Enlightened Quotes Written By Saint Augustine

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Hundred Greatest Men, The. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1885 “Courtesy of The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.”

Saint Augustine of Hippo lived between 13 November 354 – 28 August 430, during this period he studied and developed ideas in the fields of philosophy and Christian theology. Augustine is considered to be one of the biggest influences on western culture. His writings have shaped the foundation of so many of our traditions and ideas. Such as self-reporting about our own lives, known as creating an autobiography. One of Augustine’s seminal works is titled The Confessions. In which he tells his life’s journey and recounts his accent from the dualistic religion of the Manicheans to Christian belief. This book written 1600 years ago is held to be the first western-style autobiography. 

The Confessions, not only serves as a guide for the first autobiographies but is also rich with philosophical questions and ideas. It is still widely read today by people of all faiths, and although it was written 1600 years ago, it still resonates with the times. The events recounted in his book can easily be visualized with our modern eyes. I personally have read this book, and it changed the way that I see the entire history of the human race. If you have not had the chance to read the book, you can listen to a beautiful narration Here for Free!

Augustine not only begins the autobiographical tradition through The Confessions, but he also helps to illuminate a variety of church doctrines. Those most popular of his doctrinal works are on the ideas of Original sin, Purgatory, Free will, Predestination, and Just war theory. His work in these areas still affects how we understand them. It is safe to say that no matter what Augustine was writing about, it has become timeless. 

To help you get a taste of what he wrote, I have compiled a list containing 30 of his most famous quotes. 

Each one of the quotes can also be purchased as a poster or canvas print. They serve as reminders of the truths they teach and make great gifts for anyone who studies philosophy or theology. 

To Purchase A Poster, Just Click The Image Of The Quote That You Like.

"People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering." -Saint Augustine
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -Saint Augustine
"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." -Saint Augustine
"God loves each of us as if there were only one of us." -Saint Augustine
"Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul." -Saint Augustine
"It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels." -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." -Saint Augustine
"Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop." -Saint Augustine
"Patience is the companion of wisdom." -Saint Augustine
"Right Is Right Even If No One Is Doing It; Wrong Is Wrong Even If Everyone Is Doing It." -Saint Augustine
"Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are." -Saint Augustine
"The measure of love is to love without measure." -Saint Augustine
"In order to discover the character of people we have only to observe what they love." -Saint Augustine
"The punishment of every disordered mind is its own disorder." -Saint Augustine

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"The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself." -Saint Augustine
"In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me." -Saint Augustine
"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity." -Saint Augustine
"I held my heart back from positively accepting anything, since I was afraid of another fall, and in this condition of suspense I was being all the more killed." -Saint Augustine
"Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you." -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." -Saint Augustine
"For what am I to myself without You, but a guide to my own downfall?" -Saint Augustine
"Humility must accompany all our actions, must be with us everywhere; for as soon as we glory in our good works they are of no further value to our advancement in virtue." -Saint Augustine
"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." -Saint Augustine
"How, then, shall I respond to him who asks, “What was God doing before he made heaven and earth?” I do not answer, as a certain one is reported to have done facetiously (shrugging off the force of the question). “He was preparing hell,” he said, “for those who pry too deep.” It is one thing to see the answer; it is another to laugh at the questioner--and for myself I do not answer these things thus. More willingly would I have answered, “I do not know what I do not know,” than cause one who asked a deep question to be ridiculed--and by such tactics gain praise for a worthless answer." -Saint Augustine
"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." -Saint Augustine
"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." -Saint Augustine
"We were ensnared by the wisdom of the serpent; we are set free by the foolishness of God." -Saint Augustine
"Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation." -Saint Augustine
"An unjust law is no law at all." -Saint Augustine
" Their beauty is the voice by which they announce God, by which they sing, "It is you who made me beautiful, not me myself but you." -Saint Augustine
"People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering." -Saint Augustine
"People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering." -Saint Augustine
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -Saint Augustine
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -Saint Augustine
"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." -Saint Augustine
"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." -Saint Augustine
"God loves each of us as if there were only one of us." -Saint Augustine
"God loves each of us as if there were only one of us." -Saint Augustine
"Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul." -Saint Augustine
"Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul." -Saint Augustine
"It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels." -Saint Augustine
"It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels." -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." -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." -Saint Augustine
"Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop." -Saint Augustine
"Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop." -Saint Augustine
"Patience is the companion of wisdom." -Saint Augustine
"Patience is the companion of wisdom." -Saint Augustine
"Right Is Right Even If No One Is Doing It; Wrong Is Wrong Even If Everyone Is Doing It." -Saint Augustine
"Right Is Right Even If No One Is Doing It; Wrong Is Wrong Even If Everyone Is Doing It." -Saint Augustine
"Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are." -Saint Augustine
"Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are." -Saint Augustine
"The measure of love is to love without measure." -Saint Augustine
"The measure of love is to love without measure." -Saint Augustine
"In order to discover the character of people we have only to observe what they love." -Saint Augustine
"In order to discover the character of people we have only to observe what they love." -Saint Augustine
"The punishment of every disordered mind is its own disorder." -Saint Augustine
"The punishment of every disordered mind is its own disorder." -Saint Augustine
"The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself." -Saint Augustine
"The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself." -Saint Augustine

