Some quotations I've collected that I thought might be brief useful reading.
— "Driven to Tears", Spongebob SquarepantsIf I have to see one more boatmobile, —— Spongebob
Spongebob! You're mannin' the drivethrough.— Mr Krabs
When did we get a drivethrough?!
I realized there's a lot of young people 'on-the-go' these days. They don't have time to sit down and eat. They're too busy out on the open road living their dreams.
I... used to have a dream.
Yeah? I used to have a kidney stone. Everything passes eventually. Now stop dreaming and work for a living!
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.— St. Paul (Letter to the Christians at Philippi), Philippians 4:6
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."— Maya Angelou
More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and action of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.— Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
I sighed, and Thou heardest me; I vacillated, and Thou didst guide me; I roamed through the broad way of the world, and Thou didst not desert me.— St. Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, book VI chapter 5. Translated by J.G. Pilkington, M.A.
Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.— Attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola, cf. Joseph de Guibert, SJ, The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1964), 148, n. 55. (Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) paragraph 2834)
There is a connection between purity of heart, of body, and of faith: The faithful must believe the articles of the Creed "so that by believing they may obey God, by obeying may live well, by living well may purify their hearts, and with pure hearts may understand what they believe."— from CCC paragraph 2518, citing St. Augustine, Defide et symbolo 10,25:PL 40,196
Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.— Dr. Seuss
[young husbands should say to their wives:] I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is to spend it with you in such a way that we may be assured of not being separated in the life reserved for us. . . . I place your love above all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a different mind than you.— St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Eph. 20,8:PG 62,146-147 (from Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 2365)
Bad intentions cannot travel as far as good.— The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima, chapter 6
God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners.— Soren Kierkegaard
O Lamb of God! Imprint on my heart such repentance that I may prefer to die rather than ever to offend You again.— Blessed Mary of the Angels
— Prayer of St. FrancisLord, make me an instrument of Your peace. where there is hatred let me sow love, where there is injury let me sow pardon, where there is doubt let me sow faith, where there is despair let me give hope, where there is darkness let me give light, Where there is sadness let me give joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not try to be comforted but to comfort, not try to be understood but to understand, not try to be loved but to love. Because it is in giving that we receive, it is in forgiving that we are forgiven, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
The devil's snare doesn't catch you unless you're already nibbling on the devil's bait.— St. Ambrose of Milan
Impress on yourself this great truth: Even if all hell's devils come after you to tempt you, you won't sin unless you want to – provided that you don't trust in your own powers, but in the assistance of God. He doesn't refuse help to those who ask it with a lively faith.— St. Leonard of Port Maurice
— St. Thomas MoreThis covetous gathering and miserly keeping of wealth, with all the delight that we take in beholding it, is only a very gay and golden dream, in which we imagine we have great riches; and in the sleep of this life we are glad and proud of it. But when death has once awakened us, our dream shall vanish, and of all the treasure that we only dreamed about, we shall not find one penny left in our hand.
The day that is past must not judge the day that is present, nor the present day judge that which is past. It is only the Last Day that judges all.— St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
By your work you show what you love and what you know.— St. Bruno
Obedience is a little dog that leads the blind.— St. Joseph of Cupertino
Whatever a man prefers to God, he makes a god to himself.— St. Cyprian of Carthage
— Sirach 11.18-19There is a man who is rich through his diligence and self-denial, and this is the reward allotted to him:
when he says, "I have found rest, and now I shall enjoy my goods!" he does not know how much time will pass until he leaves them to others and dies.
Good things and bad, life and death, poverty and wealth, come from the Lord.— Sirach 11.14
We set forth our petitions before God, not in order to make known to Him our needs and desires, but rather so that we ourselves may realize that in these things it is necessary to turn to God for help.— St. Thomas Aquinas
Our body is not made of iron. Our strength is not that of stone. Live and hope in the Lord, and let your service be reasonable.— St. Clare of Assisi
— St. Augustine of HippoIf you should ask me what are the ways of God, I would tell you that the first is humility, the second is humility, and the third is still humility. Not that there are no other precepts to give, but if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are fruitless.
— St. Thomas AquinasMarriage has three blessings. The first is children, to be received and raised for God's service. The second is the loyal faithfulness by which each serves the other. The third is the Sacrament of Matrimony, which signifies the inseparable union of Christ with His Church.
