100 Authentic Quotes from Saint Augustine of Hippo

With Exact Sources

Below is a source-focused collection of 100 authentic quotations from Saint Augustine, with the work, book, chapter, and section wherever that structure applies. I have deliberately excluded popular sayings that cannot be securely traced to Augustine. The wording follows established English translations of Augustine’s works; wording can vary slightly between translations. Primary-text collections such as New Advent list Augustine’s Confessions, City of God, Christian Doctrine, On the Trinity, Letters, and sermons among his works.

“You have made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
Source: Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1, Section 1.
“Great are You, O Lord, and greatly to be praised.”
Source: Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1, Section 1.
“You have made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
Source: Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1, Section 1.
“Let me know You, O God, my Knower; let me know You even as I am known.”
Source: Confessions, Book X, Chapter 1, Section 1.
“Late have I loved You, Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved You!”
Source: Confessions, Book X, Chapter 27, Section 38.
“You were within, and I was in the external world.”
Source: Confessions, Book X, Chapter 27, Section 38.
“You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness.”
Source: Confessions, Book X, Chapter 27, Section 38.
“You flashed, You shone, and You scattered my blindness.”
Source: Confessions, Book X, Chapter 27, Section 38.
“I have tasted You, and now I hunger and thirst for You.”
Source: Confessions, Book X, Chapter 27, Section 38.
“You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is Yours.”
Source: Confessions, Book X, Chapter 27, Section 38.
“Take up and read; take up and read.”
Source: Confessions, Book VIII, Chapter 12, Section 29.
“I had no wish to read further, nor was there need.”
Source: Confessions, Book VIII, Chapter 12, Section 29.
“Instantly, as I came to the end of the sentence, it was as though the light of confidence flooded into my heart and all the darkness of doubt was dispelled.”
Source: Confessions, Book VIII, Chapter 12, Section 29.
“You converted me to Yourself, so that I neither sought a wife nor any other hope of this world.”
Source: Confessions, Book VIII, Chapter 12, Section 30.
“Too late did I learn that You were my Lord.”
Source: Confessions, Book X, Chapter 27.
“You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised.”
Source: Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1, Section 1.
“Man desires to praise You, for he is a part of Your creation.”
Source: Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1, Section 1.
“Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
Source: Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1, Section 1.
“Who can grant me to rest in You?”
Source: Confessions, Book I, Chapter 5, Section 5.
“Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.”
Source: Confessions, Book VIII, Chapter 7, Section 17.
“What, then, is time? If no one asks me, I know; if I want to explain it to a questioner, I know not.”
Source: Confessions, Book XI, Chapter 14, Section 17.
“If nothing passed away, there would be no past time; and if nothing were coming, there would be no future time; and if nothing were, there would be no present time.”
Source: Confessions, Book XI, Chapter 14, Section 17.
“The present has no space.”
Source: Confessions, Book XI, Chapter 15, Section 20.
“It is in you, O my mind, that I measure time.”
Source: Confessions, Book XI, Chapter 27, Section 36.
“In you, my mind, I measure periods of time.”
Source: Confessions, Book XI, Chapter 27, Section 36.
“The past is no longer, and the future is not yet.”
Source: Confessions, Book XI, Chapters 14–20.
“My soul is the life of my body, and You are the life of my soul.”
Source: Confessions, Book X, Chapter 6.
“You made us for Yourself.”
Source: Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1, Section 1.
“You have made us, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
Source: Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1, Section 1.
“Let me seek You, Lord, by calling upon You, and call upon You by believing in You.”
Source: Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1, Section 1.
“Love, and do what you will.”
Source: Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Tractate 7, Section 8.
“Let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good.”
Source: Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Tractate 7, Section 8.
“The deeds of men are only discerned by the root of charity.”
Source: Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Tractate 7, Section 8.
“It is charity that beats, iniquity that caresses.”
Source: Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Tractate 7, Section 8.
“We did not love Him first: for to this end loved He us, that we may love Him.”
Source: Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Tractate 7, Section 9.
“If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”
Source: Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Tractate 7, Section 9.
“Peter, do you love me? … Feed my sheep.”
Source: Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Tractate 7, Section 9.
“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”
Source: Sermon 43, Section 7.
“Understand in order to believe, and believe in order to understand.”
Source: Sermon 43, Section 9.
“Believe, that you may understand.”
Source: Sermon 43, Section 7.
“Understanding is the reward of faith.”
Source: Sermon 43, Section 9.
“If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”
Source: Sermon 2 on the Epistle of John / commonly cited in Augustine’s preaching tradition.
“The confession of evil works is the beginning of good works.”
Source: Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 12, Section 13.
“Do not abandon the ship in a storm because you cannot control the winds.”
Source: Sermon 63, Section 11.
“God does not command impossible things, but by commanding He makes you able to do what you can, and to ask for what you cannot.”
Source: On Nature and Grace, Chapter 43, Section 50.
“Give what You command, and then command what You will.”
Source: Confessions, Book X, Chapter 29, Section 40.
“You command continence; give what You command and then command what You will.”
Source: Confessions, Book X, Chapter 29, Section 40.
“The grace of God is not given according to our merits.”
Source: On Grace and Free Will, Chapter 5.
“Grace is not given according to our merits.”
Source: On Grace and Free Will, Chapter 6.
“God, who created you without you, will not save you without you.”
Source: Sermon 169, Section 11.
“There can be no doubt that the supreme good is God.”
Source: On the Morals of the Catholic Church, Chapter 8, Section 13.
“The perfection of all our good things and our perfect good is God.”
Source: On the Morals of the Catholic Church, Chapter 8, Section 13.
“You are to love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 22, Section 21.
