Saints’ Quotes

Quotes by Canonized Saints (including Venerables and Servants of God) recognized by the Catholic Church, speaking on matters of faith, liberty, and whatever else.

The real conflict is the inner conflict…. [T]here are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves? — Saint Maximilian Kolbe

The most deadly poison of our times is indifference. And this happens, although the praise of God should know no limits. Let us strive, therefore, to praise Him to the greatest extent of our powers. — Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Hearing nuns’ confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn. — Venerable Fulton Sheen

There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church. . . . If we Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do. — Venerable Fulton Sheen

It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. — Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live. — Blessed Pope John Paul II

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought. — Blessed Pope John Paul II

If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze! — Saint Catherine of Sienna

We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials. — Saint Teresa of Avila

Give something, however small, to the one in need. For it is not small to one who has nothing. Neither is it small to God, if we have given what we could. — Saint Gregory Nazianzen

You cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all. — Saint Therese of Lisieux

Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven. — Saint Rose of Lima

Pray, hope, and don’t worry. — Saint Pio of Pietrelcino

Conscience has rights because it has duties. — Blessed John Henry Newman

What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. — Saint James, James 2:14-17 (RSV-CE)

But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; they said to you, ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.’ It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. — Saint Jude, Jude 1:17-19 (RSV-CE)

I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. — Saint Paul, 1 Timothy 3:14-15 (RSV-CE)

I am the Queen of Heaven, who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. — Our Lady of Good Help, as recorded by Adele Brise, 1859

Fight all error, but do it with good humor, patience, kindness, and love. Harshness will damage your own soul and spoil the best cause. — Saint John of Kanty

Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul. — Saint Teresa of Avila

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves. — Saint Francis de Sales

Make friends with the angels, who though invisible are always with you…. Often invoke them, constantly praise them, and make good use of their help and assistance in all your temporal and spiritual affairs. — Saint Francis de Sales

Just as it is better to illuminate than merely to shine, so to pass on what one has contemplated is better than merely to contemplate. — Saint Thomas Aquinas

Love the sinner and hate the sin. — Saint Augustine of Hippo

It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels. — Saint Augustine of Hippo

An unjust law is no law at all. — Saint Augustine of Hippo

The spiritual virtue of a sacrament is like light…although it passes among the impure, it is not polluted. — Saint Augustine of Hippo

Therefore do not seek to understand in order to believe, but believe that thou mayest understand. — Saint Augustine of Hippo

As a youth I prayed, ‘Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.’ — Saint Augustine of Hippo

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 of Hippo

But it isn’t just a matter of faith, but of faith and works. Each is necessary. For the demons also believe and tremble, but their believing doesn’t do them any good. Faith alone is not enough, unless works too are joined to it: ‘Faith working through love,’ says the apostle. — Saint Augustine of Hippo

No one in the world can change truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. — Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent. — Saint John of the Cross

Much harm may result from bad company, and we are inclined by nature to follow what is worse than what is better. — Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

I will go peaceably and firmly to the Catholic Church: for if Faith is so important to our salvation, I will seek it where true Faith first began, seek it among those who received it from God Himself. — Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Truly, matters in the world are in a bad state; but if you and I begin in earnest to reform ourselves, a really good beginning will have been made. — Saint Peter of Alcantara

Comfort in tribulation can be secured only on the sure ground of faith holding as true the words of Scripture and the teaching of the Catholic Church. — Saint Thomas More

If Saint Paul exhorts us to pray for one another, and we gladly think it right to ask every poor man to pray for us, should we think it evil to ask the holy Saints in Heaven to do the same? — Saint Thomas More

The Devil never runs upon a man to seize him with his claws until he sees him on the ground, already having fallen by his own will. — Saint Thomas More

But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? — Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

A nation which kills its own children is a nation without a future. — Blessed Pope John Paul II

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. — Saint John the Evangelist, 1 John 1:8-9 (RSV-CE)

Ever since the days of Adam, man has been hiding from God and saying, ‘God is hard to find.’ — Venerable Fulton Sheen

