Thomas à Kempis Quotes

175 Sourced Quotes

The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid.

Thomas à Kempis
First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.

Thomas à Kempis
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.

Thomas à Kempis
Truly at the day of judgment we shall not be examined as to what we have read, but as to what we have done; not as to how well we have spoken, but as to how religiously we have lived.

Thomas à Kempis
Let all your thoughts be with the Most High, and direct your humble prayers unceasingly to Christ. If you cannot contemplate high and heavenly things, take refuge in the Passion of Christ, and love to dwell within His Sacred Wounds. For if you devoutly seek the Wounds of Jesus and the precious marks of His Passion, you will find great strength in all troubles.

Thomas à Kempis
As iron put into the fire loseth its rust and becometh clearly red-hot, so he that wholly turneth himself unto God puts off all slothfulness, and is transformed into a new man.

Thomas à Kempis
If you desire to know or learn anything to your advantage, then take delight in being unknown and unregarded. A true understanding and humble estimate of oneself is the highest and most valuable of all lessons.

Thomas à Kempis
Love longs to be free, a stranger to every worldly desire, lest its inner vision become dimmed, and lest worldly self-interest hinder it or ill-fortune cast it down.

Thomas à Kempis
If you seek Jesus in all things you will surely find Jesus. And if you seek yourself, you will surely find yourself, but only to your ruin.

Thomas à Kempis
Trust not to friends and kindred, neither do thou put off the care of thy soul's welfare til hereafter; for men will sooner forget thee than thou art aware of.

Thomas à Kempis
If you can win complete mastery over self, you will easily master all else. To triumph over self is the perfect victory.

Thomas à Kempis
But because many endeavor to get knowledge rather than to live well, they are often deceived and reap little or no benefit from their labor.

Thomas à Kempis
Simplicity reaches out after God; purity discovers and enjoys Him.

Thomas à Kempis
What thou art, that thou art; that God knoweth thee to be and thou canst be said to be no greater.

Thomas à Kempis
In the morning fix thy good purpose; and at night examine thyself what thou hast done, how thou hast behaved thyself in word, deed, and thought.

Thomas à Kempis
To be able to live peaceably with hard and perverse persons, or with the disorderly, or with such as go contrary to us, is a great grace.

Thomas à Kempis
How fast passes away the glory of this world.

Thomas à Kempis
He that loveth, flieth, runneth, and rejoiceth. He is free, and cannot be held in. He giveth all for all, and hath all in all, because he resteth in one highest above all things, from whom all that is good flows and proceeds.

Thomas à Kempis
The humble live in continuous peace, while in the hearts of the proud are envy and frequent anger.

Thomas à Kempis
Without the Way,
there is no going,
Without the Truth,
there is no knowing,
Without the Life,
there is no living.

Thomas à Kempis
Whoever finds Jesus, finds a rich treasure, and a good above every good. He who loses Jesus loses much indeed, and more than the whole world. Poorest of all is he who lives without Jesus, and richest of all is he who stands in favor with Jesus.

Thomas à Kempis
What else does anxiety about the future bring you but sorrow upon sorrow?

Thomas à Kempis
What most of all hinders heavenly consolation is that you are too slow in turning yourself to prayer.

Thomas à Kempis
I have sought for happiness everywhere, but I have found it nowhere except in a little corner with a little book.

Thomas à Kempis
Nobody rules safely but he who has learned well how to obey.

Thomas à Kempis
Whoever would fully and feelingly understand the words of Christ, must endeavor to conform his life wholly to the life of Christ.

Thomas à Kempis
Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse of impossibility; for it thinks all things lawful for itself, and all things possible.

Thomas à Kempis
O that we had spent but one day in this world thoroughly well!

Thomas à Kempis
Set me free from evil passions, and heal my heart of all inordinate affections; that being inwardly cured and thoroughly cleansed, I may be made fit to love, courageous to suffer, steady to persevere.

Thomas à Kempis
Thou shalt ever joy at eventide if thou spend the day fruitfully.

Thomas à Kempis