John of the Cross Short Quotes

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There is nothing better or more necessary than love.

John of the Cross
My spirit has become dry because it forgets to feed on
You.

John of the Cross
The soul that walks in love neither tires others nor grows tired.

John of the Cross
The purest suffering bears and carries in its train the purest understanding.

John of the Cross
Desolation is a file, and the endurance of darkness is preparation for great light.

John of the Cross
If you wish to attain holy recollection, you will do so not by receiving but by denying.

John of the Cross
One human thought alone is worth more than the entire world, hence God alone is worthy of it.

John of the Cross
If you lose an opportunity you will be like one who lets the bird fly away; you will never get it back.

John of the Cross
Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved.

John of the Cross
Seek in reading and thou shalt find in meditation; knock in prayer and it shall be opened in contemplation.

John of the Cross
He who loses an opportunity is like the man who lets a bird fly from his hand, for he will never recover it.

John of the Cross
Strive always to confess your sins with a deep knowledge of your own wretchedness and with clarity and purity.

John of the Cross
Live as though only God and yourself were in this world, so that your heart may not be detained by anything human.

John of the Cross
Strive to preserve your heart in peace; let no event of this world disturb it; reflect that all must come to an end.

John of the Cross
It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others.

John of the Cross
The virtuous soul that is alone and without a master is like a long lone burning coal; it will grow colder rather than hotter.

John of the Cross
Deny your desires and you will find what your heart longs for. For how do you know if any desire of yours is according to God?

John of the Cross
Have a great love for those who contradict and fail to love you, for in this way love is begotten in a heart that has no love.

John of the Cross
In the happy night, In secret, when none saw me,
Nor I beheld aught, Without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart.

John of the Cross
The soul that desires God to surrender himself to it entirely must surrender itself entirely to him without keeping anything for itself.

John of the Cross
Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according to his good pleasure and rest in him.

John of the Cross
There He taught me the science full of sweetness.
And there I gave to Him
Myself without reserve;
There I promised to be His bride.

John of the Cross
Oh, night that guided me, Oh, night more lovely than the dawn,
Oh, night that joined Beloved with lover, Lover transformed in the Beloved!

John of the Cross
He who loves is not ashamed before men of what he does for God, neither does he hide it through shame though the whole world should condemn it.

John of the Cross
The little white dove
Has returned to the ark with the bough;
And now the turtle-dove
Its desired mate
On the green banks has found.

John of the Cross
O crystal well!
Oh that on Thy silvered surface
Thou wouldest mirror forth at once
Those eyes desired
Which are outlined in my heart!

John of the Cross
Despise me not,
For if I was swarthy once
Thou canst regard me now;
Since Thou hast regarded me,
Grace and beauty hast Thou given me.

John of the Cross
I remained, lost in oblivion; My face I reclined on the Beloved.
All ceased and I abandoned myself, Leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies.

John of the Cross
Not all the faculties and senses have to be employed in things, but only those that are required; as for the others, leave them unoccupied for God.

John of the Cross
A thousand graces diffusing
He passed through the groves in haste,
And merely regarding them
As He passed
Clothed them with His beauty.

John of the Cross