Saint Augustine Quotes

If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained.

People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars.... and they pass by themselves without wondering.

The world is a great big book, of which those who never travel read only one page.

Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.

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

The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.

By faithfulness we are collected and wound up into unity within ourselves, whereas we had been scattered abroad in multiplicity.

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.

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

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

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.

Love is the beauty of the soul.

The greatest evil is physical pain.

The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page.

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

Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.

God does not give heed to the ambitiousness of our prayers, because he is always ready to give to us his light, not a visible light but an intellectual and spiritual one: but we are not always ready to receive it when we turn aside and down to other things out of a desire for temporal things.

Nothing whatever pertaining to godliness and real holiness can be accomplished without grace.