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Quotes About Will

But those who are of opinion that, apart from the will of God, the stars determine what we shall do, or what good things we shall possess, or what evils we shall suffer, must be refused a hearing by all, not only by those who hold the true religion, but by those who wish to be the worshippers of any gods whatsoever, even false gods. For what does this opinion really amount to but this, that no god whatever is to be worshipped or prayed to?
~ St. Augustine
Therefore God, who made the visible heaven and earth, does not disdain to work visible miracles in heaven or earth, that He may thereby awaken the soul which is immersed in things visible to worship Himself, the Invisible. But the place and time of these miracles are dependent on His unchangeable will, in which things future are ordered as if already they were accomplished.
~ St. Augustine
How, then, does an order of causes which is certain to the foreknowledge of God necessitate that there should be nothing which is dependent on our wills, when our wills themselves have a very important place in the order of causes?
~ St. Augustine
Choose to love whomsoever thou wilt: all else will follow.
~ St. Augustine
For a man does not therefore sin because God foreknew that he would sin. Nay, it cannot be doubted but that it is the man himself who sins when he does sin, because He, whose foreknowledge is infallible, foreknew not that fate, or fortune, or something else would sin, but that the man himself would sin, who, if he wills not, sins not. But if he shall not will to sin, even this did God foreknow.
~ St. Augustine
For God, the author of natures, not of vices, created man upright; but man, being of his own will corrupted, and justly condemned, begot corrupted and condemned children.
~ St. Augustine
For even the vice which by the force of habit and long continuance has become a second nature, had its origin in the will.
~ St. Augustine
But, let these perplexing debatings and disputations of the philosophers go on as they may, we, in order that we may confess the most high and true God Himself, do confess His will, supreme power, and prescience.
~ St. Augustine
Therefore we are by no means compelled, either, retaining the prescience of God, to take away the freedom of the will, or, retaining the freedom of the will, to deny that He is prescient of future things, which is impious. But we embrace both. We faithfully and sincerely confess both. The former, that we may believe well; the latter, that we may live well.
~ St. Augustine
Why, being dead, do you rely on yourself? You were able to die of your own accord; you cannot come back to life of your own accord. We were able to sin by ourselves, and we are still able to, nor shall we ever not be able to. Let our hope be in nothing but in God. Let us send up our sighs to him; as for ourselves, let us strive with our wills to earn merit by our prayers.
~ St. Augustine of Hippo
The true servants of God are not solicitous that He should order them to do what they desire to do, but that they may desire to do what He orders them to do.
~ St. Augustine of Hippo
Give, O Lord, what Thou commandest, and then command what Thou wilt.
~ St. Augustine of Hippo
O my God, teach me to be generous, teach me to serve you as I should, to give without counting the cost, to fight without fear of being wounded, to work without seeking rest, to labour without expecting any reward, but the knowledge that I am doing your most holy will.
~ St. Ignatius of Loyola
God loves his creatures, and he loves each one the more, the more it shares his own goodness, which is the first and primary object of his love. Therefore he wants the desires of his rational creatures to be fulfilled because they share most perfectly of all creatures the goodness of god. And his will is an accomplisher of things because he is the cause of things by his will. So it belongs to the divine goodness to fulfill the desires of rational creatures which are put to him in prayer.
~ St. Thomas Aquinas
This ceremony and the intellectual aura associated with the Nobel Prizes have grown from the wisdom of a practical chemist who wrote a remarkable will.
~ Stanford Moore
Once more my pity had been stronger than my will.
~ Stefan Zweig
pain is cowardly, it gives way before the overpowering will to live which seems to cling more strongly to our flesh than all the mortal suffering of the spirit."..
~ Stefan Zweig
Y es que en la Tierra, el ejemplo es la ligazón más fuerte entre los hombres; toda acción despierta en los demás la voluntad de actuar con rectitud, de salir del sopor de la somnolencia y de llenar las horas de actividad.
~ Stefan Zweig
The most just death is that which is most willed. Our lives depend on the will of others, but death on ourselves alone. There is nothing to which we should apply ourselves more than this. Reputation has no place here and it is folly to think of it. Life is servitude if we lack the freedom to die.
~ Stefan Zweig
FRANZ ANTON MESMER (1733-1815) ~ You must know that the will is a powerful adjuvant in medicine. PARACELSUS
~ Stefan Zweig
pain is cowardly, it gives way before the overpowering will to live which seems to cling more strongly to our flesh than all the mortal suffering of the spirit.
~ Stefan Zweig
Pero justo eso constituye el signo distintivo de una voluntad demoníaca, el transformar en realidad lo imposible.
~ Stefan Zweig
Achieving the state of SABLE is not, as many people who live with these knitters believe, a reason to stop buying yarn, but for the knitter it is an indication to write a will, bequeathing the stash to an appropriate heir.
~ Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Like Arjuna, we too are enough, as we have a unique part to play in the Divine plan. And, like Arjuna, we are nothing when—in those glorious moments—we take refuge in our God, crying out in sweet surrender, "Thy will be done!" And, in an instant, we are free. Welcome Home.
~ Stephanie Rutt