Fulton J. Sheen Quotes & Sayings

No soul ever fell away from God without giving up prayer. Prayer is that which establishes contact with Divine Power and opens the invisible resources of heaven. However dark the way, when we pray, temptation can never master us. The first step downward in the average soul is the giving up of the practice of prayer, the breaking of the circuit with divinity, and the proclamation of one's owns self sufficiency. — Fulton J. Sheen

To love what we say, it must be true. To want to speak the truth, it must be loved. — Fulton J. Sheen

By the mere fact that we do not go forward, we go backward. — Fulton J. Sheen

The family tree of earthly ancestors was really not important; what was important was the family tree of the children of God He planted on Calvary. — Fulton J. Sheen

Why are those who are notoriously undisciplined and unmoral also most contemptuous of religion and morality? They are trying to solace their own unhappy lives by pulling the happy down to their own abysmal depths. — Fulton J. Sheen

The mathematical method is disinterested in the efficient cause and the final cause or the goodness of a thing and it should not be so disinterested. — Fulton J. Sheen

If you know where you are, you do not know how fast you are moving, and if you know how fast you are moving, you do not know where you are. — Fulton J. Sheen

Joy never comes to those who seek it. In the self-forgetting hour when we are touched by another's need and sacrifice for it, we suddenly find our soul aflame with glorious joy — Fulton J. Sheen

Learning comes from books; penetration of a mystery from suffering. — Fulton J. Sheen

We simply cannot put a man into a crucible to see if he will give off unmistakable green fumes of envy. — Fulton J. Sheen

The slave states of Western world are an outgrowth of monopolistic capitalism - an economic system which is opposed to the wide distribution of private property in many hands. Instead, monopolistic capitalism concentrates productive wealth among a few men, allowing the rest to become a vast proletariat. — Fulton J. Sheen

You have a chance to move in far better society than the Joneses. Why worry about keeping up with the Joneses? Keep up with the Angels and you'll be far wiser and happier. — Fulton J. Sheen

There are three ways in which a man becomes a slave. He may be born into slavery, or forced into it, or he can deliberately accept his servitude. All three forms flourish in the modern world. Men are born and forced into slavery in Russia and her satellites states. Men in the free world invite slavery when they ask the government to provide complete security, when they surrender their freedom to the "Welfare State." — Fulton J. Sheen

Once a man ceases to be of service to his neighbor, he begins to be a burden to him. — Fulton J. Sheen

The Western world generally has lost the concept of man as a creature made to the image and likeness of God, and reduced him either to a component part of the universe, to an economic animal or to a "physiological bag filled with psychological libido." Once man became materialized and atomized in Western thinking, it was only natural for a totalitarianism to arise to gather up the fragments into a new totality and substitute the collective man for the individual man who was isolated from all social responsibilities. — Fulton J. Sheen

Discussion is also a most excellent means to avoid -decision- — Fulton J. Sheen

Life is like a cash register, in that every account, every thought, every deed, like every sale, is registered and recorded. — Fulton J. Sheen

In vain will the world seek for equality until it has seen all men through the eyes of faith. Faith teaches that all men, however poor, or ignorant, or crippled, however maimed, ugly, or degraded they may be, all bear within themselves the image of God, and have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. As this truth is forgotten, men are valued only because of what they can do, not because of what they are. — Fulton J. Sheen

All worry is atheism, because it is a want of trust in God. — Fulton J. Sheen

It is easier to write a book with footnotes than the same book written so that children can understand it. — Fulton J. Sheen

To value only what can be "sold" is to defile what is truly precious. The innocent joy of childhood, the devotedness of a wife, the self sacrificing service of a daughter
none of these have an earthly market. To reduce everything to the dirty scales of economic values is to forget that some gifts, like Mary's, are so precious that the heart that offers them will be praised as long as time endures. — Fulton J. Sheen

No man discovers anything big if he does not make himself small. — Fulton J. Sheen

There is no other subject on which the average mind is so much confused as the subject of tolerance and intolerance ... Tolerance applies only to persons, but never to principles. Intolerance applies only to principles, but never to persons. — Fulton J. Sheen

