Augustine of Hippo Quotes

Do not plan long journeys, because whatever you believe in you have already seen.When a thing is everywhere, the way to find it is not to travel but to love.

If you don’t believe it, you won’t understand it.

All the devastation, the butchery, the plundering, the conflagrations, and all the anguish which accompanied the recent disaster at Rome were in accordance with the general practice of warfare.

What varieties man has found out in buildings, attires, husbandry, navigation, sculpture and imagery! What perfection has he shown, in the shows of theaters, in taming, killing, and catching wild beasts! What millions of inventions has he against others, and for himself in poisons, arms, engines, stratagems, and the like! What thousands of medicines for the health, of meats for the throat, of means and figures to persuade, of elegant phrases to delight, of verses for pleasure, of musical inventions and instruments! What excellent inventions are geography, arithmetic, astrology, and the rest ! How large is the capacity of man, if we should stand upon particulars!

For many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.

What, then, is time? I know well enough what it is, provided that nobody asks me; but if I am asked what it is and try to explain, I am baffled.

You command continence; give what you command and command what you will.

Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you.

Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.