Jerome Quotes

The Word was made flesh that we might pass from the flesh into the Word.

As long as you are at home make your cell your paradise, gather there the varied fruits of scripture, let this be your favourite companion, and take its precepts to your heart.

although all debts in word, deed, and thought were washed away in baptism. He, then, who sees aright, sees whence, and when, and where he must hope for that perfection to which nothing can be added.

Good, better, best, never let it rest 'til the good is the better, and the better is the best

he who claims to believe in Christ must rejoice in all Christ's judgments.

On one side self-indulgence presses me hard; on another covetousness strives to make an inroad; my belly wishes to be a God to me, in place of Christ,

Evangelium Secundum Lucam - Chapter 24 The Gospel According To Luke 1 una autem sabbati valde diluculo venerunt ad monumentum portantes quae paraverant aromata And on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 et invenerunt lapidem revolutum a monumento And they found the stone rolled back from the sepulchre. 3 et ingressae non invenerunt corpus Domini Iesu And going in, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 et factum est dum mente consternatae essent de isto ecce duo viri steterunt secus illas in veste fulgenti And it came to pass, as they were astonished in their mind at this, behold, two men stood by them, in shining apparel. 5 cum timerent autem et declinarent vultum in terram dixerunt ad illas quid quaeritis viventem cum mortuis And as they were afraid and bowed down their countenance towards the ground, they said unto them: Why seek you the living with the dead? 6 non est hic sed surrexit recordamini qualiter locutus est vobis cum adhuc in Galilaea esset He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke unto you, when he was yet in Galilee,

Overcome as much as you can — nay even more than you can — the sensitiveness of your mind and check the copious flow of your tears. Else your deep affection for your nephew may be construed by unbelievers as indicating despair of God. You must regretim not as dead but as absent. You must seem to be looking for him rather than have lost him.

every one praises most what is within his reach,

A mind willing to learn deserves commendation even when it has no teacher. What is of importance to me is not what you find but what you seek to find. Wax is soft and easy to mould even where the hands of craftsman and modeller are wanting to work it.

لماذا تصنعون ملابس موتاكم من الذهب ؟ ... ألا يمكن لجثث الأغنياء أن تتعفن في شئ غير الحرير ؟

I do not ask for grace of style, I look for purity of soul: for with Christians it is the greatest of solecisms and of vices of style to introduce anything base either in word or action.

When you believe you are excusing yourself, you are accusing yourself.

Xenocrates the philosopher writes that at Athens out of all the laws of Triptolemus only three precepts remain in the temple of Ceres: respect to parents, reverence for the gods, and abstinence from flesh. Orpheus in his song utterly denounces the eating of flesh. I might speak of the frugality of Pythagoras, Socrates, and Antisthenes to our confusion: but it would be tedious, and would require a work to itself. At all events this is the Antisthenes who, after teaching rhetoric with renown, on hearing Socrates, is related to have said to his disciples, «Go, and seek a master, for I have now found one.» He immediately, sold what he had, divided the proceeds among the people, and kept nothing for himself but a small cloak. … His most famous follower was the great Diogenes, who was mightier than King Alexander in that he conquered human nature.

Dicæarchus in his book of Antiquities, describing Greece, relates that under Saturn, that is in the Golden Age, when the ground brought forth all things abundantly, no one ate flesh, but every one lived on field produce and fruits which the earth bore of itself.