Saint Augustine Quotes & Sayings

A marriage without children is the world without the sun. — Saint Augustine

Blessed is he who devotes his life to great and noble ends, and who forms his well-considered plans with deliberate wisdom. — Saint Augustine

I do not comprehend all that I am. Is the mind, therefore, too limited to possess itself? — Saint Augustine

It is not by change of place that we can come nearer to Him who is in every place, but by the cultivation of pure desires and virtuous habits. — Saint Augustine

Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity. — Saint Augustine

There is no love without hope, no hope without love, and neither love nor hope without faith. — Saint Augustine

Where I found truth, there found I my God, who is the truth itself. — Saint Augustine

Hear the other side. — Saint Augustine

For God loves saving, not condemning, and therefore He is patient with bad people, in order to make good people out of bad people. — Saint Augustine

A person can do other things against his will, but belief is possible only in one who is willing. — Saint Augustine

Venerate the martyrs, praise, love, proclaim, honor them. But worship the God of the martyrs. — Saint Augustine

Custom is second nature. — Saint Augustine

Hell was made for the inquisitive. — Saint Augustine

Trials and tribulations offer us a chance to make reparation for our past faults and sins. On such occasions the Lord comes to us like a physician to heal the wounds left by our sins. Tribulation is the divine medicine. — Saint Augustine

Anger is a weed; hate is a tree — Saint Augustine

Don't hold yourselves cheap, seeing that the creator of all things and of you estimates your value so high, so dear, that he pours out for you every day the most precious blood of his only-begotten Son. — Saint Augustine

Without the Spirit we can neither love God nor keep His commandments. — Saint Augustine

Because a thing is eloquently expressed it should not be taken to be as necessarily true; nor because it is uttered with stammering lips should it be supposed false. — Saint Augustine

Make friends with angels. — Saint Augustine

Let us sing a new song, not with our lips, but with our lives. — Saint Augustine

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. — Saint Augustine

One generation and another generation; the generation by which we are made the faithful, and are born again by baptism; the generation by which we shall rise again from the dead, and shall live with the Angels for ever. — Saint Augustine

He pleaseth God whom God pleaseth. — Saint Augustine

Lord, who art always the same, give that I know myself, give that I know Thee. — Saint Augustine

There is no possible source of evil except good. — Saint Augustine

Lust indulged became habit, and habit unresisted became necessity. — Saint Augustine

Do not be afraid to throw yourself on the Lord! He will not draw back and let you fall! Put your worries aside and throw yourself on him; He will welcome you and heal you. — Saint Augustine

There is nothing more serious than the sacrilege of schism because there is no just cause for severing the unity of the Church. — Saint Augustine

I make bold to say that it is profitable for the proud to fall, in order that they may be humbled in that for which they have exalted themselves. — Saint Augustine

In what is necessary, unity; in what is not necessary, liberty and in all things charity. — Saint Augustine

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

I became evil for no reason. I had no motive for my wickedness except wickedness itself. It was foul, and I loved it. I loved the self-destruction, I loved my fall, not the object for which I had fallen but my fall itself. My depraved soul leaped down from your firmament to ruin. I was seeking not to gain anything by shameful means, but shame for its own sake. — Saint Augustine

In no passage of the holy canonical books there can be found either divine precept or permission to take away our own life, whether for the sake of entering on the enjoyment of immortality, or of shunning, or ridding ourselves of anything whatever. Nay, the law, rightly interpreted, even prohibits suicide, where it says, 'Thou shalt not kill.' This is proved especially by the omission of the words "thy neighbor," which are inserted when false witness is forbidden. — Saint Augustine

Peace is not sought in order to provoke war, but war is waged in order to attain peace. — Saint Augustine

Doubt is but another element of faith. — Saint Augustine

Why then be perverted and follow thy flesh? Be it converted and follow thee. — Saint Augustine

