His original Latin name is Aurelius Augustinus, he is known to be called Saint Augustine of Hippo but many of us know him simply as Saint Augustine (St. Augustine). He was born on November 13, 354 in Tagaste, Numidia. Then he was the bishop of Hippo from 396-430. St. Augustine had written two important works, The City of God (c. 413–426) and Confessions (c. 400).
When he was a young age and getting his education, he studied the principles of Latin and Greek Literature, his teachers used the old pagan method style of teaching. It doesn’t seem that Saint Augustine was taught about the Christian faith when he was younger, but his parents were impressed by his ability to learn and sent him to schools that were about two day distances away from their home.
St. Augustine is responsible for shaping some of Latin Christianity with the theological style in his writings. Besides shaping Latin Christianity, Augustine also helped set the foundations for modern and medieval Christian thoughts. He is known as the doctor of the church in Roman Catholicism. The writings of his that have survived time show his wisdom, strength and the power that he had to catch and hold the reader’s attention. He is considered to be one of the most significant Chistian thinkers.
St. Augustine Quotes
- “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” – St Augustine
- “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” – St. Augustine
- “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” – St. Augustine
- “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” – Saint Augustine
- “Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.” – Saint Augustine
- “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” – Augustine of Hippo
- “Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times; Such as we are, such are the times.” – St Augustine
- “Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.” – St. Augustine
- “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” – St. Augustine
- “Women should not be enlightened or educated in any way. They should, in fact, be segregated as they are the cause of hideous and involuntary erections in holy men.” – Saint Augustine
- “A Christian is: a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ helps.” – Saint Augustine
- “Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.” – St. Augustine
- “The truth is like a lion. You don’t have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.” – St Augustine
- “If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, do not accept, as you may lose a friend.” – St. Augustine
- “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.” – St. Augustine
- “Love God and do whatever you please: for the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the One who is Beloved.” – Saint Augustine
- “Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.” – Saint Augustine
- “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.” – St. Augustine of Hippo
- “Remember, you will be faulted not because you are ignorant against your will, but because you neglect to seek out what makes you ignorant.” – St Augustine
- “Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.” – St. Augustine
- “Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” – St. Augustine
- “He cannot have God for his Father who will not have the Church for his mother.” – 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
- “The punishment of every disordered mind is its own disorder.” – St. Augustine of Hippo
- “Trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to God’s love, and the future to God’s providence.” – St Augustine
- “Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.” – St. Augustine
- “Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.” – St. Augustine
- “Love, and do what you will. If you keep silence, do it out of love. If you cry out, do it out of love. If you refrain from punishing, do it out of love.” – Saint Augustine
- “There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.” – Saint Augustine
- “Miracles are not contrary to nature but only contrary to what we know about nature.” – St. Augustine
- “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St Augustine
- “Repentant tears wash out the stain of guilt.” – St. Augustine
- “Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.” – St. Augustine
- “He who does not have the church as his mother, does not have God as his father.” – 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
- “Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop.” – 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.” – St Augustine
- “Though defensive violence will always be ‘a sad necessity’ in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men.” – St. 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.” – St. Augustine
- “By faithfulness we are collected and wound up into unity within ourselves, whereas we had been scattered abroad in multiplicity.” – Saint Augustine
- “In order to discover the character of people we have only to observe what they love.” – Saint Augustine
- “Patience is the companion of wisdom.” – Saint Augustine
- “Unless you believe you will not understand.” – St Augustine
- “No one can begin a new life, unless he repent of the old.” – St. Augustine
- “God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.” – St. Augustine
- “O Lord, grant that I may do Thy will as if it were my will, so that Thou mayest do my will as if it were Thy will.” – 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.” – Saint Augustine
- “God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.” – St. 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.” – St Augustine
- “It seems to me that an unjust law is no law at all.” – St. Augustine
- “Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.” – St. Augustine
- “For if a thing is not diminished by being shared with others, it is not rightly owned if it is only owned and not shared.” – Saint Augustine
- “God provides the wind, Man must raise the sail.” – Saint Augustine
- “In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me.” – St. Augustine
- “What you are must always displease you, if you would attain to that which you are not.” – St Augustine
- “I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him.” – St. 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.” – St. Augustine
- “There is no love without hope, no hope without love, and neither love nor hope without faith.” – Saint Augustine
- “The measure of love is to love without measuring.” – Saint Augustine
- “Christ is not valued at all, unless he is valued above all.” – St. Augustine
- “Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.” – St Augustine
- “We cannot pass our guardian angel’s bounds, resigned or sullen, he will hear our sighs.” – St. 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.” – St. Augustine
- “The good man, though a slave, is free; the wicked, though he reigns, is a slave.” – Saint Augustine
- “He who has God has everything; he who has everything but God has nothing.” – Saint Augustine
- “You never go away from us, yet we have difficulty in returning to You. Come, Lord, stir us up and call us back. Kindle and seize us. Be our fire and our sweetness. Let us love. Let us run.” – St. Augustine
- “Oh, beauty, ever ancient and ever new.” – St Augustine
Related: Thomas Aquinas Quotes
St. Augustine Video
This is an excellent educational video that is also fun and short. Yes, it’s a rare combination. But seriously if you have read this far and really want to learn a lot quickly about Augustine, check it out! He had a lot of interesting things to say about success and failure and important philosophical insights that inspire us to this day.
Related: The most inspiring church quotes
Summary
Saint Augustine has lasting influences and power in his works and theology that these works and theologies are often used in the way Christianity is taught. He is an extraordinary person in not only the history of Catholicism and Chistianity but also in history itself.
Regardless of whether you are religious or not, these quotes are riddled with inspiration and motivation. Saint Augustine still holds the power to capture interest and hold that interest when people read his works.
Finally check out these quotes about trusting in god
Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. Author Daderot
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