2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

127
© 2013 Rey Ty Saint Augustine Quotations Rey Ty

Upload: rey-t

Post on 27-May-2015

112 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine

Quotations

Rey Ty

Page 2: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•354-430 A.D.

Page 3: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine

Page 4: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•“Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum.”

•“Love the sinner and hate the sin.”

•Opera Omnia, Vol II. Col. 962, letter 211.

Page 5: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•“An unjust law is no law at all.”

•On Free Choice Of The Will, Book 1, § 5.

Page 6: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•“When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday; when at Rome, I do fast on Saturday.”

•Epistle 36, to Casulanus.

Page 7: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•“God is not the parent of evil… Evil exists by the voluntary sin of the soul to which God gave free choice. If one does not sin by will, one does not sin.” Contra Fortunatum Manichaeum, Acta Seu Disputatio, Ch. 20.

Page 8: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•“You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to death my deafness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.” Confessions, Book X

Page 9: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•Fecisti nos ad te et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te.•You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.•I, 1.

Page 10: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)

•The weakness of little children's limbs is innocent, not their souls.

•I, 7.

Page 11: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•“I became evil for no reason. I had no motive for my wickedness except wickedness itself. It was foul, and I loved it. I loved the self-destruction, I loved my fall, not the object for which I had fallen but my fall itself. My depraved soul leaped down from your firmament to ruin. I was seeking not to gain anything by shameful means, but shame for its own sake.” II, 4.

Page 12: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)

•Nondum amabam, et amare amabam...quaerebam quid amarem, amans amare.

•I was not yet in love, yet I loved to love...I sought what I might love, in love with loving.

•III, 1.

Page 13: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)

•Et illa erant fercula, in quibus mihi esurienti te inferebatur sol et luna.

•And these were the dishes wherein to me, hunger-starven for thee, they served up the sun and the moon.

•III, 6.

Page 14: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•Already I had learned from thee that because a thing is eloquently expressed it should not be taken to be as necessarily true; nor because it is uttered with stammering lips should it be supposed false. Nor, again, is it necessarily true because rudely uttered, nor untrue because the language is brilliant. Wisdom and folly both are like meats that are wholesome and unwholesome, and courtly or simple words are like town-made or rustic vessels — both kinds of food may be served in either kind of dish.•V, 6•Variation on the middle sentence: A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.•Variation on the middle sentence: A thing is not necessarily false because it is badly expressed, nor true because it is expressed magnificently.

Page 15: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•I read there [in "certain books of the Platonists"] that God the Word was born "not of flesh nor of blood, nor of the will of man, nor the will of the flesh, but of God." But, that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" — I found this nowhere there.•VII, 9.

Page 16: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•At ego adulescens miser ualde, miser in exordio ipsius adulescentiae, etiam petieram a te castitatem et dixeram, 'Da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo.'•As a youth I prayed, "Give me chastity and continence, but not yet."•VIII, 7.

Page 17: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•Dicebam haec et flebam amarissima contritione cordis mei. Et ecce audio vocem de vicina domo cum cantu dicentis et crebro repetentis, quasi pueri an puellae, nescio: tolle lege, tolle lege. Statimque mutato vultu intentissimus cogitare coepi utrumnam solerent pueri in aliquo genere ludendi cantitare tale aliquid. Nec occurrebat omnino audisse me uspiam, repressoque impetu lacrimarum surrexi, nihil aliud interpretans divinitus mihi iuberi nisi ut aperirem codicem et legerem quod primum caput invenissem. Audieram enim de Antonio quod ex evangelica lectione cui forte supervenerat admonitus fuerit, tamquam sibi diceretur quod legebatur: "Vade, vende omnia quae habes, et da pauperibus et habebis thesaurum in caelis; et veni, sequere me," et tali oraculo confestim ad te esse conversum. Itaque concitus redii in eum locum ubi sedebat Alypius: ibi enim posueram codicem apostoli cum inde surrexeram. arripui, aperui, et legi in silentio capitulum quo primum coniecti sunt oculi mei: "Non in comessationibus et ebrietatibus, non in cubilibus et impudicitiis, non in contentione et aemulatione, sed induite dominum Iesum Christum et carnis providentiam ne feceritis in concupiscentiis." Nec ultra volui legere nec opus erat. Statim quippe cum fine huiusce sententiae quasi luce securitatis infusa cordi meo omnes dubitationis tenebrae diffugerunt. VIII, 12.

