James Madison Quotes

Judge yourself; if you do that you will not be judged by God, as St. Paul says. But it must be a real sense of your own sinfulness, not an artificial humility.

The reason we see hypocrisy and fraud and unreality in others is because they are all in our own hearts. The great characteristic of a saint is humility-Yes, all those things and other evils would have been manifested in me but for the grace of God, therefore I have no right to judge.

The first step toward heaven, is to see ourselves near hell.

No mud can soil us but the mud we throw.

Do not make yourself the subject of remarks either by being overdressed or by dressing in a lax, untidy manner. Act as though you knew that the eye of heaven is upon you, and that you are living under the approbation or disapprobation of God.

God will judge us by our own thoughts and deeds, not by what others say about us.

May we be as severe with ourselves over our own subtle sins as we are with the vile sins we condemn in others

Because those, who twit others with their faults, should look at home.

A lot of so-called Christian souls are not fine. People need to look inside themselves and look at the lives they're leading and fix themselves before they try to fix other people.

It's your own conscience That is gonna remind you That it's your heart and nobody else's That is gonna judge.

Judge yourself; if you sincerely and humbly do that, you will not be judged by God.

We easily forget our faults when no one knows them but ourselves.

We all commit our crimes. The thing is to not lie about them -- to try to understand what you have done, why you have done it. That way, you can begin to forgive yourself. That's very important. If you don't forgive yourself you'll never be able to forgive anybody else and you'll go on committing the same crimes forever.

Oh what remorse we shall feel at the end of our lives, when we look back upon the great number of instructions and examples afforded by God and the Saints for our perfection, and so carelessly received by us! If this end were to come to you today, how would you be pleased with the life you have led this year?

If thou wouldst be implacable, be so with thyself.

Let us fall before the majesty of our great God, acknowledging our faults, and praying that he will make us ever more conscious of them.

Always make a note of what you are doing and where it leads. By and by, you will become aware of that which is ego and that which is nature; which is real and which is false. It will take time and alertness, observation. And don't deceive yourself - because only ego leads to misery, nothing else. Don't throw the responsibility on the other; the other is irrelevant. Your ego leads to misery, nobody else leads you into misery. Ego is the gate of hell, and the natural, the authentic, the real that comes from your center, is the door to heaven. You will have to find it and work it out.

There is one court whose findings are incontrovertible, and whose sessions are held in the chambers of our own breast.

My austerities, fasting and prayers are, I know, of no value if I rely upon them for reforming me. My penance is the prayer of a bleeding heart for forgiveness for sins unwittingly committed.

Here's something to think about: If God appeared to you and asked, "Why should I let you into heaven?" how would you answer?

The confession of one man humbles all.

He who desires to become aware of the hidden light must lift the feeling of fear up to its source. And he can accomplish this if he judges himself and all he does. For then he sheds all fears and lifts fear that has fallen down. But if he does not judge himself, he will be judged from on high, and this judgment will come upon him in the guise of countless things, and all the things in the world will become messengers of God who carry out the judgment on this man.

Always pull back-and see how silly we must look to God.

To take responsibility for one's own actions, good and bad, is something else.

There is a sort of man who pays no attention to his good actions, but is tormented by his bad ones. This is the type that most often writes about himself.