Augustine of Hippo > Quotes

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Resentment is like taking poison and hoping the other person dies.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“People travel to wonder
at the height of the mountains,
at the huge waves of the seas,
at the long course of the rivers,
at the vast compass of the ocean,
at the circular motion of the stars,
and yet they pass by themselves
without wondering. ”
― Augustine of Hippo

“There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“In order to discover the character of people we have only to observe what they love.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“God provides the wind, Man must raise the sail. ”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”
― Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions of Saint Augustine

“Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?”
― Augustine of Hippo

“I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Christ is not valued at all, unless he is valued above all.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Miracles are not contrary to nature but only contrary to what we know about nature. ”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Oh, God, to know you is life. To serve You is freedom. To praise you is the soul's joy and delight. Guard me with the power of Your grace here and in all places. Now and at all times, forever. Amen.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Love, and do what you will. If you keep silence, do it out of love. If you cry out, do it out of love. If you refrain from punishing, do it out of love.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Tolle, lege: take up and read.”
― Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

“What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.”
― Augustine of Hippo, City of God

“Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“And men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, yet pass over the mystery of themselves without a thought.”
― Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

“In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Love God, and do what you like.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Love is the beauty of the soul”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Does God proclaim Himself in the wonders of creation? No. All things proclaim Him, all things speak. Their beauty is the voice by which they announce God, by which they sing, "It is you who made me beautiful, not me myself but you.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Sin is Energy in the wrong channel. ”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Where your pleasure is, there is your treasure: where your treasure, there your heart; where your heart, there your happiness”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Humility must accompany all our actions, must be with us everywhere; for as soon as we glory in our good works they are of no further value to our advancement in virtue. ”
― Augustine of Hippo

“The good Christian should beware of mathematicians. The danger already exists that mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine man in the bonds of Hell.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“The peace of the celestial city is the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God, and of one another in God. (City of God, Book 19)”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Our hearts have been made for you, O God, and they shall never rest until they rest in you.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“There can only be two basic loves... the love of God unto the forgetfulness of self, or the love of self unto the forgetfulness and denial of God.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo (Give me chastity and continence, but not just yet)!”
― Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

“We made bad use of immortality, and so ended up dying; Christ made good use of mortality, so that we might end up living.”
― Augustine of Hippo, Teaching Christianity

“Belatedly I loved thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new, belatedly I loved thee. For see, thou wast within and I was without, and I sought thee out there. Unlovely, I rushed heedlessly among the lovely things thou hast made. Thou wast with me, but I was not with thee. These things kept me far from thee; even though they were not at all unless they were in thee. Thou didst call and cry aloud, and didst force open my deafness. Thou didst gleam and shine, and didst chase away my blindness. Thou didst breathe fragrant odors and I drew in my breath; and now I pant for thee. I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst. Thou didst touch me, and I burned for thy peace.”
― Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

“Pray as though everything depends on God. And work as if everything depends on you.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“If you understood him, it would not be God.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“A Christian should be an Alleluia from head to foot”
― Augustine of Hippo

“God grants us not always what we ask so as to bestow something preferable.”
― Augustine of Hippo

“I held my heart back from positively accepting anything, since I was afraid of another fall, and in this condition of suspense I was being all the more killed.”
― Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

“I have said before, and shall say again, that I write this book for love of your love.”
― Augustine of Hippo