Page 18: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)

•I was saying these things and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when suddenly I heard the voice of a boy or a girl I know not which--coming from the neighboring house, chanting over and over again, "Take up and read; take up and read." Immediately I ceased weeping and began most earnestly to think whether it was usual for children in some kind of game to sing such a song, but I could not remember ever having heard the like. So, damming the torrent of my tears, I got to my feet, for I could not but think that this was a divine command to open the Bible and read the first passage I should light upon. For I had heard how Anthony, accidentally coming into church while the gospel was being read, received the admonition as if what was read had been addressed to him: "Go and sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me" (Matt. 19:21). By such an oracle he was forthwith converted to thee. So I quickly returned to the bench where Alypius was sitting, for there I had put down the apostle’s book when I had left there. I snatched it up, opened it, and in silence read the paragraph on which my eyes first fell: "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof" (Rom. 13:13). I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to. For instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.

•VIII, 12.

Page 19: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•But the inner part is the better part; for to it, as both ruler and judge, all these messengers of the senses report the answers of heaven and earth and all the things therein, who said, "We are not God, but he made us." My inner man knew these things through the ministry of the outer man, and I, the inner man, knew all this — I, the soul, through the senses of my body. I asked the whole frame of earth about my God, and it answered, "I am not he, but he made me."•X, 6.

Page 20: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•Sero te amavi, pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova, sero te amavi! et ecce intus eras et ego foris, et ibi te quaerebam.•Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient and ever new! Late have I loved you! And, behold, you were within me, and I out of myself, and there I searched for you.

– X, 27, as translated in Theology and Discovery: Essays in honor of Karl Rahner, S.J. (1980) edited by William J. Kelly

Page 21: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•Da quod iubes, et iube quod vis. Imperas novis continentiam.•Give what you command, and command what you will. You impose continency on us.•X, 29.

Page 22: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.•Variant: 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.•X

Page 23: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)

•There is another form of temptation, more complex in its peril. … It originates in an appetite for knowledge. … From this malady of curiosity are all those strange sights exhibited in the theatre. Hence do we proceed to search out the secret powers of nature (which is beside our end), which to know profits not, and wherein men desire nothing but to know.

•X, 35

Page 24: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.•XI, 14

Page 25: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.

Page 26: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•“No one is free to do right who has not been freed from sin & begins to be the servant of justice. And such is true liberty, because he has the joy of right-doing, & at the same time dutiful servitude because he obeys the precept.” Enchiridion, Ch. 9, Sec. 30.

Page 27: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•“I have no hope but in your great mercy. Grant what you command & command what you will.” Confessions, Book 10, Sec. 29.

Page 28: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•“One Mediator between God and Man: The Man Jesus Christ.” Confessions.

Page 29: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•“In your unfathomable mercy you first gave the humble certain pointers to the true Mediator, and then sent him, so that by his example they might learn even a humility like his. This Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, appeared to stand between mortal sinners and the God who is immortal and just: like us he was mortal, but like God he was just. Now the wage due to justice is life and peace; and so, through the justice whereby he was one with God, he broke the power of death over malefactors and by that act rendered them just, using that very mortality which he had himself chosen to share with them.” Confessions.

Page 30: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•Fecisti nos ad te et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te.•You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.•I, 1.

Page 31: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)

•The weakness of little children's limbs is innocent, not their souls.•I, 7.

Page 32: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)

•“I became evil for no reason. I had no motive for my wickedness except wickedness itself. It was foul, and I loved it. I loved the self-destruction, I loved my fall, not the object for which I had fallen but my fall itself. My depraved soul leaped down from your firmament to ruin. I was seeking not to gain anything by shameful means, but shame for its own sake.”

