The confession of. . .
The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.
— St. Augustine of Hippo
My mind withdrew its thoughts from. . .
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.
— St. Augustine of Hippo
Beauty is indeed a. . .
Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked.
— St. Augustine of Hippo
At what time the infant begins to live in the womb. . .
“And therefore the following question may be very carefully inquired into and discussed by learned men, though I do not know whether it is in man’s power to resolve it: At what time the infant begins to live in the womb: whether life exists in a latent form before it manifests itself in the motions of the living being. To deny that the young who are cut out limb by limb from the womb, lest if they were left there dead the mother should die too, have never been alive, seems too audacious. Now, from the time that a man begins to live, from that time it is possible for him to die. And if he die, wheresoever death may overtake him, I cannot discover on what principle he can be denied an interest in the resurrection of the dead.
— St. Augustine of Hippo
If you believe what you like. . .
“If you believe what you like in the Gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”
— St. Augustine of Hippo
Believe that others are. . .
“Believe that others are better than you in the depths of their soul, although outwardly you may appear better than they.”
— St. Augustine of Hippo
For I confess to your Charity that I. . .
“For I confess to your Charity that I have learned to yield this respect and honour only to the canonical books of Scripture: of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free from error. And if in these writings I am perplexed by anything which appears to me opposed to truth, I do not hesitate to suppose that either the manuscript is faulty, or the translator has not caught the meaning of what was said, or I myself have failed to understand it.”
— St. Augustine of Hippo, Letter to St. Jerome, 1:3
Find out how much God. . .
“Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.”
— St. Augustine of Hippo
What is perfection in love?. . .
“What is perfection in love? Love your enemies in such a way that you would desire to make them your brothers … For so did He love, Who hanging on the Cross, said ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’” (Luke 23:34)
— St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on I John, I.9
God has promised. . .
“God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.”
St. Augustine of Hippo