As iron is fashioned by the fire and on an anvil, so in the fire of suffering and under the weight of trials, our souls receive the form that Our Lord desires for them to have.— St. Madeleine Sophie Barat
The martyrs were bound, imprisoned, scourged, racked, burned, torn apart, butchered — and they multiplied.— St. Augustine of Hippo
Why lose your temper if by doing so you offend God, annoy other people, give yourself a bad time ... and in the end have to find it again?— St. Josemaría Escrivá
The fullness of life that God rightly expects from His children means that they have to have a careful concern for the quality of their everyday work, because it is this work, even in its most minor aspects, which they must sanctify.– St. Josemaría Escrivá
Don't permit your miseries or defects to depress you. Rather, let them be steps by which you descend into the deep mine where we find the precious gem of holy humility.– St. Paula Frassinetti
– St. PachomiusSay to your hands:
O hands, the time will come when you will be unable to move, and when you will never be clasped in each other again. Why then, before that time comes, don't you stretch yourselves out to the Lord in prayer?
– St. Francis De SalesThe everlasting God has in his wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross that he now presents to you as a gift from his inmost heart. This cross he now sends you he has considered with his all-knowing eyes, understood with his divine mind, tested with his wise justice, warmed with loving arms, and weighed with his own hands to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with his holy name, anointed it with his consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.
Imagine your anger to be a kind of wild beast, because it too has ferocious teeth and claws, and if you don't tame it, it will devastate all things. It not only hurts the body; it even corrupts the health of the soul, devouring, rending, tearing to pieces all its strength, and making it useless for everything.– St. John Chrysostom
If a man wants to be always in God's company, he must pray regularly and read spiritual books regularly. When we pray, we talk to God; when we read, God talks to us.– St. Isidore of Seville
The purpose of clothing is to keep warm in winter and to cover your nakedness, not to serve your vanity.– St. Cyril of Jerusalem
If we want to do sometihng but cannot, then before God, who knows our hearts, it is the same as if we have done it. This is true whether the intended action is good or bad.– St. Mark the Ascetic
— Considerations Regarding Proposals To Give Legal Recognition To Unions Between Homosexual Persons from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith[...] Moral conscience requires that, in every occasion, Christians give witness to the whole moral truth, which is contradicted both by approval of homosexual acts and unjust discrimination against homosexual persons. [...]
In those situations where homosexual unions have been legally recognized or have been given the legal status and rights belonging to marriage, clear and emphatic opposition is a duty. One must refrain from any kind of formal cooperation in the enactment or application of such gravely unjust laws and, as far as possible, from material cooperation on the level of their application. In this area, everyone can exercise the right to conscientious objection.
It is good not to hide your thoughts, but to talk them over with older believers who are discreet, devout, and more experienced.– St. Moses the Black
— The Galileo Controversy from Catholic AnswersAs Augustine put it,
One does not read in the Gospel that the Lord said:I will send you the Paraclete who will teach you about the course of the sun and moon.For he willed to make them Christians, not mathematicians.
Never read books you aren't sure about morally, even supposing that these bad books are very well written from a literary point of view. Let me ask you this: Would you drink something you knew was poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?– St. John Bosco
If we are able to enter the church day and night and implore God to hear our prayers, how careful we should be to hear and grant the petitions of our neighbor in need.– St. John the Almoner
Remember that the Christian life is one of action, not of speech and daydreams. Let there be few words and many deeds, and let them be done well.– St. Vincent Pallotti
In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word – and he has no more to say... because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behaviour but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty.
The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love.
Don't you know that only those who are thoughtless and crazy consider the faithful departed to be dead?– St. John Eudes
As to more than these, my son, beware. Of the making of many books there is no end, and in much study there is weariness for the flesh. 7The last word, when all is heard: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all; because God will bring to judgment every work, with all its hidden qualities, whether good or bad.
Footnotes: 7 [13] Man's all: St. Jerome explains:
Unto this is every man born that, knowing his Maker, he may revere him in fear, honor, and the observance of his commandments.
This page was last modified Tuesday, 17-Aug-2010 22:03:28 EDT.