•II, 4.

Page 33: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•“I read there [in "certain books of the Platonists"] that God the Word was born "not of flesh nor of blood, nor of the will of man, nor the will of the flesh, but of God." But, that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" — I found this nowhere there.”•VII, 9.

Page 34: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)•“At ego adulescens miser ualde, miser in exordio ipsius adulescentiae, etiam petieram a te castitatem et dixeram, 'Da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo.'•As a youth I prayed, "Give me chastity and continence, but not yet."•VIII, 7.

Page 35: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Confessions (c. 397)

“You called and cried out loud

and shattered my deafness.

You were radiant and resplendent,

you put to death my deafness.

You were fragrant,

and I drew in my breath

and now pant after you.

I tasted you,

and I feel but hunger and thirst for you.

You touched me,

and I am set on fire

to attain the peace which is yours.”

•—Confessions, Book X

Page 36: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•“To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him the greatest

adventure; to find Him, the greatest

human achievement.”

Page 37: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

Page 38: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.

Page 39: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.

Page 40: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Love is the beauty of the soul.

Page 41: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.

Page 42: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.

Page 43: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.

Page 44: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.

Page 45: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•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.

Page 46: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

Page 47: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.

Page 48: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.

Page 49: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet.

Page 50: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

Page 51: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don't accept, because you will lose one friend; on the other hand, if two strangers come with the same request, accept because you will gain one friend.

Page 52: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Patience is the companion of wisdom.

Page 53: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. 

Page 54: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.

Page 55: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•What I needed most was to love and to be loved, eager to be caught. Happily I wrapped those painful bonds around me; and sure enough, I would be lashed with the red-hot pokers or jealousy, by suspicions and fear, by burst of anger and quarrels.

Page 56: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.

Page 57: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.

Page 58: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.

Page 59: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.

Page 60: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.

Page 61: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.

Page 62: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?

Page 63: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.

Page 64: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.

Page 65: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•By faithfulness we are collected and wound up into unity within ourselves, whereas we had been scattered abroad in multiplicity.

Page 66: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.

Page 67: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee.

Page 68: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.

Page 69: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•He that is jealous is not in love.

Page 70: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Passion is the evil in adultery. If a man has no opportunity of living with another man's wife, but if it is obvious for some reason that he would like to do so, and would do so if he could, he is no less guilty than if he was caught in the act.

Page 71: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.

Page 72: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•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.

Page 73: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. 

Page 74: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist.

Page 75: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The greatest evil is physical pain. 

Page 76: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.

Page 77: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Don't you believe that there is in man a deep so profound as to be hidden even to him in whom it is?

Page 78: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.

Page 79: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•It is not the punishment but the cause that makes the martyr.

Page 80: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider.

Page 81: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Hear the other side.

Page 82: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•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.

Page 83: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Punishment is justice for the unjust.

Page 84: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt.

Page 85: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.

Page 86: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Love, and do what you like.

Page 87: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Oh Lord, give me chastity, but do not give it yet.

Page 88: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The purpose of all wars, is peace.

Page 89: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•We cannot pass our guardian angel's bounds, resigned or sullen, he will hear our sighs.

Page 90: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Our bodies are shaped to bear children, and our lives are a working out of the processes of creation. All our ambitions and intelligence are beside that great elemental point.

Page 91: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart.

Page 92: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Thou must be emptied of that wherewith thou art full, that thou mayest be filled with that whereof thou art empty.

Page 93: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•To seek the highest good is to live well.

Page 94: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of his head are easier by far to count than his feeling, the movements of his heart.

Page 95: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him.

Page 96: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.

Page 97: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•We are certainly in a common class with the beasts; every action of animal life is concerned with seeking bodily pleasure and avoiding pain.

Page 98: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.

Page 99: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•I found thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred in seeking thee without that wert within.

Page 100: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•If we did not have rational souls, we would not be able to believe.

Page 101: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•No eulogy is due to him who simply does his duty and nothing more.

Page 102: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.

Page 103: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•There is no possible source of evil except good.

Page 104: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it. 

