Bernard of Clairvaux Quotes - Page 2

He rightly reads scripture who turns words into deeds.

Learn first to love yourself, and then you can love me.

Prayer is a virtue that prevaileth against all temptations.

Theirs is an endless road, a hopeless maze, who seek for goods before they seek for God.

As patience leads to peace, and study to science, so are humiliations the path that leads to humility.

The reason for our loving God is God.

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

Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise we lavish on the Mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of her Son. There can be no doubt that whatever we say in praise of the Mother gives equal praise to the Son.

When God forgives a sinner who humbly confesses his sin, the devil loses his dominion over the heart he had taken.

Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts, Thou fount of life, thou Light of men, From the best bliss that earth imparts We turn unfilled to Thee again. We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread, And long to feast upon Thee still: We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead, And thirst our souls from Thee to fill. O Jesus, ever with us stay, Make all our moments calm and bright; Chase the dark night of sin away, Shed o'er the world Thy holy light.

Many appear full of mildness and sweetness as long as everything goes their own way; but the moment any contradiction or adversity arises, they are in a flame, and begin to rage like a burning mountain. Such people as these are like red-hot coals hidden under ashes. This is not the mildness which Our Lord undertook to teach us in order to make us like unto Himself.

It is no great thing to be humble when you are brought low; but to be humble when you are praised is a great and rare attainment.

Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment. I love because I love; I love in order that I may love.

Many of those who are humiliated are not humble. Some react to humiliation with anger, others with patience, and others with freedom. The first are culpable, the next harmless, the last just.

Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you need is not a sceptre but a hoe.

He won me over entirely by giving Himself entirely to me.

True love does not demand a reward, but it deserves one.

The piercing nail has become a key to unlock the door, that I may see the good will of the Lord. And what can I see as I look through the hole? Both the nail and the wound cry out that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself... Through these sacred wounds we can see the secret of his heart, the great mystery of love.

The true measure of loving God is to love him without measure.

Your actions in passing, pass not away, for every good work is a grain of seed for eternal life.

What I know of the divine sciences and Holy Scriptures, I learned in woods and fields. I have no other masters than the beeches and the oaks.

Inordinate love for the flesh is cruelty, because under the appearance of pleasing the body, we kill the soul.

It was love that motivated His self-emptying, that led Him to become a little lower than angels, to be subject to parents, to bow His head beneath the Baptist's hands, to endure the weakness of the flesh, and to submit to death even upon the cross

Grace is necessary to salvation, free will equally so - but grace in order to give salvation, free will in order to receive it.

Death is the gate of life.