Saint Augustine Quotes

... chastity is not given once and for all like a wedding ring that is put on never to be taken off, but is a garden which each day must be weeded, watered, and trimmed anew, or soon there will be only brambles and wilderness.

Da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo (Give me chastity and continence, but not just yet)!

Temperance is the nurse of chastity.

Staying chaste until marriage, a commandment of my faith, was one of the most difficult challenges of my young life. I had a powerful sense that if I did not get a grip on my identity, my ethics, and my religion, I would go off the rails.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.

They who overcome their desires once can overcome them always.

Well, I - you know, the scripture says that God works by faith. And you have to have faith. You have to have trust in God so that God can work.

I must keep my head and not give in to desire, for desire is what causes women to drown.

The essence of chastity is not the suppression of lust, but the total orientation of one's life towards a goal. Without such a goal, chastity is bound to become ridiculous. Chastity is the sine qua non of lucidity and concentration.

Sin will be always acting, if we be not always mortifying, we are lost creatures.

The idea of holding back certainly didn't come from Scripture.

Don't waste time asking God to keep you from doing things. Don't do them.

Fasting gives you confidence to know that your spirit can master appetite . . . and helps to protect against later uncontrolled cravings and gnawing habits.

When you try, God is there and you get the grace you need to get you through.

He who denies himself much in great matters will readily indulge himself in small things.

Don't fall for the trap. Stay focused. It's about staying focused but at the same time God is the greatest, pray it up.

Urges ... every man has urges. But the true measure of man is to admit them, to learn to control them. The Shield used to refer to themselves as the most dominant force in our universe. But that ain't the way I remember it. They fell victim to the faults of men. Their lust and greed and valor for glory, it led them right down in the pit, where they belong. Tonight, they'll burn for it. For I am no man. I am reborn. Our bond can never be broken, and our urges can never be satisfied.

Self-control is solely a matter of thought-control!

There are those who say that temptation can be barricaded beyond the door. The ones who think that stray desires can be driven out of the heart like the moneychangers from the temple. Maybe they can, if you patrol your weak points day and night, don't look, don't smell, don't dream.

I thank my Maker, that in the midst of judgment he has remembered mercy. I humbly entreat my Redeemer to give me strength to lead henceforth a purer life than I have done hitherto.

It is not enough to be abstinent with other people. You also have to be abstinent alone. The Bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery. So you can't - a word that rhymes with congratulate - without lust.

Soul-force comes only through God's grace and never descends upon a man who is a slave to lust.

Nothing so casts down the manly mind from it's height as the fondling of women and those bodily contacts which belong to the married state.

Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace.

It is much easier to conquer a country than to conquer ourselves.