Francois Fenelon
Francois Fenelon
François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, more commonly known as François Fénelon, was a French Roman Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer. He today is remembered mostly as the author of The Adventures of Telemachus, first published in 1699...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionClergyman
CountryFrance
art want appetite
The art of cookery is the art of poisoning mankind, by rendering the appetite still importunate, when the wants of nature are supplied.
prayer work ought
Were in prayer, as indeed you ought to be.
soul doe restlessness
Peace does not dwell in outward things, but within the soul.
love self despair
Discouragement is simply the despair of wounded self-love.
self joy simplicity
Simplicity brings back the joys of Paradise. Not that we have pure pleasure without a moment's suffering, but when we are surrendered to God, we are not grasping for pleasure, and even our troubles are received with thanksgiving. This inner harmony, and this deliverance from fear and the tormenting desires of self, create a satisfaction in the soul which is above all the intoxicating joys of this world put together.
self examination faults
Nothing will make us so charitable and tender to the faults of others, as, by self-examination, thoroughly to know our own.
war blood preservation
The blood of a nation ought never to be shed except for its own preservation in the utmost extremity.
mind facts virtue
Exactness and neatness in moderation is a virtue, but carried to extremes narrows the mind.
giving serenity simplicity
When we are truly in this interior simplicity our whole appearance is franker, more natural. This true simplicity. . . makes us conscious of a certain openness, gentleness, innocence, gaiety, and serenity. O, how amiable this simplicity is! Who will give it to me? I leave all for this. It is the pearl of the Gospel.
people trying fancy
There is no more dangerous illusion than the fancies by which people try to avoid illusion.
temptation sovereign realization
The realization of God's presence is the one sovereign remedy against temptation.
running wine men
Wine is the source of the greatest evils among communities. It causes diseases, quarrels, seditions, idleness, aversion to labor, and family disorders. . . . It is a species of poison that causes madness. It does not make a man die, but it degrades him into a brute. Men may preserve their health and vigor without wine; with wine they run the risk of ruining their health and losing their morals.
christian jesus humble
Let me follow in Thy footsteps, O Jesus ! I would imitate Thee, but cannot without the aid of Thy grace! O humble and lowly Saviour, grant me the knowledge of the true Christian, and that I may willingly despise myself; let me learn the lesson so incomprehensible to the mind of man, that I must die to myself by an abandonment that shall produce true humility.
giving-up light grace
As a general rule, those truths which we highly relish, and which shed a degree of practical light upon the things which we are required to give up for God, are leadings of Divine grace, which we should follow without hesitation.