Quotes By Saint Augustine

If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don't accept, because you will lose one friend; on the other hand, if two strangers come with the same request, accept because you will gain one friend.

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

We make ourselves a ladder out of our vices if we trample the vices themselves underfoot.

He that is jealous is not in love.

Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked.

My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contradictory throng of sensuous images, that it might find out what that light was wherein it was bathed... And thus, with the flash of one hurried glance, it attained to the vision of That Which Is.

To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.

God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist.

Oh Lord, give me chastity, but do not give it yet.

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

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

It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.

I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him.

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

In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?

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.

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

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

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.

The purpose of all wars, is peace.

To seek the highest good is to live well.

What I needed most was to love and to be loved, eager to be caught. Happily I wrapped those painful bonds around me; and sure enough, I would be lashed with the red-hot pokers or jealousy, by suspicions and fear, by burst of anger and quarrels.

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

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.

Patience is the companion of wisdom.