Inspirational Quotes by Augustine

“Reason judges in one way, custom in another. Reason judges by the light of truth, so that by right judgment it subjects lesser things to greater. Custom is often swayed by agreeable habits, so that it esteems as greater what truth reveals as lower.”

“So the will's desire for death is not a desire for nonexistence, but a desire for peace. When someone wrongly believes that he will not exist, he desires by nature to be at peace; that is, he desire to exist in a higher degree.”

“Every soul must pay back what it owes, either by using well what it received, or by losing what it was unwilling to use well.”

“the soul is not moved to abandon higher things and love inferior things unless it wills to do so.”

“...a man is not in any difficulty in making a reply according to his faith ... to those who try to defame our Holy Scripture. ... when they produce from any of their books a theory contrary to Scripture ... either we shall have some ability to demonstrate that it is absolutely false, or at least we ourselves will hold it so without any shadow of a doubt. ...let us choose [the doctrine] which appears as certainly the meaning intended by the author. ... For it is one thing to fail to recognize the primary meaning of the writer, and another to depart from the norms of religious belief.”

“La différence de ceux qui sont frappés demeure dans la ressemblance des maux qui les frappent ; et pour être exposés aux mêmes tourments, la vertu et le vice ne se confondent pas. Car, comme un même feu fait briller l’or et noircir la paille, comme un même fléau écrase le chaume et purifie le froment, ou encore, comme le marc ne se mêle pas avec l’huile, quoiqu’il soit tiré de l’olive par le même pressoir, ainsi un même malheur, venant à tomber sur les bons et sur les méchants, éprouve, purifie et fait resplendir les uns, tandis qu’il damne, écrase et anéantit les autres. C’est pour cela qu’en une même affliction, les méchants blasphèment contre Dieu, les bons, au contraire, le prient et le bénissent : tant il importe de considérer, non les maux qu’on souffre, mais l’esprit dans lequel on les subit ; car le même mouvement qui tire de la boue une odeur fétide, imprimé à un vase de parfums, en fait sortir les plus douces exhalaisons.”

“The happy man, therefore, is he who can make a right judgment in all things: he is happy who in his present circumstances, whatever they may be, is satisfied and on friendly terms with the conditions of his life. That man is happy, whose reason recommends to him the whole posture of his affairs.”

“Hence we may at once dismiss as easily foreseen but futile objection, “that by our admitting the ideality of space and of time the whole sensible world would be turned into mere illusion.”

“Si nemo me queret, scio; si aliqui explicare velim, nescio. "If no one asks me, I know. If I am asked to explain,I do not know".”

“Our city must remember that in the ranks of its enemies, lie hid fellow citizens to be, and that it is well to bear with them until we can reach them in their profession of faith.”

“Ama y haz lo que quieras. Si callas, callarás con amor; si gritas, gritarás con amor; si corriges, corregirás con amor, si perdonas, perdonarás con amor.”

“You are surprised that the world is losing its grip, that the world is grown old? Think of a man: he is born, he grows up, he becomes old. Old age has its many complaints: coughing, shaking, failing eyesight, anxious, terribly tired. A man grows old; he is full of complaints. The world is old; it is full of pressing tribulations. . . . Do not hold onto the old man, the world; do not refuse to regain your youth in Christ, who says to you, ‘The world is passing away, the world is losing its grip, the world is short of breath. Do not fear. Thy youth shall be renewed as an eagle”

“You have stricken my heart with your word and I have loved you.”

“With what destination in mind are you walking, endlessly, endlessly, on those hard paths of suffering? There's no rest where you're looking for it. Look for what you're looking for—but it's not there where you're looking. You're seeking a happy life in a land of death. It's not there. How can there be a happy life where there isn't even life?”

“Do not feel surprise at being schooled amid toil: you are being schooled for a wondrous destiny.”

“The world is a book, and he who does not travel reads only a page.”

“Care for your body as though you were going to live forever. Care for your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.”

“how shall we be beautiful? By loving the One who is always beautiful. The more love grows in you, the more beauty grows: for love itself is the beauty of the soul.”

“Indeed we also work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, for his mercy has gone before us. It has gone before us so that we may be healed, and follows us so that once healed, we may be given life; it goes before us so that we may be called, and follows us so that we may be glorified; it goes before us so that we may live devoutly, and follows us so that we may always live with God: for without him we can do nothing.”

“Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you." -St. Augustine of Hippo”