Francis de Sales Quotes

60 Sourced Quotes

We may be excused for not always being bright, but we are not excused for not being gracious, yielding and considerate.

Francis de Sales
Humility makes our lives acceptable to God, meekness makes us acceptable to men.

Francis de Sales
Great occasions for serving God come seldom, but little ones surround us daily.

Francis de Sales
A heart-memory is better than a mere head-memory. Better to carry away a little of the love of Christ in our souls, than if we were able to repeat every word of every sermon we ever heard.

Francis de Sales
It has been well said, that heart speaks to heart, whereas language only speaks to the ears.

Francis de Sales
The damned are in the abyss of Hell, as within a woeful city, where they suffer unspeakable torments, in all their senses and members, because as they have employed all their senses and their members in sinning, so shall they suffer in each of them the punishment due to sin.

Francis de Sales
Because zeal is an ardent and vehement love, it requires guidance; otherwise it can become excessive.

Francis de Sales
It has been said in vain, but heart speaks to heart, whereas language only speaks to the ears.

Francis de Sales
It is the mark of a mean, vulgar and ignoble spirit to dwell on the thought of food before meal times or worse to dwell on it afterwards, to discuss it and wallow in the remembered pleasures of every mouthful. Those whose minds dwell before dinner on the spit, and after on the dishes, are fit only to be scullions.

Francis de Sales
Big fires flare up in a wind, but little ones are blown out unless they are carried in under cover.

Francis de Sales
It is wonderful how attractive a gentle, pleasant manner is, and how much it wins hearts.

Francis de Sales
Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself. I mean do not be disheartened by your imperfections, but always rise up with fresh courage

Francis de Sales
Have Jesus always for your patron, His Cross for a mast on which you must spread your resolutions as a sail. Your anchor shall be a profound confidence in Him, and you shall sail prosperously.

Francis de Sales
When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.

Francis de Sales
A quarrel between friends, when made up, adds a new tie to friendship; as experience shows that the callosity formed round a broken bone makes it stronger than before.

Francis de Sales
Have patience with every one, but especially with yourself.

Francis de Sales
Though perseverance does not come from our power, yet it comes from within our power.

Francis de Sales
Do not be ashamed of being poor, or of asking alms. Receive what is given you with humility, and accept a refusal meekly. Frequently call to mind Our Lady's journey into Egypt with her Holy Child, and of all the poverty, contempt and suffering they endured. If you follow their example you will indeed be rich amid your poverty.

Francis de Sales
Faith fills a man with love for the beauty of its truth, with faith in the truth of its beauty

Francis de Sales
Truly it is a blessed thing to love on earth as we hope to love in Heaven, and to begin that friendship here which is to endure for ever there.

Francis de Sales
God takes pleasure to see you take your little steps; and like a good father who holds his child by the hand, He will accommodate His steps to yours and will be content to go no faster than you. Why do you worry?

Francis de Sales
To live according to the spirit is to love according to the spirit.

Francis de Sales
Friendships begun in this world will be taken up again, never to be broken off.

Francis de Sales
In so far as divine love beautifies our souls. And makes us pleasing to His divine Majesty, it is called grace; in so far as it gives us strength to do good, it is called charity; but when it reaches such a degree of perfection, that it makes us not only do the good, but do so carefully, frequently and readily, then it is called devotion.

Francis de Sales
Do not fret under such assistance as is needful; therein lies one great grace of poverty. It were overambitious to aim at being poor without suffering any inconvenience, in other words, to have the credit of poverty and the convenience of riches.

Francis de Sales
One of the most evil dispositions possible is that which satirizes and turns everything to ridicule. God abhors this vice, and has sometimes punished it in a marked manner

Francis de Sales
Nothing appeases an enraged elephant so much as the sight of a little lamb.

Francis de Sales
Humility consists in not esteeming ourselves above other men, and in not seeking to be esteemed above them.

Francis de Sales
We can never attain to perfection while we have an affection for any imperfection.

Francis de Sales
It is to those who have the most need of us that we ought to show our love more especially.

Francis de Sales