Quotes from Saint Augustine

Charity is the root of all good works.

Longing desire prayeth always, though the tongue be silent. If thou art ever longing, thou art ever praying.

Lord, who art always the same, give that I know myself, give that I know Thee.

What thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art styled emperor.

In what is necessary, unity; in what is not necessary, liberty and in all things charity.

The verdict of the world is conclusive.

Oh, beauty, ever ancient and ever new.

God is best known in not knowing him.

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away. -Ronald Reagan In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?

This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.

We make ourselves a ladder out of our vices if we trample the vices themselves underfoot.

We make a ladder for ourselves of our vices, if we trample those same vices underfoot.

They, then, who are destined to die, need not be careful to inquire what death they are to die, but into what place death will usher them.

My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contradictory throng of sensuous images, that it might find out what that light was wherein it was bathed... And thus, with the flash of one hurried glance, it attained to the vision of That Which Is.

Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.

If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don't accept, because you will lose one friend; on the other hand, if two strangers come with the same request, accept because you will gain one friend.

Temperance is a disposition that restrains our desires for things which it is base to desire.

Blessedness consists in the accomplishment of our desires, and in our having only regular desires.

It is not by change of place that we can come nearer to Him who is in every place, but by the cultivation of pure desires and virtuous habits.

The desire for fame tempts even noble minds.

Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.

He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.

Put no faith in salvation through the political order.

Understanding is the reward of faith.