So the divine love is sacrificial love. Love does not mean to have and to own and to possess. It means to be had and to be owned and to be possessed. It is not a circle circumscribed by self, it is arms outstretched to embrace all humanity within its grasp. — Fulton J. Sheen

As the mother knows the needs better than the babe, so the Blessed Mother understands our cries and worries and knows them better than we know ourselves. — Fulton J. Sheen

It takes three to make love, not two: you, your spouse, and God. Without God people only succeed in bringing out the worst in one another. Lovers who have nothing else to do but love each other soon find there is nothing else. Without a central loyalty life is unfinished. — Fulton J. Sheen

How can one love self without being selfish? How can one love others without losing self? The answer is: By loving both self and neighbor in God. It is His Love that makes us love both self and neighbor rightly. — Fulton J. Sheen

If we had intellectual vigour enough to ascend from effects to causes, we would explain political, economical and social phenomena less by credit sheets, balance of trade and reparations than by our attitude towards God. — Fulton J. Sheen

If you do not live what you believe, you will end up believing what you live. — Fulton J. Sheen

The evil in the world must not make me doubt the existence of God. There could be no evil if there were no God. Before there can be a hole in a uniform, there must be a uniform; before there is death, there must be life; before there is error, there must be truth; before there is a crime, there must be liberty and law; before there is a war, there must be peace; before there is a devil, there must be a God, rebellion against whom made the devil. — Fulton J. Sheen

What is discovered may be abused, but that does not mean the discovery was evil. — Fulton J. Sheen

The very freedom which the sinner supposedly exercises in his self-indulgence is only another proof that he is ruled by the tyrant. — Fulton J. Sheen

The first part, or the Aesthetics, which has nothing in common with art, disengages the a priori forms of sensible knowledge, namely, the forms of space and time, which furnish mathematics with their object. Aesthetics thus divorced mathematics from reality, for it makes the condition of mathematics not the real, but a mental form of space and time. — Fulton J. Sheen

The way not to lead a monotonous life is to live for others. — Fulton J. Sheen

Animals never have recourse to law courts, because they have no will to love; but man, having reason, feels the need of justifying his irrational behavior when he does wrong. — Fulton J. Sheen

The greatest influence in writing was G. K. Chesterton who never used a useless word, who saw the value of a paradox, and avoided what was trite. — Fulton J. Sheen

Even though Christ Himself would not deliver us from the power of the Totalitarian State, as He did not deliver Himself, we must see His purpose in it all. Maybe his children are being persecuted by the world in order that they might withdraw themselves from the world. Maybe His most violent enemies may be doing His work negatively, for it could be the mission of totalitarianism to preside over the liquidation of a modern world that became indifferent to God and His moral laws. — Fulton J. Sheen

Some religions draw by force of arms; He would draw by force of love. The attraction would not be His words, but Himself. It was His Person around which His teaching centered; not His teaching around which He would be remembered. 'Greater love than this no man hath' - that was the secret of His magnetism. — Fulton J. Sheen

The celibate is bound to feel lonely in that atmosphere, but it is a different kind of loneliness that plagues the erotic. The former is tempted because, in the natural order, he is without a partner; the other is lonely even when he has his partner, for as St. Augustine reflected: Our hearts were made for Thee, O Lord, and they cannot rest until they rest in Thee. — Fulton J. Sheen

The Rosary is the book of the blind. — Fulton J. Sheen

I study philosophy after my dinner, but the dinner is not the cause o my studying philosophy. — Fulton J. Sheen

If we wish to have the light, we must keep the sun; if we wish to keep our forests we must keep our trees; if we wish to keep our perfumes, we must keep our flowers- and if we wish to keep our rights, then we must keep our God. — Fulton J. Sheen

He has mercy on those who fear Him, from generation to generation." Fear is here understood as filial, that is, a shrinking from hurting one who is loved. Such is the fear a son has for a devoted father and the fear a Christian has of Christ. Fear is here related to love. — Fulton J. Sheen

