Thomas à Kempis Quotes

Constantly choose rather to want less than to have more.
Thomas à Kempis
Oh how quickly the world's glory passes away.
Thomas à Kempis
A humble knowledge of oneself is a surer road to God than a deep searching of the sciences.
Thomas à Kempis
What thou art that thou art.
Thomas à Kempis
Do not let your peace depend on the hearts of men whatever they say about you good or bad you are not because of it another man for as you are you are.
Thomas à Kempis
O Lord you know what is best for me. Let this or that be done as you please. Give what you will how much you will and when you will.
Thomas à Kempis
There is no man in this world without some manner of tribulation or anguish though he be king or pope.
Thomas à Kempis
It is much safer to obey than to rule.
Thomas à Kempis
O Lord you know what is best for me. Let this or that be done as you please. Give what you will how much you will and when you will.
Thomas à Kempis
There is no man in this world without some manner of tribulation or anguish though he be king or pope.
Thomas à Kempis
It is much safer to obey than to rule.
Thomas à Kempis
Love feels no burden regards not labors strives toward more than it attains argues not of impossibility since it believes that it may and can do all things. Therefore it avails for all things and fulfils and accomplishes much where one not a lover falls and lies helpless.
Thomas à Kempis
It is much safer to obey than to rule.
Thomas à Kempis
Intelligence must follow faith never precede it and never destroy it.
Thomas à Kempis
For the multitude of worldly friends profiteth not nor may strong helpers anything avail nor wise counselors give profitable counsel nor the cunning of doctors give consolation nor riches deliver in time of need nor a secret place to defend if Thou Lord do not assist help comfort counsel inform and defend.
Thomas à Kempis
A humble knowledge of oneself is a surer road to God than a deep searching of the sciences.
Thomas à Kempis
Man proposes God disposes.
Thomas à Kempis
O how quickly passes away the glory of the earth.
Thomas à Kempis
Know all and you will pardon all.
Thomas à Kempis
And when he is out of sight quickly also he is out of mind.
Thomas à Kempis
It is thy duty oftentimes to do what thou wouldst not thy duty too to leave undone that thou wouldst do.
Thomas à Kempis
All His glory and beauty come from within and there He delights to dwell His visits there are frequent His conversation sweet His comforts refreshing and His peace passing all understanding.
Thomas à Kempis
If you cast away one cross you will certainly find another and perhaps a heavier.
Thomas à Kempis
If you bear the cross unwillingly you make it a burden and load yourself more heavily but you must bear it.
Thomas à Kempis
There is no man in this world without some manner of tribulation or anguish though he be king or pope.
Thomas à Kempis
A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.
Thomas à Kempis
Not every affection which seems good is to be immediately followed. Neither is every opposite affection to be immediately avoided. Sometimes it is expedient to use restraint even in good desires and wishes, lest through importunity you fall into distraction of mind, lest through want of discipline you become a stumbling block to others.
Thomas à Kempis
It is not really a small thing when in small things we resist self.
Thomas à Kempis
A man who truly knows himself realizes his own worthlessness, and takes no pleasure in the praises of men.
Thomas à Kempis
At the Day of Judgement we shall not be asked what we have read but what we have done.
Thomas à Kempis
If thou art willing to suffer no adversity, how wilt thou be the friend of Christ?
Thomas à Kempis
Greater is Your care for me than all the care I am able to take from myself.
Thomas à Kempis
God often grants in a moment what He has long denied.
Thomas à Kempis
He is not truly patient who will only suffer as far as seems right to him and from whom he pleases. The truly patient man considers not by whom he is tried, one above him, or by an equal, or by an inferior, whether by a good and holy man or by a perverse and unworthy, but from every creature. He gratefully accepts all from the hand of God and counts it gain.
Thomas à Kempis
Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise.
Thomas à Kempis
Remain tranquil and prepare to bear still greater trials. All is not lost even though you be troubled oftener or tempted more grievously. You are a man, not God. You are flesh, not an angel. How can you possibly expect to remain always in the same state of virtue when the angels in heaven and the first man in paradise failed to do so? I am He Who rescues the afflicted and brings to My divinity those who know their own weakness.
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. To take no account of oneself, but always to think well and highly of others is the highest wisdom and perfection.
Thomas à Kempis
The Lord bestows his blessings there, where he finds the vessels empty.
Thomas à Kempis
0 true and heavenly grace, without which our own merits are nothing, and our natural gifts of no account! Neither arts nor riches, beauty nor strength, genius nor eloquence have any value in Your eyes, Lord, unless allied to grace. For the gifts of nature are common to good men and bad alike, but grace or love are Your especial gift to those whom You choose, and those who are sealed with this are counted worthy of life everlasting.
Thomas à Kempis
Let temporal things be in the use, eternal things in the desire.