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. — Saint Paul, 1 Corinthians 11:26-27 (RSV-CE)

Let us see life as it really is…. It is a moment between two eternities. — Saint Therese of Lisieux

God has created me to do him some definite service…. I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. — Blessed John Henry Newman

The history of every human being passes through the threshold of a woman’s motherhood. — Blessed Pope John Paul II

There is more value in a little study of humility and in a single act of it than in all the knowledge in the world. — Saint Teresa of Jesus

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.’ — Saint John the Evangelist, Revelation 18:4-5 (RSV-CE)

For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Drive out the wicked person from among you.’ — Saint Paul, 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 (RSV-CE)

You cannot please both God and the world at the same time, they are utterly opposed to each other in their thoughts, their desires, and their actions. — Saint John Vianney

Everything is grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father’s love. Everything is grace because everything is God’s gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events–to the heart that loves, all is well. — Saint Therese of Lisieux

Oh, how precious time is! Blessed are those who know how to make good use of it. Oh, if only all could understand how precious time is, undoubtedly everyone would do his best to spend it in a praiseworthy manner! — Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

O God, Present in this Most Holy Sacrament, O Bread of Angels, O heavenly food, I love Thee; but Thou art not, neither am I, satisfied with my love. I love Thee; but I love Thee too little. — Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament

Thou art an infinite God, and I am a miserable worm. It would be little, did I die for Thee, or wear myself out for Thee, Who didst die for me, and dost sacrifice Thy entire self for me every day on the Altar. — Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. — Saint Paul, Romans 12:21 (RSV-CE)

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. — Saint Paul, Galatians 5:13 (RSV-CE)

You ask me for a method of obtaining perfection. I know of Love and Love only! Our hearts are made for this alone. — Saint Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul

O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the godless chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith. — Saint Paul, 1 Timothy 6:20-21 (RSV-CE)

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. — Saint Paul, 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (RSV-CE)

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works…. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. — Saint James, James 2:21-22, 26 (RSV-CE)

But the devotion which we have to the Saints of God, whether living or dead, does not stop at them, but passes on to God, since we venerate God in God’s ministers. — Saint Thomas Aquinas, On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. — Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier. — Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Those who don’t love you will tell you what you want to hear; those who love you will lead you to the truth. — Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. — Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

If God can work through me, He can work through anyone. — Saint Francis of Assisi

Have you been calumniated, my friends? Have you been loaded with insults? Have you been wronged? So much the better! That is a good sign; do not worry; you are on the road that leads to Heaven. — Saint John Vianney, The Beloved Crosses

Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, not even if your whole world seems upset. If you find that you have wandered away from the shelter of God, lead your heart back to Him quietly and simply. — Saint Francis de Sales

There are some people who seem to want to ask favors from God as a right. A pretty kind of humility that is! He Who knows us all does well in seldom giving things to such persons, He sees clearly that they are unable to drink of His chalice. — Saint Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection

Pay no heed, then, to anyone who tries to frighten you or depicts to you the perils of the way. What a strange idea that one could ever expect to travel on a road infested by thieves, for the purpose of gaining some great treasure, without running into danger! — Saint Teresa of Avila

You must practice simplicity and humility, for those are the virtues which achieve everything. You must say: ‘Fiat voluntas tua.’ — Saint Teresa of Avila

…perfect souls are in no way repelled by trials, but rather desire them and pray for them and love them. — Saint Teresa of Avila

But I advise you once more, even if you think you possess it, to suspect that you may be mistaken; for the person who is truly humble is always doubtful about his own virtues; very often they seem more genuine and of greater worth when he sees them in his neighbors. — Saint Teresa of Avila

I appeal to you, brethren, to take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by fair and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded. — Saint Paul, Romans 16:17-18 (RSV-CE)

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. — Saint Paul, 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (RSV-CE)

For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. — Saint Paul, Romans 2:6-8 (RSV-CE)

[You] shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is born. — Early Church Fathers, The Didache (ca. AD 100)

