The Way Quotes

“How I wish your bearing and conversation were such that, on seeing or hearing you, people would say: 'This man reads the life of Jesus Christ.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“290    To reform. Every day a little. This has to be your constant task if you really want to become a saint.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“You’ll have won a great battle if you lose the fear of letting yourself be known.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“The enemy: Will you obey... even in this 'ridiculous' little detail? You, with God's grace: I will obey... even in this 'heroic' little detail.”
― Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, Camino

“After seeing how many people waste their lives, their whole lives (tongues wagging, wagging, wagging, and all the inevitable consequences), silence seems preferable to me, and more necessary than ever. And I well understand, Lord, why we have to give an account of all our idle words.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“What conversations! What vulgarity and what dirt! And you have to associate with them, in the office, in the university, in the operating-theatre..., in the world.

Ask them if they wouldn't mind stopping, and they laugh at you. Look annoyed, and they get worse. Leave them, and they continue.

This is the solution: first pray for them, and offer up some sacrifice; then face them like a man and make use of the 'strong language apostolate'. — The next time we meet I'll tell you — in a whisper — a few useful words.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“Blaze a trail!”
― Josemaria Escriva De Balaguer, Camino. Ed. crítico-histórica

“359    Add a supernatural motive to your ordinary professional work, and you will have sanctified it.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“I don’t understand how you can call yourself a Christian and lead such an idle, useless life. Have you forgotten Christ’s life of toil?” (The Way, 356); “May your behavior and your conversation be such that everyone who sees or hears you can say: This man reads the life of Jesus Christ” (2).”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“There is need for a crusade of manliness and purity to counteract and undo the savage work of those who think that man is a beast.

And that crusade is a matter for you.”
― Josemaria Escriva, The Way

“249    Make few resolutions. Make specific resolutions. And fulfill them with the help of God.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“191    Conquer yourself each day from the very first moment, getting up on the dot, at a set time, without granting a single minute to laziness. If, with the help of God, you conquer yourself in that moment, you’ll have accomplished a great deal for the rest of the day. It’s so discouraging to find yourself beaten in the first skirmish!”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“266    Never make a decision without stopping to consider the matter in the presence of God.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“437    If one of my fellow men had died to save me from death … God died. And I remain indifferent.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“306    “The life of man upon earth is warfare.” So said Job many centuries ago. There are still some easygoing individuals unaware of this fact.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“97    You don’t know what to say to our Lord in prayer. Nothing comes to you and yet you would like to ask his advice about many things. Look: take some notes during the day of the things you want to think about in the presence of God. And then go with those notes to pray.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“81    Action is worthless without prayer; prayer is worth more with sacrifice.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“Be firm! Be strong! Be a man! And then … be an angel!”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“21    Excuses. You’ll never lack them if you want to avoid your duties. What a lot of rationalizing! Don’t stop to think about excuses. Get rid of them and do what you should.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee! Your poor heart, that's what scandalizes you!

Press it, squeeze it tight in your hands: give it no consolations. And when it asks for them, say to it slowly and with a noble compassion — in confidence, as it were: 'Heart, heart on the Cross, heart on the Cross!”
― Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, The Way

“96 Habla Jesús: “Así os digo yo: pedid, y se os dará; buscad, y hallaréis; llamad, y se os abrirá”.  Haz oración. ¿En qué negocio humano te pueden dar más seguridades de éxito?”
― Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, Camino

“77    You told me that to tie yourself to a plan of life, to a schedule, would be so monotonous! And I answered, “It is monotonous because you lack love.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

“A man, a 'gentleman', ready to compromise would condemn Jesus to death again.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, The Way: The Essential Classic of Opus Dei's Founder

“Dios mío, te amo, pero… ¡enséñame a amar!”
― Josemaría Escrivá, Camino

“Buscas la compañía de amigos que con su conversación y su afecto, con su trato, te hacen más llevadero el destierro de este mundo…, aunque los amigos a veces traicionan. —No me parece mal. Pero… ¿cómo no frecuentas cada día con mayor intensidad la compañía, la conversación con el Gran Amigo, que nunca traiciona?”
― Josemaría Escrivá, Camino

“Si no levantarías sin un arquitecto una buena casa para vivir en la tierra, ¿cómo quieres levantar sin Director el alcázar de tu santificación para vivir eternamente en el cielo?”
― Josemaría Escrivá, Camino

“886 Cuando un alma de niño hace presentes al Señor sus deseos de indulto, debe estar segura de que verá pronto cumplidos esos deseos: Jesús arrancará del alma la cola inmunda, que arrastra por sus miserias pasadas; quitará el peso muerto, resto de todas las impurezas, que le hace pegarse al suelo; echará lejos del niño todo el lastre terreno de su corazón para que suba hasta la Majestad de Dios, a fundirse en la llamarada viva de Amor, que es El.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, Camino

“879 Cuando te apuren tus miserias no quieras entristecerte. —Gloríate en tus enfermedades, como San Pablo, porque a los niños se les permite, sin temor al ridículo, imitar a los grandes.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, Camino

“778 Es cuestión de segundos… Piensa antes de comenzar cualquier negocio: ¿Qué quiere Dios de mí en este asunto? Y, con la gracia divina, ¡hazlo!”
― Josemaría Escrivá, Camino

“No es suficiente que seas sabio, además de buen cristiano. —Si no corriges las maneras bruscas de tu carácter, si haces incompatibles tu celo y tu ciencia con la buena educación, no entiendo que puedas ser santo. —Y, si eres sabio, aunque lo seas, deberías estar amarrado a un pesebre, como un mulo.”
― Josemaría Escrivá, Camino