Page 105: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.

Page 106: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•We make ourselves a ladder out of our vices if we trample the vices themselves underfoot.

Page 107: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.

Page 108: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•“Those to whom the apostle allowed bodily intercourse with a single spouse s pardonable on account of their intemperance are on a lower step towards God than the patriarchs who, though each had more than one, aimed in intercourse with them only at the procreation of children, as a wise man aims only at his body’s health in food & drinks.” De Doctrina Christiana, Book 3, Ch. 18, No. 27.

Page 109: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•“See, then, Lord: I cast my care upon you so that I may live, and I will contemplate the wonders you have revealed. You know how stupid and weak I am: teach me and heal me. Your only Son, in whom are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge, has redeemed me with his blood. Let not the proud disparage me, for I am mindful of my ransom. I eat it, I drink it, I dispense it to others, and as a poor man I long to be filled with it among those who are fed and feasted. And then, let those who seek him praise the Lord..” Confessions.

Page 110: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)•“Two cities have been formed by 2 loves, the earthly city evidently by love of self even to the contempt of God, the heavenly city truly by love of God even to the contempt of self. In short, the former glories in itslef, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men, but for th the other the greatest glory is God as the witness of conscience” (XIV, 28).

Page 111: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s) on everything referring back to God: “God, therefore, Himself the author & giver of felicity, because He alone is the true God. He gives earthly kingdoms both to the good & to the bad, not blindly, &, as it were, fortuitously—because He is God, not fortune—but according to the order of things & times hidden for us, but fully known to Him, which order of times, nevertheless, He serves not as being subordinate to it, but just like a lord He rules it, & just like a moderator He disposes it: true felicity He does not give except to the good. For in this life they can have or not have power over subjects, they can have or not have power over kings; & nevertheless their happiness will be full in that life where no one is a subject” (IV, 33).

Page 112: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s) on the potential of nihilism: “Nature could not have been depraved by vice if it had not been made out of nothing [ex nihilo]. And as a result, that it is nature, this is so because God made it, but that it falls from him, this is because it is made from nothing. Man did not so fall away as to become entirely nothing [omnini nihil], but as inclined toward himself, he became less than he was when he clung to Him who supremely is. And so having left God, to exist in himself, that is, to please himself, is not actually to become nothing, but to approach nothing [nihilo propinquare]” (XIV, 13.”

Page 113: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)•To the divine providence it has seemed good to prepare in the world to come for the righteous good things, which the unrighteous shall not enjoy; and for the wicked evil things, by which the good shall not be tormented. But as for the good things of this life, and its ills, God has willed that these should be common to both; that we might not too eagerly covet the things which wicked men are seen equally to enjoy, nor shrink with an unseemly fear from the ills which even good men often suffer.There is, too, a very great difference in the purpose served both by those events which we call adverse and those called prosperous. For the good man is neither uplifted with the good things of time, nor broken by its ills; but the wicked man, because he is corrupted by this world’s happiness, feels himself punished by its unhappiness.•I, 8

Page 114: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)

•Wherefore, though good and bad men suffer alike, we must not suppose that there is no difference between the men themselves, because there is no difference in what they both suffer. For even in the likeness of the sufferings, there remains an unlikeness in the sufferers; and though exposed to the same anguish, virtue and vice are not the same thing. For as the same fire causes gold to glow brightly, and chaff to smoke; and under the same flail the straw is beaten small, while the grain is cleansed; and as the lees are not mixed with the oil, though squeezed out of the vat by the same pressure, so the same violence of affliction proves, purges, clarifies the good, but damns, ruins, exterminates the wicked. And thus it is that in the same affliction the wicked detest God and blaspheme, while the good pray and praise. So material a difference does it make, not what ills are suffered, but what kind of man suffers them. For, stirred up with the same movement, mud exhales a horrible stench, and ointment emits a fragrant odor.

Page 115: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)•Thus, in this universal catastrophe, the sufferings of Christians have tended to their moral improvement, because they viewed them with eyes of faith.•I, 9.

