Saint Francis de Sales Quotes

Do Not Complain Then Of Your Poverty, My Daughter, - We Only Complain Of That Which Is Unwelcome, And If Poverty Is Unwelcome To You, You Are No Longer Poor In Spirit.

Do Not Fret Under Such Assistance As Is Needful; Therein Lies One Great Grace Of Poverty. It Were Overambitious To Aim At Being Poor Without Suffering Any Inconvenience, In Other Words, To Have The Credit Of Poverty And The Convenience Of Riches.

In No Other Action Can Our Savior Be Considered More Tender Or More Loving Than In This, In Which He, As It Were, Annihilates Himself And Reduces Himself To Food, That He May Penetrate Our Souls And Unite Himself To The Hearts Of His Faithful.

There Are No Galley-slaves In The Royal Vessel Of Divine Love - Every Man Works His Oar Voluntarily!

All True And Living Devotion Presupposes The Love Of God And Indeed It Is Neither More Nor Less Than A Very Real Love Of God, Though Not Always Of The Same Kind; For That Love One While Shining On The Soul We Call Grace, Which Makes Us Acceptable To His Divine Majesty; When It Strengthens Us To Do Well, It Is Called Charity; But When It Attains Its Fullest Perfection, In Which It Not Only Leads Us To Do Well, But To Act Carefully, Diligently, And Promptly, Then It Is Called Devotion.

Represent To Yourself A Dark City All Burning And Stinking With Fire And Brimstone. The Damned Are In The Depth Of Hell Within This Woful City, Where They Suffer Unspeakable Torments In All Their Senses And Members. Consider Above All The Eternity Of Their Pains, Which Above All Things Makes Hell Intolerable.

Those Who Love To Be Feared Fear To Be Loved, And They Themselves Are More Afraid Than Anyone, For Whereas Other Men Fear Only Them, They Fear Everyone.

When The Bee Has Gathered The Dew Of Heaven And The Earth's Sweetest Nectar From The Flowers, It Turns It Into Honey, Then Hastens To Its Hive. In The Same Way, The Priest, Having Taken From The Altar The Son Of God (who Is As The Dew From Heaven, And True Son Of Mary, Flower Of Our Humanity), Gives Him To You As Delicious Food.

I Recommend To You Holy Simplicity.

Charity And Devotion Differ No More, The One From The Other, Than The Flame From The Fire.

The Damned Are In The Abyss Of Hell, As Within A Woeful City, Where They Suffer Unspeakable Torments, In All Their Senses And Members, Because As They Have Employed All Their Senses And Their Members In Sinning, So Shall They Suffer In Each Of Them The Punishment Due To Sin.

Do Not Be Ashamed Of Being Poor, Or Of Asking Alms. Receive What Is Given You With Humility, And Accept A Refusal Meekly. Frequently Call To Mind Our Lady's Journey Into Egypt With Her Holy Child, And Of All The Poverty, Contempt And Suffering They Endured. If You Follow Their Example You Will Indeed Be Rich Amid Your Poverty.