Vincent de Paul Quotes

132 Sourced Quotes

A doctor who keeps a person from becoming ill deserves more merit than one who cures him.

Vincent de Paul
Naturally, everyone loves his freedom, but we must beware of this as of a broad road that leads to perdition.

Vincent de Paul
Is it not better to fail after asking advice than to risk acting on our own?

Vincent de Paul
I thank God for having given the Company subjects who belong more to Him than to themselves, and who serve the neighbor at the risk of their lives! They are like unrefined gold, which becomes visible in fire and which would otherwise remain hidden under ordinary actions and sometimes under faults and failings.

Vincent de Paul
God's affairs are accomplished gradually and almost imperceptibly and His spirit is neither violent nor tempestuous.

Vincent de Paul
God has granted me today a very particular fondness for requesting of Him that same virtue of ever choosing the worst and that which is contrary to my own liking.

Vincent de Paul
It is difficult to master one's feelings and be exact in everything in the midst of many affairs

Vincent de Paul
Would that God, Monsieur, had rendered us worthy of spending our lives, as Our Lord did, for the salvation of those poor souls so far removed from all assistance.

Vincent de Paul
The angels would become incarnate if they could, so that they might come to earth to imitate the example and virtues of the Son of God!

Vincent de Paul
Laws must never be made compatible with crimes, no more than lying should be in harmony with the truth.

Vincent de Paul
Make an effort to serve good bread and good meat and not to sell the better wine so as to serve what is inferior...

Vincent de Paul
[A] truly humble spirit humbles itself as much amid honors as amid insults, acting like the honeybee which makes its honey equally as well from the dew that falls on the wormwood as from that which falls on the rose.

Vincent de Paul
It is not light they need but strength, and strength permeates through the external balm of words and good example.

Vincent de Paul
Peace is worth more than all worldly possessions; in addition, God rewards it even in this life.

Vincent de Paul
There is nothing good that does not meet with opposition, and it should not be valued any less because it encounters objections.

Vincent de Paul
In order to become soundly virtuous, it is advisable to make good practical resolutions concerning particular acts of the virtues and to be faithful in carrying the out afterwards. Without doing that, one is often virtuous only in one's imagination.

Vincent de Paul
All of you desire to belong entirely to God, and God also wants all of you to belong to Him

Vincent de Paul
What you are saying is true of those who want everything to give way to them, nothing to oppose them, everything to go their way, people to obey them without comment or delay and, in a manner of speaking, to be adored.

Vincent de Paul
Let us reflect that we shall always do God's Will and He will do ours when we carry out that of our Superiors.

Vincent de Paul
With whose imperfections will you bear, and what insult are you capable of enduring, if a thoughtless word from your own Superior is unbearable?

Vincent de Paul
I am sure that you are the first to do what you teach them.

Vincent de Paul
.. God is pleased to communicate himself to the simple and humble and to use the smallest and lowliest to make them great and exalted. In a word, it is He Himself who has called and approved them and even inspired their humble manner of living.

Vincent de Paul
The works of God are not accomplished when we wish them, but whenever it pleases Him.

Vincent de Paul
If your men grow weary of the work or balk at obedience, you must bear with them. Get what you can gently from them. True, it is good to be firm in attaining your goal, but use appropriate, attractive, and agreeable means.

Vincent de Paul
Put your trust in Him and following His example, always act humbly, graciously, and in good faith.

Vincent de Paul
O Monsieur de Sergis, how important a matter is submission of spirit to a superior!

Vincent de Paul
You say you experience great difficulty in the mission. Alas! Monsieur, there is no lot in life where there is nothing to be endured.

Vincent de Paul
In a word, we owe obedience to the bishops in all things pertaining to our work in the missions, with ordinands, etc., but the spiritual and internal direction belongs to the Superior General.

Vincent de Paul
.. It is God's plan that those who are to help others spiritually fall into the temptations of mind and body by which others can be tormented.... Scorn both these evil suggestions and the wickedness of their author, who is the devil.

Vincent de Paul
I have never come away from you without reflecting that the Spirit of God and His holy workings reside in you.

Vincent de Paul