John Chrysostom quotes

John Chrysostom was an influential early Christian bishop and preacher, famed for his eloquent sermons and writings. Renowned as one of the greatest Church Fathers, he played a major role in shaping Christian theology and liturgy. He is remembered for his advocacy of social justice and his criticism of abuses within the church and society. Here are 271 of his quotes:

Tell your wife that you love her more than your own life, because this present life is nothing, and that your only hope is that the two of you pass through this life in such a way that in the world to come, you will be united in perfect love.

John Chrysostom

As the sun is light to the body, so prayer is light to the soul. If it is a great deprivation for a blind man not to see the sun, how great a deprivation is it for a Christian not to pray often, that by prayer he may bring the light of Christ into his soul?

John Chrysostom

Don't talk to me of female beauty, rather virtues of her soul. A beautiful woman who has not decorated herself with virtue is like a painted coffin.

John Chrysostom

Before leaving the door of your house, make the sign of the cross and say: "I renounce you, Satan, your works and your service, and I am in Christ." Never leave your house without these words. These will be for you a rod, a weapon, an irresistible tower. Not only will people not be able to harm you, but not even the devil.

John Chrysostom

Do not be ashamed to enter again into the Church. Be ashamed when you sin. Do not be ashamed when you repent. Pay attention to what the devil did to you. These are two things: sin and repentance. Sin is a wound; repentance is a medicine. Just as there are for the body wounds and medicines, so for the soul are sins and repentance. However, sin has the shame and repentance possesses the courage.

John Chrysostom

The safest thing in life is to forgive, the most dangerous is to seek revenge.

John Chrysostom

The beauty of woman is the greatest snare. Or rather, not the beauty of woman, but unchastened gazing! For we should not accuse the objects, but ourselves, and our own carelessness. Nor should we say, Let there be no women, but Let there be no adulteries. We should not say, Let there be no beauty, but Let there be no fornication. We should not say, Let there be no belly, but let there be no gluttony; for the belly makes not the gluttony, but our negligence. We should not say, that it is because of eating and drinking that all these evils exist; for it is not because of this, but because of our carelessness and insatiableness. Thus the devil neither ate nor drank, and yet he fell! Paul ate and drank, and ascended up to heaven!

John Chrysostom

God doesn't love us because we are good, He loves us because He is our Father.

John Chrysostom

The family is a little Church, where love, prayer, and forgiveness must reign as in the great Church.

John Chrysostom

Whether we receive or do not receive what we have asked of God, we must thank Him, because God knows our personal good, better than we do.

John Chrysostom

If a man and a woman marry in order to be companions on the journey from earth to heaven, then their union will bring great joy to themselves and to others.

John Chrysostom

The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others.

John Chrysostom

Children weren't born by chance and we are held responsible for their salvation.

John Chrysostom

God loves us more than a father, mother, friend, or any else could love, and even more than we are able to love ourselves.

John Chrysostom

Marriage is a bond so strong that nothing can break it except death; and even then it does not cease, for it will be consummated in eternity.

John Chrysostom

It is impossible to be saved without the help of the Most Blessed Virgin, because those who are not saved by the justice of God are saved by the intercession of Mary.

John Chrysostom

It is possible to offer fervent prayer even while walking in public or strolling alone or seated in your shop ... while buying or selling ... or even while cooking.

John Chrysostom

Do not adorn the church and ignore your afflicted brother, for he is the most precious temple of all.

John Chrysostom

Feel shame when sinning, do not feel shame when repenting. Look what the devil has done to you. Here there are two things: sin and repentance; sin is the wound, repentance is the medicine. . . the wound provokes gangrene, the medicine cleanses the gangrene. Sin provokes shame . . . while repentance brings boldness and freedom. What Satan has done is to reverse the order: he has given boldness to sin and shame to repentance. Knowing that sin brings shame, something sufficient to deter the sinner, and that repentance brings boldness, something sufficient to attract the penitent, Satan reversed the order and gave shame to repentance and boldness to sin. . . This is the devil's villainy: he does not permit shame to attach to sin, because he knows that if someone feels shame he will flee from the sin, but rather he attaches shame to repentance, because he knows that if someone feels shame he will flee from repentance. He thus achieves two evils: he attracts to sin and deters from repentance.

John Chrysostom

Prayer is such a powerful force that it can overcome the power of fire, it can tame the wrath of lions, it can cause wars to cease, it can stop storms, it can expel demons, it can open the gates of heaven, it can break the bonds of death...

John Chrysostom

Riches are not forbidden, but the pride of them is.

John Chrysostom

The one who gets up and keeps going after every fall reaches paradise.

John Chrysostom