Augustine of Hippo quotes - page 8

There is another form of temptation, more complex in its peril. ... It originates in an appetite for knowledge. ... From this malady of curiosity are all those strange sights exhibited in the theatre. Hence do we proceed to search out the secret powers of nature (which is beside our end), which to know profits not, and wherein men desire nothing but to know. (Augustine of Hippo)
How, then, shall I respond to him who asks, "What was God doing before he made heaven and earth?” I do not answer, as a certain one is reported to have done facetiously (shrugging off the force of the question). "He was preparing hell,” he said, "for those who pry too deep.” It is one thing to see the answer; it is another to laugh at the questioner--and for myself I do not answer these things thus. More willingly would I have answered, "I do not know what I do not know,” than cause one who asked a deep question to be ridiculed--and by such tactics gain praise for a worthless answer. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
God, grant us men to see in a small thing principles which are common things both small and great. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
But if we discard this definition of a people, and, assuming another, say that a people is an assemblage of reasonable beings bound together by a common agreement as to the objects of their love, then, in order to discover the character of any people, we have only to observe what they love. Yet whatever it loves, if only it is an assemblage of reasonable beings and not of beasts, and is bound together by an agreement as to the objects of love, it is reasonably called a people; and it will be a superior people in proportion as it is bound together by higher interests, inferior in proportion as it is bound together by lower. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
The light will not shame you, if it shows you your own ugliness, and that ugliness so offends you that you perceive the beauty of the light. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
In a quarrel for earth, turn not to earth. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Let each look to his own heart: let him not keep hatred against his brother for any hard word; on account of earthly contention let him not become earth. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
The inclination to seek the truth is safer than the presumption which regards unknown things as known. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
The mind itself, its love [of itself] and its knowledge [of itself] are a kind of trinity. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
So the Church imitates the Lord's mother - not in the bodily sense, which it could not do - but in mind it is both mother and virgin. In no way, then, did Christ deprive his mother of her virginity by being. (Augustine of Hippo)
But it isn't just a matter of faith, but of faith and works. Each is necessary. For the demons also believe - you heard the apostle - and tremble (Jas 2:19); but their believing doesn't do them any good. Faith alone is not enough, unless works too are joined to it: Faith working through love (Gal 5:6), says the apostle. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
For God loves to save and not to condemn; therefore is he patient with evil, that out of evil good may be brought. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
When the apostle James was talking about faith and works against those who thought their faith was enough, and didn't want to have good works, he said, You believe God is one; you do well; the demons also believe, and tremble.” (Jas 2:19) View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Death is the penalty of sin. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Why, being dead, do you rely on yourself? You were able to die of your own accord; you cannot come back to life of your own accord. We were able to sin by ourselves, and we are still able to, nor shall we ever not be able to. Let our hope be in nothing but in God. Let us send up our sighs to him; as for ourselves, let us strive with our wills to earn merit by our prayers. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
It is no advantage to be near the light if the eyes are closed. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
He who disdained not to assume us unto Himself, did not disdain to take our place and speak our words, in order that we might speak His words. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
On Ps 60:3: "To Thee have I cried from the ends of the earth.”. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Who is this that cries from the ends of the earth? Who is this one man who reaches to the extremities of the universe? He is one, but that one is unity. He is one, not one in a single place, but the cry of this one man comes from the remotest ends of the earth. But how can this one man cry out from the ends of the earth, unless he be one in all? View quote
Augustine of Hippo
O sons of Peace, sons of the One Catholic [Church], walk in your way, and sing as you walk. Travelers do this in order to keep up their spirits. (Augustine of Hippo)
The members of Christ, many though they be, are bound to one another by the ties of charity and peace under the one Head, who is our Saviour Himself, and form one man. Often their voice is heard in the Psalms as the voice of one man; the cry of one is as the cry of all, for all are one in One. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
We are members of this Head, and this body cannot be decapitated. If the Head is in glory forever, so too are the members in glory forever, that Christ may be undivided forever. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
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. ... Even he that does not as yet believe in Christ ... love him, and love him with fraternal love. He is not yet thy brother, but love him precisely that he may be thy brother. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Woman, compared to other creatures, is the image of God, for she bears dominion over them. But compared unto man, she may not be called the image of God, for she bears not rule and lordship over man, but ought to obey him. The woman shall be subject to man as unto Christ. For woman, has not her example from the body and from the flesh, that so she shall be subject to man, as the flesh is unto the Spirit, because that the flesh in the weakness and mortality of this life lusts and strives against the Spirit, and therefore would not the Holy Ghost give example of subjection to the woman of any such thing. View quote
Augustine of Hippo