Page 116: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)

•The dominion of bad men is hurtful chiefly to themselves who rule, for they destroy their own souls by greater license in wickedness; while those who are put under them in service are not hurt except by their own iniquity. For to the just all the evils imposed on them by unjust rulers are not the punishment of crime, but the test of virtue. Therefore the good man, although he is a slave, is free; but the bad man, even if he reigns, is a slave, and that not of one man, but, what is far more grievous, of as many masters as he has vices; of which vices when the divine Scripture treats, it says, “For of whom any man is overcome, to the same he is also the bond-slave.”

•IV, 3

Page 117: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)•The good man, though a slave, is free; the wicked, though he reigns, is a slave, and not the slave of a single man, but — what is worse — the slave of as many masters as he has vices.• IV, 3

Page 118: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)

•Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies?  IV, 4

Page 119: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)•Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms? The band itself is made up of men; it is ruled by the authority of a prince, it is knit together by the pact of the confederacy; the booty is divided by the law agreed on. If, by the admittance of abandoned men, this evil increases to such a degree that it holds places, fixes abodes, takes possession of cities, and subdues peoples, it assumes the more plainly the name of a kingdom, because the reality is now manifestly conferred on it, not by the removal of covetousness, but by the addition of impunity. Indeed, that was an apt and true reply which was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been seized. For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping hostile possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride, “What thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art styled emperor.”•IV, 4

Page 120: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)•For when God said, “Let there be light, and there was light,” if we are justified in understanding in this light the creation of the angels, then certainly they were created partakers of the eternal light which is the unchangeable Wisdom of God, by which all things were made, and whom we call the only-begotten Son of God;…  IX, 9

Page 121: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)

•For when God said, “Let there be light, and there was light,” if we are justified in understanding in this light the creation of the angels, then certainly they were created partakers of the eternal light which is the unchangeable Wisdom of God, by which all things were made, and whom we call the only-begotten Son of God; so that they, being illumined by the Light that created them, might themselves become light and be called “Day,” in participation of that unchangeable Light and Day which is the Word of God, by whom both themselves and all else were made. “The true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” — this Light lighteth also every pure angel, that he may be light not in himself, but in God; from whom if an angel turn away, he becomes impure, as are all those who are called unclean spirits, and are no longer light in the Lord, but darkness in themselves, being deprived of the participation of Light eternal. For evil has no positive nature; but the loss of good has received the name “evil.”

•IX, 9

Page 122: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)•Without any delusive representation of images or phantasms, I am most certain that I am, and that I know and delight in this. In respect of these truths, I am not at all afraid of the arguments of the Academicians, who say, What if you are deceived? For if I am deceived, I am. For he who is not, cannot be deceived; and if I am deceived, by this same token I am. And since I am if I am deceived, how am I deceived in believing that I am? for it is certain that I am if I am deceived. Since, therefore, I, the person deceived, should be, even if I were deceived, certainly I am not deceived in this knowledge that I am. And, consequently, neither am I deceived in knowing that I know. For, as I know that I am, so I know this also, that I know. And when I love these two things, I add to them a certain third thing, namely, my love, which is of equal moment. For neither am I deceived in this, that I love, since in those things which I love I am not deceived; though even if these were false, it would still be true that I loved false things. For how could I justly be blamed and prohibited from loving false things, if it were false that I loved them? But, since they are true and real, who doubts that when they are loved, the love of them is itself true and real? Further, as there is no one who does not wish to be happy, so there is no one who does not wish to be. For how can he be happy, if he is nothing?•XI, 26

Page 123: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)•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.•XV, 22

Page 124: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The City of God (early 400s)•The philosophers who wished us to have the gods for our friends rank the friendship of the holy angels in the fourth circle of society, advancing now from the three circles of society on earth to the universe, and embracing heaven itself.  XIX, 9

Page 125: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•The full text of the City of God (De

Civitate Dei) (early 400s) is available online at http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_City_of_God

Page 126: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine•354-430 A.D.

Page 127: 2013 rey ty_saint_augustine

© 2013 Rey Ty

Saint Augustine

Quotations

Rey Ty