Quotes from John of the Cross

God is a dark night to man in this life.

Where there is no love, pour love in, and you will draw love out.

Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according to his good pleasure and rest in him.

God leads every soul by a separate path.

God passes through the thicket of the world, and wherever His glance falls He turns all things to beauty.

In the dark night of the soul, bright flows the river of God.

See that you are not suddenly saddened by the adversities of this world, for you do not know the good they bring, being ordained in the judgments of God for the everlasting joy of the elect.

God desires the smallest degree of purity of conscience in you more than all the works you can perform.

Live as though only God and yourself were in this world, so that your heart may not be detained by anything human.

The soul that journey's to God, but doesn't shake off it's cares and quiet it's appetities, is like someone who drags a cart of dirt uphill.

Faith is the union of God and the soul.

Who teaches the soul if not God?

The virtuous soul that is alone and without a master is like a long lone burning coal; it will grow colder rather than hotter.

He who avoids prayer is avoiding everything that is good.

Seek in reading and you will find in meditation; knock in prayer and it will be opened to you in contemplation.

He who interrupts the course of his spiritual exercises and prayer is like a man who allows a bird to escape from his hand; he can hardly catch it again.

Seek in reading and thou shalt find in meditation; knock in prayer and it shall be opened in contemplation.

At the end of our life, we shall all be judged by charity.

A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things.

Contemplation is nothing else but a secret, peaceful, and loving infusion of God, which, if admitted, will set the soul on fire with the Spirit of love.

Never relax, for you will not attain to the possession of true spiritual delights if first you do not learn to deny your every desire.

In tribulation immediately draw near to God with confidence, and you will receive strength, enlightenment, and instruction.

In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human success, but rather on how much we have loved.

The eternal tide flows hid in Living Bread. That with its Heavenly Life too be fed.