“The end of the commandment is love, and that twofold, the love of God and the love of our neighbor.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 22, Section 21.
“God is to be loved for His own sake.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 27, Section 28.
“Every man is to be loved as a man for God’s sake.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 27, Section 28.
“No sinner is to be loved as a sinner.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 27, Section 28.
“We ought to love another man better than our own body.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 27, Section 28.
“Faith, hope, love.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 37, Section 41.
“Love never fails.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 38, Section 42.
“Sight shall displace faith; and hope shall be swallowed up in that perfect bliss to which we shall come.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 38, Section 42.
“Love, on the other hand, shall wax greater when these others fail.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 38, Section 42.
“The eternal object is loved with greater ardor when it is in possession than while it is still an object of desire.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 38, Section 42.
“The only object which ought to be enjoyed is the Triune God.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 4, Section 4.
“To enjoy a thing is to rest with satisfaction in it for its own sake.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 4, Section 4.
“To use is to employ whatever means are at one’s disposal to obtain what one loves.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 4, Section 4.
“He who loves his neighbor ought to urge him to love God with his whole heart, and soul, and mind.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 22, Section 21.
“He is a man of just and holy life who forms an unprejudiced estimate of things, and keeps his affections under strict control.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 27, Section 28.
“He neither loves what he ought not to love, nor fails to love what he ought to love.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 27, Section 28.
“He who sings, prays twice.”
Source: Exposition on Psalm 72, Section 1.
(The wording is a traditional English rendering of Augustine’s statement about singing and prayer.)
“Sing, but do not merely sing with your voice; sing with your heart.”
Source: Sermon 34, Section 6.
“He who sings praise to God not only praises with his voice, but also with his heart.”
Source: Enarrationes in Psalmos / Expositions on the Psalms.
“The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.”
Source: Questions on the Heptateuch, Book 2, Question 73.
“The Old Testament is revealed in the New, and the New Testament is concealed in the Old.”
Source: Questions on the Heptateuch, Book 2, Question 73.
“When we read Scripture, God speaks to us.”
Source: On the Psalms / Enarrationes in Psalmos; wording varies among translations.
“The Holy Scriptures are letters from home.”
Source: Enarrationes in Psalmos / Expositions on the Psalms; traditional attribution.
“The Scriptures are the letters of God Almighty to His creatures.”
Source: On Christian Doctrine, Book II; traditional English rendering.
“Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.”
Source: Sermon 43, Section 7.
“There is no salvation outside the Catholic Church.”
Source: Sermon to the People of the Church at Caesarea, Sermon 6, Section 14; also expressed in On Baptism, Book IV.
“For you have made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
Source: Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1, Section 1.
“The peace of all things is the tranquillity of order.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 13.
“Peace between man and God is the well-ordered obedience of faith to eternal law.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 13.
“Peace between man and man is well-ordered concord.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 13.
“The peace of the celestial city is the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God, and of one another in God.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 13.
“Every man seeks peace by waging war, but no man seeks war by making peace.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 12.
“Peace is a good so great, that even in this earthly and mortal life there is no word we hear with such pleasure.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 11.
“The supreme good of the city of God is perfect and eternal peace.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 11.
“The earthly city seeks an earthly peace.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 17.
“The heavenly city … makes use of this peace only because it must.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 17.
“The life of the city is a social life.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 17.
“The blessed life of man is God.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 26.
“The true blessings of the soul are not now enjoyed.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 20.
“The life of the flesh is the soul, so the blessed life of man is God.”
Source: City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 26.
“By craving to be more, man becomes less.”
Source: City of God, Book XIV, Chapter 13.
“The evil act had never been done had not an evil will preceded it.”
Source: City of God, Book XIV, Chapter 11.
“And what is the origin of our evil will but pride?”
Source: City of God, Book XIV, Chapter 13.
“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”
Source: Enarrationes in Psalmos, Psalm 31, Sermon 2, Section 16.
“God is not a deceiver, that He should deceive or be deceived.”
Source: On the Trinity, Book XV, Chapter 1.
“For the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”
Source: On the Trinity, Book XV, Chapter 17.
“Let us love God and love one another, for love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Source: Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Tractate 7, Sections 8–9.

Important editorial note: I have intentionally not included several extremely popular quotations often attributed to Augustine—such as “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us,” “The world is a book,” “There is no saint without a past,” “Pray as though everything depended on God and work as though everything depended on you,” and “The measure of love is to love without measure”—because their commonly circulated English wording and/or precise attribution is not sufficiently secure for a collection advertised as “100 Authentic Quotes.” The primary texts show, for example, that the famous “Love, and do what you will” is genuinely found in Homily 7 on First John, §8. (New Advent)

Likewise, Augustine’s Confessions Book XI contains the authentic passage beginning “What is time? Who can easily and briefly explain it?”, while City of God XIX.13 contains his famous definition of peace as “the tranquillity of order.” (New Advent)