Jeremy Taylor Quotes

The more my people work, the less vices they will have

The devil never tempted a man whom he found judiciously employed.

What is the benefit of fasting in our body while filling our souls with innumerable evils? He who does not play at dice, but spends his leisure otherwise, what nonsense does he not utter? What absurdities does he not listen to? Leisure without the fear of God is, for those who do not know how to use time, the teacher of wickedness.

Always be doing something worthwhile; then the devil will always find you busy.

Abstinence is many times very helpful to the end of religion.

So long as idleness is quite shut out from our lives, all the sins of wantonness, softness, and effeminacy are prevented; and there is but little room for temptation.

So don't be tempted by the shiny apple Don't you eat of a bitter fruit Hunger only for a taste of justice Hunger only for a world of truth 'Cause all that you have is your soul.

Obedience is the pathway to holiness.

Purity prepares the soul for love, and love confirms the soul in purity.

Some temptations come to the industrious, but all temptations attack the idle

Saintliness is also a temptation.

If we do not abide in prayer, we will abide in temptation.

Modesty is the chastity of merit, the virginity of noble souls.

There cannot be self-restraint in the absence of desire: when there is no adversary, what avails thy courage? Hark, do not castrate thyself, do not become a monk: chastity depends on the existence of lust.

The moral qualities are more apt to grow when a human being is useful, and they increase in the woman who helps to support the family rather than in the one who gives herself to idleness and fashionable frivolities.

If reason dominates in man, he rises higher than angels. If lust overpowers man, he descends lower than the beast.

Light and lust are deadly enemies.

Character is blazing sunshine in the soul's abode, the body.

... in a wicked way, it is an incentive to good living to observe the spice of enjoyment there is to a godly soul in a very little sin.

The Devil doesn't fear austerity but holy obedience.

Health lies in labor, and there is no royal road to it but through toil.

Keep always busy so that the devil will find you always engaged.

My soul, never laugh at sin's fooleries, lest thou come to smile at sin itself. It is thine enemy, and thy Lord's enemy.

The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.

The lazy man does not, will not, cannot pray, for prayer demands energy.