This entire most beautiful order of good things is going to pass away after its measure has been exhausted; for both morning and evening were made in them.
Ignorance itself is without a doubt a sin for those who do not wish to understand; for those who, however, cannot understand, it is the punishment of sin.
God will cleanse your sins if you yourself are dissatisfied with yourself and will keep on changing until you are perfect.
What is held by the whole Church, and that not as instituted by Councils, but as a matter of invariable custom, is rightly held to have been handed down by authority.
The customs of God’s people and the institutions of our ancestors are to be considered as laws. And those who throw contempt on the customs of the Church ought to be punished as those who disobey the law of God.
The mere change of custom, even though it may be of advantage in some respects, unsettles men by reason of the novelty: therefore, if it brings no advantage, it does much harm by unprofitably disturbing the Church.
Do not follow any road, but that which Christ trod. This road seems hard, but it is safe.
Singing is a lover’s thing.
When I am completely united to You, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of You, my life will be complete.
As the soul is the life of the body, so God is the life of the soul. As therefore the body perishes when the soul leaves it, so the soul dies when God departs from it.
You can live, provided you live; that is, you can live for ever, provided you live a good life.
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.
My mother spoke of Christ to my father, by her feminine and childlike virtues, and, after having borne his violence without a murmur or complaint, gained him at the close of his life to Christ.
Do you who are a Christian desire to be revenged and vindicated, and the death of Jesus Christ has not yet been revenged, nor His innocence vindicated?
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.
The weakness of little children’s limbs is innocent, not their souls .
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.
Why then be perverted and follow thy flesh? Be it converted and follow thee.
Every city is a living body.
For a sentence is not complete unless each word, once its syllables have been pronounced, gives way to make room for the next.