Buy An Augustine Poster today!

Shop Now
"In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me." -Saint Augustine
"In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me." -Saint Augustine
"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity." -Saint Augustine
"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity." -Saint Augustine
"I held my heart back from positively accepting anything, since I was afraid of another fall, and in this condition of suspense I was being all the more killed." -Saint Augustine
"I held my heart back from positively accepting anything, since I was afraid of another fall, and in this condition of suspense I was being all the more killed." -Saint Augustine
"Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you." -Saint Augustine
"Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you." -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." -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." -Saint Augustine
"For what am I to myself without You, but a guide to my own downfall?" -Saint Augustine
"For what am I to myself without You, but a guide to my own downfall?" -Saint Augustine
"Humility must accompany all our actions, must be with us everywhere; for as soon as we glory in our good works they are of no further value to our advancement in virtue." -Saint Augustine
"Humility must accompany all our actions, must be with us everywhere; for as soon as we glory in our good works they are of no further value to our advancement in virtue." -Saint Augustine
"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." -Saint Augustine
"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." -Saint Augustine
"How, then, shall I respond to him who asks, “What was God doing before he made heaven and earth?” I do not answer, as a certain one is reported to have done facetiously (shrugging off the force of the question). “He was preparing hell,” he said, “for those who pry too deep.” It is one thing to see the answer; it is another to laugh at the questioner--and for myself I do not answer these things thus. More willingly would I have answered, “I do not know what I do not know,” than cause one who asked a deep question to be ridiculed--and by such tactics gain praise for a worthless answer." -Saint Augustine
"How, then, shall I respond to him who asks, “What was God doing before he made heaven and earth?” I do not answer, as a certain one is reported to have done facetiously (shrugging off the force of the question). “He was preparing hell,” he said, “for those who pry too deep.” It is one thing to see the answer; it is another to laugh at the questioner--and for myself I do not answer these things thus. More willingly would I have answered, “I do not know what I do not know,” than cause one who asked a deep question to be ridiculed--and by such tactics gain praise for a worthless answer." -Saint Augustine
"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." -Saint Augustine
"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." -Saint Augustine
"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." -Saint Augustine
"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." -Saint Augustine
"Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation." -Saint Augustine
"Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation." -Saint Augustine
"We were ensnared by the wisdom of the serpent; we are set free by the foolishness of God." -Saint Augustine
"We were ensnared by the wisdom of the serpent; we are set free by the foolishness of God." -Saint Augustine
"An unjust law is no law at all." -Saint Augustine
"An unjust law is no law at all." -Saint Augustine
" Their beauty is the voice by which they announce God, by which they sing, "It is you who made me beautiful, not me myself but you." -Saint Augustine
" Their beauty is the voice by which they announce God, by which they sing, "It is you who made me beautiful, not me myself but you." -Saint Augustine

Buy An Augustine Poster today!

Shop Now
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Enlightened Quotes Written By Saint Augustine
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Adam

Owner of Tweaking Optimism. I write from a Christian perspective on current topics within philosophy and psychology.