Love Quotes

Quotes on Love by the Saints

He who enjoys bodily pleasures beyond the proper limit will pay for the excess a hundredfold in sufferings.  -- St. Mark the Ascetic

Control desire and you will dominate anger; for desire gives rise to anger.  -- St. Thalassios the Libyan

In the servants of God it is not the numbers I seek but the merit; I like better to see them distinguish themselves by their deeds than by their name or habit. -- St. Ignatius of Loyola

Not the goods of the world, but God. Not riches, but God. Not honors, but God. Not distinction, but God. Not dignities, but God. Not advancement, but God. God always and in everything. -- St. Vincent Pallotti

No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world. --St Ignatius of Antioch

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. -- St. John Vianney

If you would rise, shun luxury, for luxury lowers and degrades. -- St John Chrysostom

This my goodness does to endow the souls of the just more fully with spiritual riches when for my love they are stripped of material goods because they have renounced the world and all its pleasures and even their own will. These are the ones who fatten their souls, enlarging them in the abyss of my charity. Then I become their spiritual provider. The Holy Spirit becomes their servant. -- St. Catherine of Siena

Truly, you are dead, and your life is hidden in God with Christ. Since you are dead to everything that is not God, keep yourself perfectly detached from every creature. God loves childlike souls. He teaches them that wisdom which He has concealed from the wise and prudent of the world. (Matt. 11:25.) Never stray away from the sacred wounds of Jesus.

Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.  -- Francis of Assisi

True words from a pure conscience betoken unfeigned love. -- St. Thalassios the Libyan

One of the things which we must be very firm about, if we are to please our Lord, is to cast far from us everything that could remove us from the love of our brethren. We should make every effort to love them with a tender charity, for Supreme Truth has said: This is how all will know you are my disciples, etc. (John 13:35) - St. Ignatius of Loyola

Love overcomes, love delights, those who love the Sacred Heart rejoice.  -- St. Bernadette Soubirous

He who truly loves God prays entirely without distraction, and he who prays entirely without distraction loves God truly. But he whose intellect is fixed on any worldly thing does not pray without distraction, and consequently he does not love God. -- St. Maximos the Confessor

The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist. -- Pope St. Gregory the Great

Love consumes us only in the measure of our self-surrender. -- St. Therese of Lisieux

To love God is something greater than to know Him. -- St. Thomas Aquinas 

Love God, serve God: everything is in that. -- St. Clare of Assisi 

God gave Himself to you: give yourself to God. -- Blessed Robert Southwell

He alone loves the Creator perfectly who manifests a pure love for his neighbor. -- St. Bede the Venerable

We cultivate a very small field for Christ, but we love it, knowing that God does not require great achievements but a heart that holds back nothing for self. -- St. Rose Philippine Duchesne 

He who has acquired love endures calmly and patiently the injuries and sufferings that his enemies inflict on him. - St. Thalassios the Libyan

I shall spend every moment loving. One who loves does not notice her trials; or perhaps more accurately, she is able to love them. I shall do everything for Heaven, my true home. There I shall find my Mother in all the splendor of her glory. I shall delight with her in the joy of Jesus himself in perfect safety.  -- St. Bernadette Soubirous 

I do not desire to die soon, because in Heaven there is no suffering. I desire to live a long time because I yearn to suffer much for the love of my Spouse. - St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

Think that human love, which is only a parody of a true love, very often excludes God; that it is a form of egoism, since for people who truly love each other the rest of the world does not exist; and that it is fair that this forgetfulness of God and this indifference towards your neighbour should be expiated. - St. Lydwine of Schiedam

Love consumes us only in the measure of our self-surrender. – St. Teresa of Lisieux

On the question of relating to our fellowman – our neighbor’s spiritual need transcends every commandment. Everything else we do is a means to an end. But love is an end already, since God is love. -St. Teresia Benedicta (Edith Stein)

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!  -St. Augustine

We are to love God for Himself, because of a twofold reason; nothing is more reasonable, nothing more profitable.  - St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Love God, serve God; everything is in that.  -St. Clare of Assisi

Love is the most necessary of all virtues. Love in the person who preaches the word of God is like fire in a musket. If a person were to throw a bullet with his hands, he would hardly make a dent in anything; but if the person takes the same bullet and ignites some gunpowder behind it, it can kill. It is much the same with the word of God. If it is spoken by someone who is filled with the fire of charity- the fire of love of God and neighbor- it will work wonders.  -St. Anthony Mary Claret

Love overcomes, love delights, those who love the Sacred Heart rejoice. - St. Bernadette Soubirous

I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible --St. Ignatius of Antioch

All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.  -St. Francis

We are to love God for Himself, because of a twofold reason; nothing is more reasonable, nothing more profitable.  --St. Bernard of Clairvaux

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 by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.  -St. Francis de Sales

Perfect love leads a man on to perfect fear. Such a man fears and keeps to God's will, not from fear of punishment, not to avoid condemnation, but because he has tasted the sweetness of being with God; he fears he may fall away from it.  -- St. Dorotheos of Gaza

Our Lord loves you and loves you tenderly; and if He does not let you feel the sweetness of His love, it is to make you more humble and abject in your own eyes.  --St. Pio of Pietrelcino

We ought to respect the image of God in everyone. -- Blessed Raphaela Mary

A man who has been assiduous in acquiring the fruits of love will not cease loving even if he suffers a thousand calamities. Let Stephen, the disciple of Christ, and others like him persuade you of the truth of this (cf. Acts 7:60). Our Lord Himself prayed for His murderers and asked the Father to forgive them because they did not know what they were doing (cf. Luke 23:34). - St. Maximos the Confessor

Where there is no love, put love and you will find love. - St. John of the Cross

Initially our search for wisdom is prompted by fear; but as we attain our goal we are led forward by love. - St. Thalassios the Libyan

Love means suffering. He has shown us this plainly upon the Cross where He sacrificed Himself for love of us, and He continues to do so daily in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. He ardently desires that we should conform our life to His, which is wholly hidden and annihilated in the eyes of creatures. - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

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