Quotes By Saint Augustine

A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.

Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.

He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.

Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.

The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.

Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.

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

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

Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt.

Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.

To seek the highest good is to live well.

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.

Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.

We cannot pass our guardian angel's bounds, resigned or sullen, he will hear our sighs.

Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.

He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.

What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.

Love is the beauty of the soul.

The greatest evil is physical pain.

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.

Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of his head are easier by far to count than his feeling, the movements of his heart.

O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet.

O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.

There is no possible source of evil except good.

Passion 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.

Hear the other side.

I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.

Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.

He that is jealous is not in love.