Modern prophets say that our economics have failed us. No! It is not our economics which have failed; it is man who has failed-man who has forgotten God. Hence no manner of economic or political readjustment can possibly save our civilization; we can be saved only by a renovation of the inner man, only by a purging of our hearts and souls; for only by seeking first the Kingdom of God and His Justice will all these other things be added unto us. — Fulton J. Sheen

The Book of Numbers relates that when the people murmured rebelliously against God, they were punished with a plague of fiery serpents, so that many lost their lives. When they repented, Moses was told by God to make a brazen serpent and set it up for a sign, and all those bitten by the serpents who looked upon that sign would be healed. Our Blessed Lord was now declaring that He was to be lifted up, as the serpent had been lifted up. As the brass serpent had the appearance of a serpent and yet lacked its venom, so too, when He would be lifted up upon the bars of the Cross, He would have the appearance of a sinner and yet be without sin. As all who looked upon the brass serpent had been healed of the bite of the serpent, so all who looked upon Him with love and faith would be healed of the bite of the serpent of evil. — Fulton J. Sheen

Some representatives of monopolistic capitalism, sensing this evil in their system, have tried to silence criticism by pointing to the diffused ownership in the great corporations. They advertise, "No one owns more than 4 percent of the stock of this great company." Or they print lists of stockholders, showing that these include farmers, schoolteachers, baseball players, taxi drivers, and even babies. — Fulton J. Sheen

As in Eden there took place the first espousals of man and woman, so, in her, there took place the first espousals of God and man, eternity and time, omnipotence and bonds. In — Fulton J. Sheen

The more He loved those for whom He was the ransom, the more His anguish would increase, as it is the faults of friends rather than enemies which most disturb hearts! — Fulton J. Sheen

Joy is not the same as pleasure or happiness. A wicked and evil man may have pleasure, while any ordinary mortal is capable of being happy. Pleasure generally comes from things, and always through the senses; happiness comes from humans through fellowship. Joy comes from loving God and neighbor. Pleasure is quick and violent, like a flash of lightning. Joy is steady and abiding, like a fixed star. Pleasure depends on external circumstances, such as money, food, travel, etc. Joy is independent of them, for it comes from a good conscience and love of God. — Fulton J. Sheen

The Christmas gift of peace was the uncoiling of the links of a triple chain that first unites a person with God, then with himself, then with his neighbor. — Fulton J. Sheen

Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience toward evil ... a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment. Tolerance applies only to persons ... never to truth. Tolerance applies to the erring, intolerance to the error ... Architects are as intolerant about sand as foundations for skyscrapers as doctors are intolerant about germs in the laboratory. Tolerance does not apply to truth or principles. About these things we must be intolerant, and for this kind of intolerance, so much needed to rouse us from sentimental gush, I make a plea. Intolerance of this kind is the foundation of all stability. — Fulton J. Sheen

If we use our lives for other purposes than those given by God, not only do we miss happiness, but we actually hurt ourselves and beget in us queer little "kinks". — Fulton J. Sheen

Our Blessed Lord left the world without leaving any written message. His doctrine was Himself. Ideal and History were identified in Him. The truth that all other ethical teachers proclaimed, and the light that they gave to the world, was not IN them, but OUTSIDE them. Our Divine Lord, however, identified Divine Wisdom with Himself. It was the first time in history that it was ever done, and it has never been done since. — Fulton J. Sheen

What some people love is not a person but the experience of being in love. The first is irreplaceable; the second is not. — Fulton J. Sheen

It is not particularly difficult to find thousands who will spend two or three hours a day in exercising, but if you ask them to bend their knees to God in five minutes of prayer they protest that it is too long. — Fulton J. Sheen

Health, power, riches, possessions and honor can be snatched from you, but your will is irrevocably your own. — Fulton J. Sheen

Any event or group of events may be viewed from different degrees of abstraction. A man jumps from a bridge. The psychologists make abstraction from everything except the mental state which prompted the suicide; the biologists abstract from everything except the dying organism; while the physicists are interested in the man, not as mind, or as organism, but as a falling body. — Fulton J. Sheen