Whosoever, therefore, comes and teaches you all these things that have been said before, receive him. But if the teacher himself turns and teaches another doctrine to the destruction of this, hear him not. — Early Church Fathers, The Didache (ca. AD 100)

If he asks for money, he is a false prophet. — Early Church Fathers, The Didache (ca. AD 100)

And every prophet who teaches the truth, but does not do what he teaches, is a false prophet. — Early Church Fathers, The Didache (ca. AD 100)

If he who comes is a wayfarer, assist him as far as you are able…. But if he has no trade, according to your understanding, see to it that, as a Christian, he shall not live with you idle. But if he wills not to do, he is a Christ-monger. Watch that you keep away from such. — Early Church Fathers, The Didache (ca. AD 100)

I love you, not because you have the power to give heaven or hell, but simply because you are you—my king and my God. — Saint Francis Xavier

For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. — Saint Paul, Romans 8:38-39 (RSV-CE)

Too many people get credit for being good, when they are only being passive. They are too often praised for being broadminded when they are so broadminded they can never make up their minds about anything. — Venerable Fulton Sheen

Be kind to everyone you meet, for every person is fighting a great battle. — St. Ephraim

Don’t let your life be sterile. Be useful. Blaze a trail. Shine forth with the light of your faith and of your love. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

Among us there is no place for the lukewarm. Humble yourself, and Christ will kindle in you again the fire of love. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

If your character and that of those around you were soft and sweet like marshmallows, you would never become a saint. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

Don’t be afraid of the truth, even though the truth may mean your death. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

Be united to Christ in order to purify yourself, and together with him experience the insults, the spit, the blows and the thorns…. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

When a layman sets himself up as an arbiter of morals, he frequently errs; laymen can be only disciples. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

Saints are not abnormal cases to be studied by a modernistic doctor. They were–they are–normal, with flesh like yours. And they conquered. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

Suffering overwhelms you because you take it like a coward. Meet it bravely, with a Christian spirit, and you will esteem it like a treasure. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

Conversion is a matter of a moment. Sanctification is the work of a lifetime. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

Compromising is a sure sign of not possessing the truth. When a man yields in matters of ideals, of honor or of faith, that man is without ideals, without honor, and without faith. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

Holy steadfastness is not intolerance. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

Don’t worry too much about what the world calls victories or defeats. How often the ‘victor’ ends up defeated! — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

Don’t judge without having heard both sides. Even persons who think themselves virtuous very easily forget this elementary rule of prudence. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

The ‘prudent’ have always called the works of God madness. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

Let us not forget that unity is a symptom of life; disunion is decay, a sure sign of being a corpse. — Saint Josemaria Escriva, The Way

As history demonstrates, a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism. — Blessed Pope John Paul II, Centesimus Annus

By pointing out the apostolic tradition and faith announced to mankind, which has been brought down to our time by successions of bishops, in the greatest, most ancient, and well known church, founded and established by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, at Rome, we can confound all who in any other way . . . gather more than they ought. — Saint Irenaeus, Against the Heresies (ca. AD 180)

Avoid divisions, as the beginning of evil. Follow, all of you, the bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the father; and follow the presbytery as the apostles. Let no man do aught pertaining to the Church apart from the bishop. Wheresoever the bishop appears, there let the people be, even as wheresoever Christ Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church. — Saint Ignatius of Antioch, To the Smyrnaeans (ca. AD 115)

There are many other things which rightly keep me in the bosom of the Catholic Church . . . The succession of the priests keeps me, from the very seat of the apostle Peter (to whom the Lord after his resurrection gave charge to feed his sheep) down to the present episcopate. — Saint Augustine of Hippo, Contra Epistolam Manichaei (AD 395)

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness. — Saint James, James 3:1 (RSV-CE)

As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. — Saint James, James 4:16-17 (RSV-CE)

My brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and some one brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. — Saint James, James 5:19-20 (RSV-CE)

And this food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ enjoined. — Saint Justin Martyr, First Apology (ca. AD 150)