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fb375ec
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Is truth then a nothing, simply because it is not spread out through space either finite or infinite?" Then from afar you cried to me, "By no means, for ."
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Augustine of Hippo |
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bc126d6
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Nonetheless the memory of you stayed with me, and I had no doubt whatever whom I ought to cling to, though I knew that I was not yet capable of clinging, because the perishable body weighs down the soul, and its earthly habitation oppresses a mind teeming with thoughts.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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66f339a
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My questioning was my attentive spirit, and their reply, their beauty.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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ae38256
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The wisdom of what a person says is in direct proportion to his progress in learning the holy scriptures--and I am not speaking of intensive reading or memorization, but real understanding and careful investigation of their meaning. Some people read them but neglect them; by their reading they profit in knowledge, by their neglect they forfeit understanding.
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Saint Augustine of Hippo |
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8a3a313
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Anyone who does not love Him Who made man has not learned to love man aright.
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St. Augustine of Hippo |
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1a44ebc
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It was foul, and I loved it. I loved to perish. I loved my own -- not that for which I erred, but the itself. Base, falling from Your firmament to utter destruction -- not seeking anything through the shame but the shame itself!
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Saint Augustine of Hippo |
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20a3dcb
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Since divine truth and scripture clearly teach us that God, the Creator of all things, is Wisdom, a true philosopher will be a lover of God. That does not mean that all who answer to the name are really in love with genuine wisdom, for it is one thing to be and another to be called a philosopher.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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8d23fb4
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It is this Good which we are commanded to love with our whole heart, with our whole mind, and with all our strength. It is toward this Good that we should be led by those who love us, and toward this Good we should lead those whom we love. In this way, we fulfill the commandments on which depend the whole Law and the Prophets: 'Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with thy whole heart, and thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind'; and 'Thou sha..
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Augustine of Hippo |
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268d699
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Since the mind, which was meant to be reasonable and intelligent, has, by dark and inveterate vices, become too weak to adhere joyously to His unchangeable light (or even to bear it) until, by gradual renewal and healing, it is made fit for such happiness, its first need was to be instructed by faith and purified.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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cc820bb
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But it must not be supposed that folly is as powerful as truth, just because it can, if it likes, shout louder and longer than truth.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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28a125e
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This is what we love in friends. We love to the point that human conscience feels guilty if we do not love the person who is loving us, and if that love is not returned - without demanding any physical response other than the marks of affectionate good will.
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Saint Augustine of Hippo |
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a8b201b
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a thing is good and pleasant only because it is connected to Him. Use it apart from its Source, and it will come to taste bitter. Since the good thing is His, how can it remain worth loving if you forsake Him to get it?
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Augustine of Hippo |
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5e8b129
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I would learn to discern and distinguish the difference between presumption and confession, between those who see what the goal is but not how to get there and those who see the way which leads to the home of bliss, not merely as an end to be perceived but as a realm to live in.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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37c81bc
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So too let him rejoice and delight in finding you who are beyond discovery rather than fail to find you by supposing you to be discoverable.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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7160d86
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He who lives according to God ought to cherish towards evil men a perfect hatred, so that he shall neither hate the man because of his vice nor love the vice because of the man.
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love
discernment
holiness
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Augustine of Hippo |
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bfcaca4
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What could be more hapless than a man controlled by his own creations? It is surely easier for a man to cease to be a man by worshiping man-made gods than for idols to become divine by being adored.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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1753fe9
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Time takes no holiday. It does not roll idly by, but through our senses works its own wonders in the mind. Time came and went from one day to the next; in its coming and its passing it brought me other hopes and other memories. [quoted in Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo, p. 54]
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time
memory
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Augustine of Hippo |
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8788246
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What is going on in our minds, then, that we should be more highly delighted at finding cherished objects, or having them restored to us, than if we had always kept them safe?
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Augustine of Hippo |
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4b2aed1
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So it falls out that in this world, in evil days like these, the Church walks onward like a wayfarer stricken by the world's hostility, but comforted by the mercy of God. Nor does this state of affairs date only from the days of Christ's and His Apostles' presence on earth. It was never any different from the days when the first just man, Abel, was slain by his ungodly brother. So shall it be until this world is no more.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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a2307b5
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What did it profit that I read the greatest human ideas of the so-called "liberal arts" in the books I got hold of. My thinking was enslaved to corrupt desires, so what difference did it make that I could read and understand these books? I delighted in learning, but I had no divine context for what my mind picked up. I had no foundation to discern what is true or certain. I was standing with my back to the light, so that the things that sho..
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Augustine of Hippo |
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8fec4f9
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Clearly, it is a happier lot to be the slave of a man than of a lust:
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Augustine of Hippo |
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37b2b1b
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As the flattery of friends corrupts, so often do the taunts of enemies instruct.
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flattery-of-friends
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Saint Augustine of Hippo |
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7b05a20
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The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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e207bde
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Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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2bf8f31
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The weakness of little children's limbs is innocent, not their souls.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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1e1292f
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In a quarrel for earth, turn not to earth.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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a4562f6
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The mind itself, its love [of itself] and its knowledge [of itself] are a kind of trinity.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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fdfa274
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We make a ladder of our vices, if we trample those same vices underfoot.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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ec499ab
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Anger is a weed; hate is the tree.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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5de11ed
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He who created you without you will not justify you without you.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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0739ffb
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He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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029bb60
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So the Church too, like Mary, enjoys perpetual virginity and uncorrupted fecundity.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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f40e629
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You can live, provided you live; that is, you can live for ever, provided you live a good life.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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c5b9213
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Christ is not valued at all unless He be valued above all.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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c710f13
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Thou hast made us for Thyself, and the heart never resteth till it findeth rest in Thee.
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Augustine of Hippo |
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71fe450
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It is no advantage to be near the light if the eyes are closed.
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Augustine of Hippo |