The man is interested in the sowing of wheat in the field; the woman in making the bread. — Fulton J. Sheen

As long as the decent people refuse to believe that morality must manifest itself in every sphere of human activity, including the political, they will not meet the challenge of Marxism. — Fulton J. Sheen

To those who rejected Him, righteousness would one day appear as a terrible justice; to the sinful men who accepted Him and allied themselves to His life, righteousness would show itself as mercy. — Fulton J. Sheen

It is the basic principle of Marxism that any attempt to reconcile capital and labor so that they both co-operate in peace and prosperity is a betrayal of communism. — Fulton J. Sheen

The Soviet Union is like the Cross without Christ, while American culture is like Christ without the Cross. — Fulton J. Sheen

It takes eternity to make a man despair. — Fulton J. Sheen

The sun which warms the plant can under other conditions also wither it. The rain which nourishes the flower can under other conditions rot it. The same sun shines upon mud that shines upon wax. It hardens the mud but softens the wax. The difference is not in the sun, but in that upon which it shines. The Divine Life which shines upon a soul that loves Him, softens it into everlasting life; that same Divine Life which shines upon the slothful soul, neglectful of God, hardens it into everlasting death. — Fulton J. Sheen

The physicist takes water, abstracts its quantitatively measurable aspects, reaches results about these aspects, and ignores the rest. — Fulton J. Sheen

A reasonable being should ask himself why - if chemicals can enter into plants, and plants be taken up into animals, and animals be taken into man - why man himself, who is the peak of visible creation, should be denied the privilege of being assimilated into a higher power? The rose has no right to say that there is no life above it and neither has man, who has a vast capacity and unconquerable yearning for eternal life and truth and love. — Fulton J. Sheen

The sadness it feels in attaining any happiness less than the infinite - all these constitute the mating call of God to the soul. — Fulton J. Sheen

Goodness by its nature is lovable and love finds it impossible not to pursue goodness. — Fulton J. Sheen

Here is the answer to the riddle of love. Love implies relation. If lived in isolation, it becomes selfishness; if absorbed in collectivity, it loses its personality and, therefore, the right to love. — Fulton J. Sheen

Pride is the king of vices ... it is the first of the pallbearers of the soul ... other vices destroy only their opposite virtues, as wantonness destroys chastity; greed destroys temperance; anger destroys gentleness; but pride destroys all virtues. — Fulton J. Sheen

Judge the Catholic Church not by those who barely live by its spirit, but by the example of those who live closest to it. — Fulton J. Sheen

The assumption that numbers and mathematical or logical laws are mental is due to the even more widespread notion that only particular sensible entities exist in nature, and that relations abstractions, or universals cannot have any such objective existence - hence they are given a shadowy existence in the mind. — Fulton J. Sheen

Possession properly has two faces, two aspects: we all have a right to private property, but this is accompanied by our responsibility for its righteous use. These two things (which should be inseparable) are frequently divided today. Everyone admits that the farmer who own a horse is obligated to feed and care for it, but in the case of stocks and bonds, we often forget that the same principle should prevail. — Fulton J. Sheen

These are but a few specimens of philosophy which is no longer conscious of its own intrinsic worth, and which sees no higher mission in life for itself than applying the categories of the material to the spiritual, of the physical to the mental, and the spatio-temporal to the eternal. — Fulton J. Sheen

There are ultimately only two possible adjustments to life; one is to suit our lives to principles; the other is to suit principles to our lives. If we do not live as we think, we soon begin to think as we live. The method of adjusting moral principles to the way men live is just a perversion of the order of things. — Fulton J. Sheen

All our anxieties relate to time. — Fulton J. Sheen

The pure in heart shall see God, because they always do His will. Purity does not begin in the body but in the will. From there it flows outward, cleansing thought, imagination, and, finally, the body. Bodily purity is a repercussion or echo of the will. Life is impure only when the will is impure. — Fulton J. Sheen

They never loved in the first place, for love never takes back that which it gives, even in unfaithfulness. — Fulton J. Sheen

