Quotes from Jerome

Envy always follows in the track of virtue: as Horace says, it is ever the mountain top that is smitten by the lightning.

he desired so to deliver them from that error as if he saw not them, but himself, entangled in it; thus truly loving his neighbour as himself, and doing to others as he would have others do to him if he required their help—a duty to the statement of which our Lord added these words, " This is the law and the prophets. " [ Matthew 7: 12 ]

To go about without a linen scarf on is nothing: what is praiseworthy is to be without money to buy one. It is disgraceful and absurd to boast of having neither napkin nor handkerchief and yet to carry a well-filled purse.

self-confidence is the worst of teachers—but from the church's most famous writers.

whether the victory be won in peace or in war, God gives the same reward to those who win it.

The rude and simple brother must not suppose himself a saint just because he knows nothing; and he who is educated and eloquent must not measure his saintliness merely by his fluency.

There is no cruelty in regard for God's honour.

Why should I strive to swim against the current, and not rather ask pardon?

The art of interpreting the scriptures is the only one of which all men everywhere claim to be masters.

you will know that it is a more difficult work to reject the opinion of others than to establish your own.

It is much better to take a little every day than some days to abstain wholly and on others to surfeit oneself.

Exchange your love of necklaces and of gems and of silk dresses for earnestness in studying the scriptures.

Beauty when unadorned is adorned the most.

Jerome then speaks of the unity of the sacred books. Whatever, he asserts, we read in the Old Testament we find also in the Gospel; and what we read in the Gospel is deduced from the Old Testament. There is no discord between them, no disagreement.

Read often, learn all that you can. Let sleep overcome you, the roll still in your hands; when your head falls, let it be on the sacred page.

The best advice I can give you is this. Church tradition - especially when they do not run counter to the Faith - are to be observed in the form in which previous generations have handed them down.

The battering-ram of natural affection which so often shatters faith must recoil powerless from the wall of the Gospel.

they will learn how much better it is, when one is uninformed, to put questions than to make assertions;

It is no small merit in God's eyes to bring up children well.

the liberty of the soul is lost through the windows of the eyes

if need arises for holding converse with men, do not shun having witnesses, and let your conversation be marked with such confidence that the entry of a third person shall neither startle you nor make you blush.

You should never boast of what your friends think of you. That is true testimony which comes from the lips of foes. On the contrary, if a friend speaks in your behalf he will be considered not as a witness but a judge or a partisan.

The one unbeliever is sanctified by his holy and believing family. For, when a man is surrounded by a believing crowd of children and grandchildren, he is as good as a candidate for the faith.

All that the saints say is a prayer to God; their whole prayer and supplication a strong wrestling for the pity of God, so that we, who by our own strength and zeal cannot be saved, may be preserved by His mercy.