Quotes from Francis of Assisi

Everything in man should halt in awe...Let all the world quake and let Heaven exult when Christ the Son of the living God is there on the altar.

What could you do to a man who owns nothing? You can't starve a fasting man, you can't steal from someone who has no money, you can't ruin someone who hates prestige.

Be Thou praised, my Lord, of our Sister Mother Earth, which sustains and hath us in rule, and produces divers fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.

We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way.

If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Make me an instrument of thy peace.

Ask the beasts and they will teach you the beauty of this earth.

Be patient, because the weaknesses of the body are given to us in this world by God for the salvation of the soul. So they are of great merit when they are borne patiently.

Here is one of the best means to acquire humility; fix well in mind this maxim: One is as much as he is in the sight of God, and no more.

...In this world I cannot see the Most High Son of God with my own eyes, except for His Most Holy Body and Blood.

Study always to have Joy, for it befits not the servant of God to show before his brother or another sadness or a troubled face.

You damned spirits! You can only do what the hand of God allows you to do.

If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.

Great and glorious God, and Thou Lord Jesus, I pray you shed abroad your light in the darkness of my mind. Be found of me, Lord, so that in all things I may act only in accordance with Thy holy will.

When I think of the happiness that is in store for me, every sorrow, every pain becomes dear to me.

All things of creation are children of the Father and thus brothers of man. ... God wants us to help animals, if they need help. Every creature in distress has the same right to be protected.

Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society.

A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.

Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today

We should seek not so much to pray but to become prayer.

Be patient in trials, watchful in prayer, and never cease working.

When we pray to God we must be seeking nothing - nothing.