Education lays hold of what is best in a person, but character lays hold of what is worse. It takes hold of a failing and by very skillful manipulation and training turns it into a perfection. — Fulton J. Sheen

St. Augustine also states that, in a sense, shame is related to disobedience. Positively, this would mean that when there is perfect obedience to God, there is no shame. This confirms somewhat the spiritual truth that Catholic educators have observed, namely, that as obedience to the law of Christ increases, concupiscence or the passions actually diminish. — Fulton J. Sheen

America, it is said, is suffering from intolerance - it is not. It is suffering from tolerance. Tolerance of right and wrong, truth and error, virtue and evil, Christ and chaos. Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded. — Fulton J. Sheen

Any book which inspires us to lead a better life is a good book. — Fulton J. Sheen

At Cana, [Mary] gave Him as a Savior to sinners; on the Cross He gave her as a refuge to sinners. — Fulton J. Sheen

Civilization is always in danger when those who have never learned to obey are given the right to command. — Fulton J. Sheen

Leisure is a form of silence, not noiselessness. It is the silence of contemplation such as occurs when we let our minds rest on a rosebud, a child at play, a Divine mystery, or a waterfall. — Fulton J. Sheen

When the will loves anything that is below it in dignity, it degrades itself. — Fulton J. Sheen

Wars come from egotism and selfishness. Every macrocosmic or world war has its origin in microcosmic wars going on inside millions and millions of individuals. — Fulton J. Sheen

Love itself starts with the desire for something good. — Fulton J. Sheen

A man without God is not like a cake without raisins; he is like a cake without the flour and milk; he lacks the essential ingredients. — Fulton J. Sheen

God does not love us because we are valuable. We are valuable because God loves us. — Fulton J. Sheen

The Church was spread throughout the entire Roman Empire before a single book of the New Testament was written. — Fulton J. Sheen

Monopolistic capitalism is to blame for this; it sunders the right to own property from responsibility that owning property involves. Those who own only a few stocks have no practical control of any industry. They vote by postcard proxy, but they have rarely even seen "their" company. The two elements which ought to be inextricably joined in any true conception of private property - ownership and responsibility - are separated. Those who own do not manage; those who manage; those who manage and work do not control or own. — Fulton J. Sheen

Prayer begins by talking to God, but it ends by listening to Him. In the face of Absolute Truth, silence is the soul's language. — Fulton J. Sheen

Each and every one of us, at the end of the journey of life, will come face to face with either one or the other of two faces ... And one of them, either the merciful face of Christ or the miserable face of Satan, will say, "Mine, mine." May we be Christ's! — Fulton J. Sheen

No one has ever laughed at a pun who did not see in the one word a twofold meaning. To materialists this world is opaque like a curtain; nothing can be seen through it. A mountain is just a mountain, a sunset just a sunset; but to poets, artists, and saints, the world is transparent like a window pane - it tells of something beyond ... a mountain tells of the Power of God, the sunset of His Beauty, and the snowflake of His Purity. — Fulton J. Sheen

A love without satiety an ecstasy without an end, a surrender to the beloved - God - without ever falling back on egotistic loneliness. Marriage and celibacy are not contraries — Fulton J. Sheen

Scepticism is never certain of itself, being less a firm intellectual position than a pose to justify bad behavior. — Fulton J. Sheen

Not only were the Jews expecting the birth of a Great King, a Wise Man and a Saviour, but Plato and Socrates also spoke of the Logos and of the Universal Wise Man 'yet to come'. Confucius spoke of 'the Saint'; the Sibyls, of a 'Universal King'; the Greek dramatist, of a saviour and redeemer to unloose man from the 'primal eldest curse'. All these were on the Gentile side of the expectation. What separates Christ from all men is that first He was expected; even the Gentiles had a longing for a deliverer, or redeemer. This fact alone distinguishes Him from all other religious leaders. — Fulton J. Sheen

The difference between the love of a man and the love of a woman is that a man will always give reasons for loving, but a woman gives no reasons for loving. — Fulton J. Sheen

No one can love himself properly unless he knows why he is living. Love is useless when alone, — Fulton J. Sheen