Between urine and filth we are born. — Saint Augustine

Far be it from us to doubt that all number is known to Him 'Whose understanding is infinite' (Ps. 147:5). The infinity of number, though there be no numbering of infinite numbers, is yet not incomprehensible by Him Whose understanding is infinite. And thus, if everything which is comprehended is defined or made finite by the comprehension of him who knows it, then all infinity is in some ineffable way made finite to God, for it is comprehensible by His knowledge. — Saint Augustine

He who devoutly hears holy Mass will receive a great vigor to enable him to resist mortal sin, and there shall be pardoned to him all venial sins which he may have committed up to that hour. — Saint Augustine

All diseases of Christians are to be ascribed to demons; chiefly do they torment freshly-baptized Christians, yea, even the guiltless new-born infants. — Saint Augustine

Nothing conquers except truth and the victory of truth is love. — Saint Augustine

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

What is reprehensible is that while leading good lives themselves and abhorring those of wicked men, some, fearing to offend, shut their eyes to evil deeds instead of condemning them and pointing out their malice. — Saint Augustine

This awful catastrophe is not the end but the beginning. History does not end so. It is the way its chapters open. — Saint Augustine

Although among heretics and schismatics there is the same Baptism, nevertheless, the remission of sins is not operative among them because of the very rottenness of discord and wickedness of dissension ... Baptism was in them, but it did not profit them outside the Church ... Outside the Church, Baptism works death because of discord. — Saint Augustine

The one who is our very Life descended into our world, and bore our death, and slew it with the abundance of His own life. Thundering, He called out to us to return to Him in heaven. — Saint Augustine

No one reaches the kingdom of Heaven except by humility — Saint Augustine

There is a joy which is not given to the ungodly, but to those who love Thee for Thine own sake, whose joy Thou Thyself art. And this is the happy life, to rejoice to Thee, of Thee, for Thee; this it is, and there is no other. — Saint Augustine

Jesus took His flesh from the flesh of Mary — Saint Augustine

It is love that asks, that seeks, that knocks, that finds, and that is faithful to what it finds. — Saint Augustine

As to those other things which we hold on the authority, not of Scripture, but of tradition, and which are observed throughout the whole world, it may be understood that they are held as approved and instituted either by the apostles themselves, or by plenary Councils, whose authority in the Church is most useful, e.g. the annual commemoration, by special solemnities, of the Lord's passion, resurrection, and ascension, and of the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven, and whatever else is in like manner observed by the whole Church wherever it has been established. — Saint Augustine

You can live, provided you live; that is, you can live for ever, provided you live a good life. — Saint Augustine

For if a thing is not diminished by being shared with others, it is not rightly owned if it is only owned and not shared. — Saint Augustine

Any woman who does not give birth to as many children as she is capable is guilty of murder. — Saint Augustine

Even in waging war, cherish the spirit of peace-maker; that, by conquering those whom you attack, you may lead them back to the advantages of peace. — Saint Augustine

When regard for truth has been broken down or even slightly weakened, all things will remain doubtful. — Saint Augustine

Your wisdom should be without pride. — Saint Augustine

Imagine the vanity of thinking that your enemy can do you more damage than your enmity. — Saint Augustine

Ex Malo Bounum (good out of evil). — Saint Augustine

It is He who gave to this intellectual nature free-will of such a kind, that if he wishes to forsake God his blessedness, misery should forthwith result. — Saint Augustine

There is no greater invitation to love than loving first. — Saint Augustine

When, therefore, man lives according to man, not according to God, he is like the devil. — Saint Augustine

The entire most beautiful order of things that are very good, when their measures have been accomplished, is to pass away. — Saint Augustine

Be always displeased with what you are if you wish to be what you are not. Always add, always walk, always proceed. Neither stand still nor go back nor deviate. — Saint Augustine

We come to God by love and not by navigation. — Saint Augustine

Who else is it who calls us back from the death of error, except the life that does not know death, and the wisdom which, needing no light, enlightens minds which are in darkness, that wisdom by which the whole world, even to the leaves of trees drifting in the wind, is governed? — Saint Augustine

