Saint Augustine Quotes

“Not to give to those in need what is to you superfluous is akin to fraud.”

“It is better that the truth be known than that scandal be covered up.”

“The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence; it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship and communion: Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.”

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

“When regard for truth has been broken down or even slightly weakened, all things will remain doubtful.”

“Love all men, even your enemies; love them, not because they are your brothers, but that they may become your brothers. Thus you will ever burn with fraternal love, both for him who is already your brother and for your enemy, that he may by loving become your brother.”

“Beauty is the brilliance of truth.”

“It is not the being seen of men that is wrong, but doing these things for the purpose of being seen of men. The problem with the hypocrite is his motivation.”

“So you see how endlessly futile and fruitless it would be if we wanted to refute their objections every time they obstinately resolved not to think through what they say but merely to speak, just so long as they contradict our arguments in any way they can.”

“It is love that asks, that seeks, that knocks, that finds, and that is faithful to what it finds.”

“Fill yourselves first and then only will you be able to give to others.”

“Where love is, what can be wanting? Where it is not, what can possibly be profitable?”

“You wish to be great, begin from the least. You are thinking to construct some mighty fabric in height; first think of the foundation of humility. And how great soever a mass of building one may wish and design to place above it, the greater the building is to be, the deeper does he dig his foundation.”

“When we read a book, our most essential trait - imagination - is given the opportunity to soar.”

“Thou must be emptied of that wherewith thou art full, that thou mayest be filled with that whereof thou art empty.”

“For a sentence is not complete unless each word, once its syllables have been pronounced, gives way to make room for the next.”

“The purpose of all wars, is peace.”

“Love, and do what you will. If you are silent, be silent for love; or if you cry out, cry out for love. If you chastise, chastise for love; if you spare, spare for love.”

“I was looking for something to love, for I was in love with loving, and I hated security and a smooth way, free from snares.”

“How high a price we pay for the burden of habit! I am fitted for life here where I do not want to be, I want to live there but am unfit for it, and on both counts I am miserable.”

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

“It is not earthly riches which make us or our sons happy; for they must either be lost by us in our lifetime, or be possessed when we are dead, by whom we know not, or perhaps by whom we would not.”

“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.”

“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.”

“If we tread our vices under our feet, we make of them a ladder by which to rise to higher things.”