Ambrose Quotes

You are not making a gift of what is yours to the poor man, but you are giving him back what is his. You have been appropriating things that are meant to be for the common use of everyone. The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich.

But sometimes even when faith is to be relied upon, youth is not trusted.

Non in dialecticâ complacuit Deo salvum facere populum suum

Who would forsake and abandon what he believes himself to have produced? If it is derogatory to rule, is it not more so to have created? Though there is no wrong involved in not creating anything, it is surely the height of cruelty not to care for what one has created.

If you have two shirts in your closet, one belongs to you and the other to the man with no shirt.

Your possession is your mind, your gold your heart, your silver your speech: The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the fire. A good mind is also a good possession. And, further, a pure inner life is a valuable possession.

the giving of good advice is a great means of gaining men's affections,

modesty, for that is the friend and ally of calmness of mind.

He sheds incorporeal grace on corporeal things;

liberality is determined not by the amount of our possessions, but by the disposition of giving.

The practice of perfect virtue does not require teaching, but instructs others.

And now let the feet of our minds be stretched out. The Lord Jesus wills also to wash our feet, for He says, not to Peter alone, but to each of the faithful: If I wash not your feet you will have no part with Me. [ John 13: 8 ]

Whether you eat or drink, all is to be done in the name of Jesus Christ, [ 1 Corinthians 10: 31 ] that even the very refreshment of the body is to have respect to the worship of holy religion.

Avarice is inflamed by gain, not diminished by it.

It is not death therefore that is burdensome, but the fear of death.