Augustine of Hippo quotes

Augustine of Hippo was a Christian theologian and philosopher, widely regarded as one of the most influential Church Fathers in Western Christianity. His writings shaped Christian doctrine, especially on topics like original sin and grace. He remains a central figure in the development of Christian thought and philosophy. Here are 357 of his quotes:

Let us understand that God is a physician, and that suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation. (Augustine of Hippo)
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. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Jesus took His flesh from the flesh of Mary. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Do you desire security? Here you have it. The Lord says to you, "I will never abandon you, I will always be with you." If a good man made you such a promise, you would trust him. God makes it, and do you doubt? Do you seek a support more sure than the word of God, which is infallible? Surely, He has made the promise, He has written it, He has pledged His word for it, it is most certain. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
When God is our strength, it is strength indeed; when our strength is our own, it is only weakness. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
If we did not have rational souls, we would not be able to believe. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Too late came I to love you, O Beauty both so ancient and so new! Too late came I to love you - and behold you were with me all the time . . . View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Do not despair: one thief was saved. Do not presume: one thief was damned. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
What is the Church? She is the body of Christ. Join to it the Head, and you have one man: The Head and the body make up one man. Who is the head? He who was born of the Virgin Mary. ... And what is His body? It is His Spouse, that is, the Church.... The Father willed that these two, the God Christ and the Church, should be one man. All men are one man in Christ, and the unity of the Christians constitutes but one man. And this man is all men, all men are this man; for all are one, since Christ is one. (Augustine of Hippo)
Incomprehensible and immutable is the love wherewith God loves. He did not begin to love us only on the day we were reconciled to Him by the blood of His Son; He loved us before the world was made, that we too might become His sons together with His Only-begotten Son, long before we had any existence.... View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Oh Lord, give me chastity, but do not give it yet. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
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. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Beauty grows in you to the extent that love grows, because charity itself is the soul's beauty. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Wonderful is the depth of Thy oracles, whose surface is before us, inviting the little ones; and yet wonderful is the depth, O my God, wonderful is the depth. It is awe to look into it; and awe of honour, and a tremor of love. The enemies thereof I hate vehemently. Oh, if Thou wouldest slay them with Thy two-edged sword, that they be not its enemies! For thus do I love, that they should be slain unto themselves that they may live unto Thee. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
We are He, since we are His body and since He was made man in order to be our Head. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
To seek the highest good is to live well. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
If thou lovest the Head, thou lovest also the members; if thou lovest not the members, neither dost thou love the Head. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Inter faeces et urinam nascimur. (Augustine of Hippo)
If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained. Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
The people who remained victorious were less like conquerors than conquered. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
The wicked exist in this world either to be converted or that through them the good may exercise patience. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
He who falls, falls by his own will, and he who stands, stands by God's will. View quote
Augustine of Hippo