Saint Augustine
Saint Augustine
Augustine of Hippo, also known as Saint Augustine, Saint Austin, Blessed Augustine, and the Doctor of Grace, was an early Christian theologian and philosopher whose writings influenced the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy. He was the bishop of Hippo Regius, located in Numidia. He is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers in Western Christianity for his writings in the Patristic Era. Among his most important works are The City of God and Confessions...
ProfessionSaint
joy darkness suffering
They who shall enter into [the] joy [of the Lord] shall know what is going on outside in the outer darkness. . .The saints'. . . knowledge, which shall be great, shall keep them acquainted. . .with the eternal sufferings of the lost.
light darkness ignorant
No one knows what he himself is made of, except his own spirit within him, yet there is still some part of him which remains hidden even from his own spirit; but you, Lord, know everything about a human being because you have made him...Let me, then, confess what I know about myself, and confess too what I do not know, because what I know of myself I know only because you shed light on me, and what I do not know I shall remain ignorant about until my darkness becomes like bright noon before your face.
marvel pass people rivers themselves travel
People travel to marvel at the mountains, seas, rivers and stars; and they pass right by themselves without astonishment.
loved
Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.
abroad admiration admire circuits compass heights men mighty themselves tides
Men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, and pass themselves by.
cauldron ears sang
To Carthage I came, where there sang all around my ears a cauldron of unholy loves.
aspire begin great
You aspire to great things? Begin with little ones.
good
If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.
Oh Lord, give me chastity, but do not give it yet.
abstinence easier
To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.
believe faith reward
Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.
despairing god knowledge man senseless suffer understanding
God will not suffer man to have a knowledge of things to come; for if he had prescience of his prosperity, he would be careless; and if understanding of his adversity, he would be despairing and senseless
ladder trample vices
We make a ladder of our vices, if we trample those same vices underfoot.
god imagine understand
God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand you have failed.