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Indeed it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God.
It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to desire things for which severe punishment later must come.
Often recall the proverb: "The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear filled with hearing."1 Try, moreover, to turn your heart from the love of things visible and bring yourself to things invisible. For they who follow their own evil passions stain their consciences and lose the grace of God.
EVERY man naturally desires knowledge;2 but what good is knowledge without fear of God?
Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God.
The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also the more holy.
Therefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself.
HAPPY is he to whom truth manifests itself, not in signs and words that fade, but as it actually is. Our opinions, our senses often deceive us and we discern very little.
Neglect of things which are profitable and necessary and undue concern with those which are irrelevant and harmful, are great folly. We have eyes and do not see.
I am often wearied by the many things I hear and read, but in You is all that I long for. Let the learned be still, let all creatures be silent before You; You alone speak to me.
The pure, simple, and steadfast spirit is not distracted by many labors, for he does them all for the honor of God.
A good and devout man arranges in his mind the things he has to do, not according to the whims of evil inclination but according to the dictates of right reason.
This ought to be our purpose, then: to conquer self, to become stronger each day, to advance in virtue.
Humble knowledge of self is a surer path to God than the ardent pursuit of learning.
He is truly great who has great charity. He is truly great who is little in his own eyes and makes nothing of the highest honor. He is truly wise who looks upon all earthly things as folly that he may gain Christ. He who does God's will and renounces his own is truly very learned.
We ought not to ask who is speaking, but mark what is said.
An unmortified man is quickly tempted and overcome in small, trifling evils; his spirit is weak, in a measure carnal and inclined to sensual things; he can hardly abstain from earthly desires. Hence it makes him sad to forego them; he is quick to anger if reproved. Yet if he satisfies his desires, remorse of conscience overwhelms him because he followed his passions and they did not lead to the peace he sought.
True peace of heart, then, is found in resisting passions, not in satisfying them. There is no peace in the carnal man, in the man given to vain attractions, but there is peace in the fervent and spiritual man.
