Saint Augustine Quotes

Carnal lust rules where there is no love of God.

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.

Grant what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt.

To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it.

For what is time? ... Who can even in thought comprehend it, so as to utter a word about it? ... If no one asks me, I know: If I wish to explain it to one that asketh, I know not.

To my God a heart of flame; To my fellow man a heart of love; To myself a heart of steel.

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

The world being unworthy to receive the Son of God directly from the hands of the Father, he gave his Son to Mary for the world to receive him from her.

If I am given a formula, and I am ignorant of its meaning, it cannot teach me anything, but if I already know it what does the formula teach me?

I found thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred in seeking thee without that wert within.

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.

If you understand, it is not God.

The wicked exist in this world either to be converted or that through them the good may exercise patience.

It is a sin to judge any man by his post

You say to me 'Show me your God.' I answer you, 'Everything you see in your heart that might sadden God, remove.'

Our whole business in this Life is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God may be seen.

We come to God by love and not by navigation.

God 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.

I entered (into my inward self) and beheld with the eye of my soul...the Light Unchangeable.

The honors of this world, what are they but puff, and emptiness, and peril of falling?

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

Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee.

The arrogance is not greatness but swelling; and the swelling seems big but it's not healthy.

I count myself one of the number of those who write as they learn and learn as they write.

Repentant tears wash out the stain of guilt.

If we did not have rational souls, we would not be able to believe.

You cannot attain to charity except through humility.

In what is necessary, unity; in what is not necessary, liberty and in all things charity.

Just think of the illimitable abundance and the marvelous loveliness of light, or of the beauty of the sun and moon and stars.

It is not the punishment but the cause that makes the martyr.

God is not a deceiver, that He should offer to support us, and then, when we lean upon Him, should slip away from us.

The heart of man is restless until he finds rest in Thee.

The measure of charity may be taken from the want of desires. As desires diminish in the soul, charity increases in it; and when it no longer feels any desire, then it possesses perfect charity.

The people who remained victorious were less like conquerors than conquered.

We can know what God is not, but we cannot know what He is.

Our life is a gymnasium of desire.... When Christians say "God," what do we wish to express? This word is all that we yearn for."

Every infinity... is made finite to God.

Do you who are a Christian desire to be revenged and vindicated, and the death of Jesus Christ has not yet been revenged, nor His innocence vindicated?

There is no salvation outside the church.

The Sacraments are the salvation of those who use them rightly, and the damnation of those who misuse them.

We are certainly in a common class with the beasts; every action of animal life is concerned with seeking bodily pleasure and avoiding pain.

Our bodies are shaped to bear children, and our lives are a working out of the processes of creation. All our ambitions and intelligence are beside that great elemental point.

God is best known in not knowing him.

Understanding is the wages of faith.

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

When I seek you, my God, I seek a blessed life. I shall seek you, so that my soul may live.

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

Heretics think false things about God and call it their faith.

Cursed is everyone who places his hope in changing the nature of man

Too late came I to love you, O Beauty both so ancient and so new! Too late came I to love you - and behold you were with me all the time . . .