of time is to accustom oneself to live in a continual dependence on the Spirit of God.
All earthly delights are sweeter in expectation than in enjoyment; but all spiritual pleasures more in fruition than in expectation.
The greatest of all crosses is self. If we die in part every day, we shall have but little to do on the last. These little daily deaths will destroy the power of the final dying.
Of all the duties enjoined by Christianity none is more essential and yet more neglected than prayer.
How can you expect God to speak in that gentle and inward voice which melts the soul, when you are making so much noise with your rapid reflections? Be silent and God will speak again.
Let us pray God that He would root out of our hearts every thing of our own planting, and set out there, with His own hands, the tree of life, bearing all manner of fruits.
God never ceases to speak to us, but the noise of the world without and the tumult of our passions within bewilder us and prevent us from listening to him
Genuine good taste consists in saying much in few words, in choosing among our thoughts, in having order and arrangement in what we say, and in speaking with composure.
I love my country better than my family; but I love humanity better than my country.
Faith is letting down our nets into the transparent deeps at the Divine command, not knowing what we shall draw.
That love of self, which the world advocates, is a thousand times more dangerous than any poison.
Pure love is in the will alone; it is no sentimental love, for the imagination has no part in it; it loves, if we may so express it, without feeling, as faith believes without seeing.
So long as we are full of self we are shocked at the faults of others. Let us think often of our own sin, and we shall be lenient to the sins of others.
Nothing will make us so charitable and tender to the faults of others, as, by self-examination, thoroughly to know our own.
There is nothing that is more dangerous to your own salvation, more unworthy of God and more harmful to your own happiness, than that you should be content to remain as you are.
Had we not faults of our own, we should take less pleasure in complaining of others.
Above all, live in the present moment and God will give you all the grace you need.
If we had strength and faith enough to trust ourselves entirely to God; and follow Him simply wherever He should lead us, we should have no need of any great effort of mind to reach perfection.
We can often do more for other men by trying to correct our own faults than by trying to correct theirs.
Can we be unsafe where God has placed us, and where He watches over us as a parent a child that he loves?
The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become toward the defects of other people.
If we were faultless we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate.
Most people I ask little from. I try to give them much, and expect nothing in return and I do very well in the bargain.
If God bores you, tell Him that He bores you, that you prefer the vilest amusements to His presence, that you only feel at your ease when you are far from Him.
Nothing marks so much the solid advancement of a soul, as the view of one's wretchedness without anxiety and without discouragement.
Do not make best friends with a melancholy sad soul. They always are heavily loaded, and you must bear half.
The history of the world suggests that without love of God there is little likelihood of a love for man that does not become corrupt.
Accustom yourself gradually to carry Prayer into all your daily occupation - speak, act, work in peace, as if you were in prayer, as indeed you ought to be.
To will everything that God wills, and to will it always, in all circumstances and without reservations: that is the kingdom of God which is entirely within.
There is but one way in which God should be loved, and that is to take no step except with Him and for Him, and to follow with a generous self-abandonment every thing which He requires.
Nothing is more despicable than a professional talker who uses his words as a quack uses his remedies
I would have every minister of the gospel address his audience with the zeal of a friend, with the generous energy of a father, and with the exuberant affection of a mother.
We must truly serve those whom we appear to command; we must bear with their imperfections, correct them with gentleness and patience, and lead them in the way to heaven.