Angels are spirits, but it is not because they are spirits that they are angels. They become angels when they are sent. For the name angel refers to their office, not their nature. You ask the name of this nature, it is spirit; you ask its office, it is that of an Angel, which is a messenger. — Saint Augustine

We count on God's mercy for our past mistakes, on God's love for our present needs, on God's sovereignty for our future. — Saint Augustine

All truth and understanding is a result of a divine light which is God Himself. — Saint Augustine

The sole purpose of life is to gain merit for life in eternity. — Saint Augustine

If bodies please thee, praise God on occasion of them, and turn back thy love upon their Maker; lest in these things which please thee, thou displease. If souls please thee, be they loved in God: for they too are mutable, but in Him they are firmly established. — Saint Augustine

It is not the punishment but the cause that makes the martyr. — Saint Augustine

Consequently, heretics and schismatics, separated from the unity of this Body, are able to receive the same Sacrament, but with no benefit to themselves; indeed, more to their own harm, in that they are judged the more severely rather than being liberated. — Saint Augustine

Although God is all powerful, He is unable to give more; though supremely wise, He knows not how to give more; though vastly rich, He has not more to give. — Saint Augustine

My love is my weight. Because of it, I move. — Saint Augustine

Not to give to those in need what is to you superfluous is akin to fraud. — Saint Augustine

Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. — Saint Augustine

God is not a deceiver, that He should offer to support us, and then, when we lean upon Him, should slip away from us. — Saint Augustine

Love and do as you will. — Saint Augustine

The wicked exist in this world either to be converted or that through them the good may exercise patience. — Saint Augustine

It is a sin to judge any man by his post — Saint Augustine

By the fall a poison was handed to mankind through a woman [Eve], by the Redemption man was given salvation also through a woman [Mary]. — Saint Augustine

Nothing is so much to be shunned as sex relations. — Saint Augustine

Things are solved by walking around. — Saint Augustine

Our rewards in heaven are a result of God's crowning His own gifts. — Saint Augustine

The love of our neighbor hath its bounds in each man's love of himself. — Saint Augustine

Alternate translation: Come brethren, if you have a mind to be ingrafted in the vine, It is a pity to see you lopped off in this manner From the stock. Reckon up the prelates in the very see of Peter; And in that order of fathers see which has succeeded which. This is the rock over which the proud gates of hell prevail not. — Saint Augustine

Fill yourselves first and then only will you be able to give to others. — Saint Augustine

One loving heart sets another on fire. — Saint Augustine

This very moment I may, if I desire, become the friend of God. — Saint Augustine

The true religion has always been one from the beginning, and will always be the same. — Saint Augustine

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

Suppress prostitution, and capricious lusts will overthrow society. — Saint Augustine

The Lord says, 'Whoever has, to him shall be given' (Mt. 13:12). He will give, then, to those who have; that is to say, if they use freely and cheerfully what they have received, He will add to and perfect His gifts. — Saint Augustine

What are kingdoms without justice? They're just gangs of bandits. — Saint Augustine

The same thing which is now called Christian religion existed among the ancients. They have begun to call 'Christian' the true religion which existed before. — Saint Augustine

The fellow who eggs you on to avenge yourself will rob you of what you were going to say - as we forgive our debtors . When you have forfeited that, all your sins will be held against you; absolutely nothing is forgiven. — Saint Augustine

True happiness is to rejoice in the truth, for to rejoice in the truth is to rejoice in You, O God, who are the truth ... Those who think that there is another kind of happiness look for joy elsewhere, but theirs is not true joy. — Saint Augustine

Was it for my good that the rein was laid loose, as it were, upon me, for me to sin? or was it not laid loose? If not, why does it still echo in our ears on all sides, "Let him alone, let him do as he will, for he is not yet baptized?" but as to bodily health, no one says, "Let him be worse wounded, for he is not yet healed." How much better then, had I been at once healed; and then, by my friends' diligence and my own, my soul's recovered health had been kept safe in Thy keeping who gavest it. — Saint Augustine

The Kingdom of Heaven, O man, requires no other price than yourself. The value of it is yourself. Give yourself for it and you shall have it. — Saint Augustine