Thomas à Kempis
When a man desires a thing too much, he at once becomes ill at ease. A proud and avaricious man never rests, whereas he who is poor and humble of heart lives in a world of peace. An unmortified man is quickly tempted and overcome in small, trifling evils; his spirit is weak, in a measure carnal and inclined to sensual things; he can hardly abstain from earthly desires. Hence it makes him sad to forego them; he is quick to anger if reproved. Yet if he satisfies his desires, remorse of conscience overwhelms him because he followed his passions and they did not lead to the peace he sought.
Thomas à Kempis
My God, Sweetness beyond words, make bitter all the carnal comfort that draws me from love of the eternal and lures me to its evil self by the sight of some delightful good in the present. Let it not overcome me, my God. Let not flesh and blood conquer me. Let not the world and its brief glory deceive me, nor the devil trip me by his craftiness. Give me courage to resist, patience to endure, and constancy to persevere. Give me the soothing unction of Your spirit rather than all the consolations of the world, and in place of carnal love, infuse into me the love of Your name.
Thomas à Kempis
It happens very often that those whom men esteem highly are more seriously endangered by their own excessive confidence. Hence, for many it is better not to be too free from temptations, but often to be tried lest they become too secure, too filled with pride, or even too eager to fall back upon external comforts.
Thomas à Kempis
If all were perfect, what should we have to suffer from others for God's sake? But God has so ordained, that we may learn to bear with one another's burdens, for there is no man without fault, no man without burden, no man sufficient to himself nor wise enough. Hence we must support one another, console one another, mutually help, counsel, and advise, for the measure of every man's virtue is best revealed in time of adversity -- adversity that does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is.
Thomas à Kempis
Nothing, how little so ever it be, if it is suffered for God’s sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God.
Thomas à Kempis
Wherever you go, there you are.
Thomas à Kempis
The rich of this world will vanish like smoke, and no memory of their past pleasures will remain. But even in their lifetime they do not enjoy them without bitterness, weariness and fear, for the very things whence they derive their pleasures often carry with them the seeds of sorrow.
Thomas à Kempis
Do not let your peace depend on the words of men. Their thinking well or badly of you does not make you different from what you are. Where are true peace and glory? Are they not in Me? He who neither cares to please men nor fears to displease them will enjoy great peace, for all unrest and distraction of the senses arise out of disorderly love and vain fear.
Thomas à Kempis
Let all things be loved for the sake of Jesus, but Jesus for His own sake.
Thomas à Kempis
The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will—above, below, without, or within—you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.
Thomas à Kempis
If you cannot recollect yourself continuously, do so once a day at least, in the morning or in the evening. In the morning make a resolution and in the evening examine yourself on what you have said this day, what you have done and thought, for in these things perhaps you have often offended God and those about you.
Thomas à Kempis
Pardon me also, and deal mercifully with me, as often as I think of anything besides You in prayer. For I confess truly that I am accustomed to be very much distracted. Very often I am not where bodily I stand or sit; rather, I am where my thoughts carry me. Where my thoughts are, there am I; and frequently my thoughts are where my love is. That which naturally delights, or is by habit pleasing, comes to me quickly. Hence You Who are Truth itself, have plainly said: 'For where your treasure is, there is your heart also.' If I love heaven, I think willingly of heavenly things. If I love the world, I rejoice at the happiness of the world and grieve at its troubles. If I love the flesh, I often imagine things that are carnal. If I love the spirit, I delight in thinking of spiritual matters. For whatever I love, I am willing to speak and hear about.
Thomas à Kempis
My child, I am the Lord Who gives strength in the day of trouble. Come to Me when all is not well with you. Your tardiness in turning to prayer is the greatest obstacle to heavenly consolation, for before you pray earnestly to Me you first seek many comforts and take pleasure in outward things. Thus, all things are of little profit to you until you realize that I am the one Who saves those who trust in Me, and that outside of Me there is no worth-while help, or any useful counsel or lasting remedy.
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
If God were our one and only desire we would not be so easily upset when our opinions do not find outside acceptance.
Thomas à Kempis
All men desire peace, but very few desire those things that make for peace.
Thomas à Kempis
A sure way of retaining the grace of heaven is to disregard outward appearances, and diligently to cultivate such things as foster amendment of life and fervour of soul, rather than to cultivate those qualities that seem most popular.
Thomas à Kempis
God hath thus ordered it, that we may learn to bear one another’s burdens; for no man is without fault, no man without his burden, no man sufficient of himself, no man wise enough of himself; but we ought to bear with one another, comfort one another, help, instruct, and admonish one another.
Thomas à Kempis
Go where thou wilt, seek what thou wilt, and thou shalt not find a higher way above, nor a safer way below, than the way of the holy Cross."- Thomas A Kempis (The Following of Christ)
Thomas à Kempis
A book has but one voice, but it does not instruct everyone alike.
Thomas à Kempis