Quotes from Pope Paul VI

Anger is as a stone cast into a wasp's nest.

All life demands struggle. Those who have everything given to them become lazy, selfish, and insensitive to the real values of life. The very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today.

We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between God and mankind. He who has faith knows this truly let him rejoice.

Physics does not change the nature of the world it studies, and no science of behavior can change the essential nature of man, even though both sciences yield technologies with a vast power to manipulate the subject matters.

The work of art, just like any fragment of human life considered in its deepest meaning, seems to me devoid of value if it does not offer the hardness, the rigidity, the regularity, the luster on every interior and exterior facet, of the crystal.

Liturgy is like a strong tree whose beauty is derived from the continuous renewal of its leaves, but whose strength comes from the old trunk, with solid roots in the ground.

No more war! Never again war! If you wish to be brothers, drop your weapons.

Of all human activities, man's listening to God is the supreme act of his reasoning and will.

Nothing makes one feel so strong as a call for help.

Technological society has succeeded in multiplying the opportunities for pleasure, but it has great difficulty in generating joy.

If you want peace, work for justice.

This world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. It is beauty, like truth, which brings joy to the heart of man and is that precious fruit which resists the year and tear of time, which unites generations and makes them share things in admiration.

Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.

To love can mean 'to love oneself,' and often love is no more than a juxtaposition of two solitudes.

The world calls for and expects from us simplicity of life, the spirit of prayer, charity towards all, especially towards the lowly and the poor, obedience and humility... Without this mark of holiness, our word will have difficulty in touching the heart of modern man. It risks being vain and sterile.

Regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church, that is, on the Apostolic See and, as laws may determine, on the bishop. In virtue of power conceded by the law, the regulation of the liturgy within certain defined limits belongs also to various kinds of competent territorial bodies of bishops legitimately established. Therefore no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.

The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services. But other kinds of sacred music, especially polyphony, are by no means excluded from liturgical celebrations, so long as they accord with the spirit of the liturgical action.

Married love, therefore, requires of husband and wife the full awareness of their obligations in the matter of responsible parenthood, which today, rightly enough, is much insisted upon, but which at the same time should be rightly understood. Thus, we do well to consider responsible parenthood in the light of its varied legitimate and interrelated aspects.

The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows. For the aim and object of apostolic works is that all who are made sons of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of His Church, to take part in the sacrifice, and to eat the Lord's supper.

If every man, as much as he can and as best he can, will work for justice and peace in the world, then each Christian will have at heart the request that Mary pray with us and for us, so that the peace the Lord alone can give may be granted us.

No desperdicies el recuerdo del camino recorrido. Ello no retrasa vuestra carrera, sino que la dirige; el que olvida el punto de partida, pierde fácilmente la meta.

La Chiesa maestra non inventa la sua dottrina; ella è teste, è custode, è interprete, è tramite, e per quanto riguarda le verità proprie del messaggio cristiano essa si può dire conservatrice, intransigente; e a chi la sollecita di rendere più facile, più relativa ai gusti della mutevole mentalità dei tempi la sua fede, risponde con gli Apostoli: "Non possumus, non possiamo (Act 4,20)

My hope, O Lord, is in you. You are my Way, my Truth, my Life; my one and supreme good. Help me to never lose sight of my ultimate destination or be detoured by the maze of slogans clamoring for my attention. Keep my heart and my gaze fixed on you, who give meaning to everything in and around me.

Ciò che mi colpisce, quando considero il mondo cattolico, è che all'interno del cattolicesimo sembra talvolta predominare un pensiero di tipo non cattolico, e può avvenire che questo pensiero non cattolico all'interno del cattolicesimo diventi domani il più forte. Ma esso non rappresenterà mai il pensiero della Chiesa. Bisogna che sussista un piccolo gregge, per quanto piccolo esso sia.