Ambrose Quotes

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

it is not nature which is answerable for the fault or which is liable to weakness. It is not sex, but valour which makes strong.

It is idle to play the lyre for an ass.

Ante agnus offerebatur, offerebatur et vitulus, nunc Christus offertur...et offert se ipse quasi sacerdos, ut peccata nostra dimittat. Hic in imagine, ibi in veritate, ubi apud Patrem pro nobis quasi advocatus intervenit.

He who reads much and understands much, receives his fill. He who is full, refreshes others.

I do not then discourage marriage, but recapitulate the advantages of holy virginity. This is the gift of few only, that is of all. And virginity itself cannot exist, unless it have some mode of coming into existence. I am comparing good things with good things, that it may be clear which is the more excellent. Nor do I allege any opinion of my own, but I repeat that which the Holy Spirit spoke by the prophet: Blessed is the barren that is undefiled.

Neither angel, nor archangel, nor yet even the Lord Himself (who alone can say "I am with you"), can, when we have sinned, release us, unless we bring repentance with us.

let us not join in conversation with such as may be the cause to us of unholy fires.

Let God alone be sought as the judge of loveliness, Who loves even in less beautiful bodies the more beautiful souls.

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

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

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.

since complete piety is to believe rightly, so complete impiety is to believe wrongly.

The first thing which kindles ardour in learning is the greatness of the teacher.

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