Augustine Quote

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Here are the proper references and other translations of these same two quotes. I thought that you folks might like to have these...

Augustine (354-430): Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee. NPNF1: Vol. I, The Confessions of St. Augustine, Book I, Chapter 1, §1.

Augustine (354-430): You have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you. John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., ed., WSA, Part 1, Vol. 1, trans. Maria Boulding, O.S.B., Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1, §1 (New York: New City Press, 1997), p. 39.

Augustine (354-430): And my whole hope is only in Thy exceeding great mercy. Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt. Thou imposest continency upon us, "œnevertheless, I when I perceived," saith one, "œthat I could not otherwise obtain her, except God gave her me;... that was a point of wisdom also to. know whose gift she was." For by continency are we bound up and brought into one, whence we were scattered abroad into many. For he loves Thee too little who loves ought with Thee, which he loves not for Thee,´ O love, who ever burnest, and art never quenched! O charity, my God, kindle me I Thou commandest continency; give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt. NPNF1: Vol. I, The Confessions of St. Augustine, Book 9, Chapter 29, §40.

Augustine (354-430): 29, 40. On your exceedingly great mercy rests all my hope. Give what you command, and then command whatever you will. You order us to practice continence. A certain writer tells us, I knew that no one can be continent except by God's gift, and that it is already a mark of wisdom to recognize whose gift this is. By continence the scattered elements of the self are collected and brought back into the unity from which we have slid away into dispersion; for anyone who loves something else along with you, but does not love it for your sake, loves you less. O Love, ever burning, never extinguished, O Charity, my God, set me on fire! You command continence: give what you command, and then command whatever you will. John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., ed., WSA, Part 1, Vol. 1, trans. Maria Boulding, O.S.B., Confessions, Book I0, Chapter 29, §40 (New York: New City Press, 1997), p. 263.

Blessings,
DTK
 
Here's another gem from Augustine:

Faithful is the Lord, who hath made himself our debtor, not by receiving anything from us, but by promising us all things.
 
"He is your best servant who asks of you not what he desires, but desires of you what you will for him." ( I can't remember the exact words. Maybe Davind will look that one up for us. ) I think its from the Confessions.
 
I'm happy to supply the reference with a fuller context from two different translations...

Augustine (354-430): Where, then, did I find Thee, so as to be able to learn Thee? For Thou were not in my memory before I learned Thee. Where, then, did I find Thee, so as to be able to learn Thee, but in Thee above me? Place there is none; we go both "œbackward" and "œforward," and there is no place. Everywhere, O Truth, dost Thou direct all who consult Thee, and dost at once answer all, though they consult Thee on divers things. Clearly dost Thou answer, though all do not with clearness hear. All consult Thee upon whatever they wish, though they hear not always that which they wish. He is Thy best servant who does not so much look to hear that from Thee which he himself wisheth, as to wish that which he heareth from Thee. NPNF1: Vol. I, The Confessions of St. Augustine, Book 10, Chapter 29, §37.

Augustine (354-430): 26, 37. If that is so, where did I find you in order to make acquaintance with you at the outset? You could not have been in my memory before I learned to know you. Where then could I have found you in order to learn of you, if not in yourself, far above me? "œPlace" has here no meaning: further away from you or toward you we may travel, but place there is none. O Truth, you hold sovereign sway over all who turn to you for counsel, and to all of them you respond at the same time, however diverse their pleas. Clear is your response, but not all hear it clearly. They all appeal to you about what they want, but do not always hear what they want to hear. Your best servant is the one who is less intent on hearing from you what accords with his own will, and more on embracing with his will what he has heard from you. John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., ed., WSA, Part 1, Vol. 1, trans. Maria Boulding, O.S.B., Confessions, Book 10, Chapter 26, §37 (New York: New City Press, 1997), pp. 261-262.

Blssings,
DTK

[Edited on 8-1-2005 by DTK]
 
My copy of Confessions suggests in a footnote that "our heart is restless until it rests in you" is an echo of Plotinus.
 
A couple of my favorites from Augustine:

If you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.

The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.

Todd
 
Originally posted by SRoper
My copy of Confessions suggests in a footnote that "our heart is restless until it rests in you" is an echo of Plotinus.

I have tried to embrace Augustine's practice; I know what you're saying. Augustine did not hesitate to "take on" the challenges to the faith. He also did not hesitate to learn from the experiences as well. In his City of God he often jumps off at the point raised by those who assert something against the faith, or those who assert what they believe to be an unassailable truth from their own religion. It would not be unusual at all to find Plotinus or Plato or Cicero or Virgil, or shades of their ideas, in Augustine's writings as jumping off points.
 
I just found it interesting. Augustine also finds many similarities between what he learned from neoplatonism and the opening of the gospel of John, although the neoplanonists never understood that the Word was made flesh and took on the form of a servant.
 
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