Quotes About the Devil

Quotes About the Devil by the Saints

When I see the devil has stopped ensnaring souls, I too will cease looking for new ways to save them from his wily deceits. - St. John Bosco  

The devil is afraid of us when we pray and make sacrifices. He is also afraid when we are humble and good. He is especially afraid when we love Jesus very much. He runs away when we make the Sign of the Cross. - St. Anthony of Egypt

In accordance with divine providence, the devil was not sent at once to the Gehenna assigned to him, but his sentence was postponed in order to let him test and try men's free will. In this way, he unintentionally fosters greater maturity and righteousness in the saints by promoting their patient endurance, and so is the cause of their greater glory; and, at the same time, through his malevolence and his scheming against the saints he justifies more fully his own punishment. In this way, too, sin becomes more utterly sinful, as St. Paul puts it. (Rom. 7:13)  - St. Symeon Metaphrastis

. . . Because, after that day, or that hour, other occasions presenting themselves, it will be less difficult for the devil to obtain greater delay, until the person, finding himself more feeble and less assisted by grace, gives way altogether, and loses his vocation. - St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

The devil does not bring sinners to hell with their eyes open: he first blinds them with the malice of their own sins. Before we fall into sin, the enemy labours to blind us, that we may not see the evil we do and the ruin we bring upon ourselves by offending God. After we commit sin, he seeks to make us dumb, that, through shame, we may conceal our guilt in confession. -St. Alphonsus Liguori

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. – 1 Peter 5:8

Three things upset the balance of the body's temperament: lack of restraint in our diet, a change in the weather, and the touch of the demonic powers. - St. Thalassios the Libyan

Remember that the Devil doesn't sleep, but seeks our ruin in a thousand ways. - St. Angela Merici

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. - St. Thomas More

Another weapon the devil employs is immodesty, or more frankly, impurity. My dear children, be on your guard. The devil will tempt you with bad books, bad thoughts, or the foul conversation of a companion. When any such fellow approaches you, say to yourself, This is a minister of Satan. And let these wretches who indulge in foul conversation say to himself, I am a minister of Satan because I help him ruin souls! - St. John Bosco

The enemy, understanding how the justice of the spiritual law is applied, seeks only the assent of our mind. Having secured this, he will either oblige us to undergo the labors of repentance or, if we do not repent, will torment us with misfortunes beyond our control. Sometimes he encourages us to resist these misfortunes so as to increase our torment, and then, at our death, he will point to this impatient resistance as proof of our lack of faith. - St. Mark the Ascetic

The usual snare with which the devil catches the young is to fill them with shame when they are about to confess their sins. When he pushes them to commit sins, he removes all shame, as if there were nothing wrong with it, but when they are going to confession, he returns that shame magnified and tries to convince them that the priest will be shocked by their sins and will no longer think well of them. Thus the devil tries to drive souls to the brink of eternal damnation. Oh, how many lads does Satan steal from God – sometimes forever – by this trick. - St. John Bosco 

For when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through places without water, seeking rest; and not finding. . . For the unclean spirit enters easily into a man, and easily goes out from him. For as often as a man, either in thought or in action, does something that is wicked, the devil is present with him. But should he begin to repent from his heart, the devil will leave him. And going out he walks through dry and waterless places, tempting those that are free of the sap of malice and of lust, and in whom he finds no rest; since he seeks what is corrupt and moist. And for this was it written of him: He sleepeth under the shadow, in the covert of the reed, and in moist places (Job 40:16); in which reference the genitals are signified. Then he saith: I will return into my house whence I came out. Because he could find no foothold in the good he turns back to the wicked. For the devil may tempt the good, but he cannot find rest in them; for he is shaken violently, and upset, and driven out, now by their prayers, now by their tears of repentance, and now by their almsgiving and similar good works. - St. Bruno

It often happens that Satan will insidiously commune with you in your heart and say: "Think of the evil you have done; your soul is full of lawlessness, you are weighed down by many grievous sins." Do not let him deceive you when he does this and do not be led to despair on the pretext that you are being humble. After gaining admission through the fall evil has the power to commune at all times with the soul, as man to man, and so to suggest sinful actions to it. You should answer it: "I have God's written assurance, for He says: 'I desire, not the sinner's death, but that he should return through repentance and live'" (Ezek. 33:11). What was the purpose of His descent to earth except to save sinners, to bring light to those in darkness and life to the dead? - St. Symeon Metaphrastis

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