Bernard Of Clairvaux Quotes

Hell is full of good wishes or desires.

Jesus to me is honey in the mouth, music in the ear, a song in the heart,

He rightly reads scripture who turns words into deeds.

Understanding is the sure and clear knowledge of some invisible thing.

I have ascended to the highest in me, and look, the Word is towering above that. I have descended to explore my lowest depths, and I found Him deeper still.

Rest is in Him alone. Man knows no peace in the world; but he has no disturbance when he is with God.

Love of Mary and devotion to her are a sure sign of obtaining eternal salvation.

To them that long for the presence of the living God, the thought of Him is sweetest itself: but there is no satiety, rather an ever-increasing appetite...

Many of those who are humiliated are not humble. Some react to humiliation with anger, others with patience, and others with freedom. The first are culpable, the next harmless, the last just.

First learn to love yourself, and then you can love me.

What I know of the divine sciences and the Holy Scriptures, I have learned in woods and fields. I have no other masters than the beeches and the oaks.

Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you need is not a sceptre but a hoe.

Grace is necessary to salvation, free will equally so - but grace in order to give salvation, free will in order to receive it.

He won me over entirely by giving Himself entirely to me.

It is a fault, not a virtue, to wish your humility recognized and applauded.

Ingratitude is the soul's enemy ... Ingratitude is a burning wind that dries up the source of love, the dew of mercy, the streams of grace.

We find rest in those we love, and we provide a resting place in ourselves for those who love us.

Therefore gird yourselves manfully and take up joyful arms for the name of God.

He gives Himself as prize and reward: He is the refreshment of holy soul, the ransom of those in captivity.

Our King [Jesus] is accused of treachery; it is said of him [by the Muslims] that he is not God, but that he falsely pretended to be something he was not.

Expect much of God, and he will do much for you.

And real happiness will come, not in gratifying our desires or in gaining transient pleasures, but in accomplishing God's will for us: even as we pray every day: "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven

I know by myself how incomprehensible God is, seeing I cannot comprehend the parts of my own being.

Have death always before your eyes as a salutary means of returning to God.

It is no great thing to be humble when you are brought low; but to be humble when you are praised is a great and rare attainment.

What I know of the divine
science and holy scripture,
I learnt in the woods and fields.

The Eucharist is that love which surpasses all loves in Heaven and on earth

We must know, then, what we are, and that it is not of ourselves that we are what we are. Unless we know this thoroughly, either we shall not glory at all, or our glorying will be vain. Finally, it is written, "If thou know not, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock" (Song of Solomon. 1:8). And this is right.

Jesus, what made You so small? LOVE!

What does God hate or punish except self-will? Let self-will cease, and there will be no hell. On what does that fire feed except on self-will?

Action and contemplation are ...

You wish me to tell you why and how God should be loved. My answer is that God himself is the reason he is to be loved.

Do what Jesus says, ... what he commands through his ministers who are in the Church [see 1 Cor 6:4]. Be subject to his vicars, your leaders, not only those who are gentle and kind, but even those who are overbearing [see 1 Pt 2:18].

hell is full of good wishes and desires.

I was made a sinner by deriving my being from Adam; I am made just by being washed in the blood of Christ and not by Christ's 'words and example.'

Love is alone sufficient by itself, it pleases by itself and for it's own sake. It is itself a merit, and itself it's own recompense. It seeks neither cause, nor consequences beyond itself. It is its own fruit, its own object and usefulness. I love because I love you, I love that I may love.

The three most important virtues are humility, humility, and humility.

The man who is wise, therefore, will see his life as more like a reservoir than a canal. The canal simultaneously pours out what it receives; the reservoir retains the water till it is filled, then discharges the overflow without loss to itself ... Today there are many in the Church who act like canals, the reservoirs are far too rare ... You too must learn to await this fullness before pouring out your gifts, do not try to be more generous than God.

What of the souls already released from their bodies? We believe that they are overwhelmed in that vast sea of eternal light and of luminous eternity

Qui me amat, amet et canem meum. (Who loves me will love my dog also.)

If you concentrate hard on the state you are in, it would be suprising if you have time for anything else.

Death is the gate of life.

God will either give us what we ask, or what He knows to be better for us.

To serve Mary is a mark of eternal salvation to come.

To have a restful or peaceful life in God is good; to bear a life of pain in patience is better; but to have peace in the midst of pain is the best of all.

Let your prayer for temporal blessings be strictly limited to things absolutely necessary.

As patience leads to peace, and study to science, so are humiliations the path that leads to humility.

The measure of love is love without measure.

You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters.

The more I contemplate God, the more God looks on me. The more I pray to him, the more he thinks of me too.

Your actions in passing, pass not away, for every good work is a grain of seed for eternal life.

True penance consists in regretting without ceasing the faults of the past, and in firmly resolving to never again commit that which is so deplorable.

God has aroused the spirit of kings and princes to root up from the earth the enemies of the Christian name. Therefore gird yourselves manfully and take up joyful arms for the name of Christ.

It was love that motivated His self-emptying, that led Him to become a little lower than angels, to be subject to parents, to bow His head beneath the Baptist's hands, to endure the weakness of the flesh, and to submit to death even upon the cross

It is so that these impious ones wander in a circle, longing after something to gratify their yearnings, yet madly rejecting that which alone can bring them to their desired end, not by exhaustion but by attainment.

There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge; that is Curiosity.
There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others; that is Vanity.
There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve; that is Love.

Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise we lavish on the Mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of her Son. There can be no doubt that whatever we say in praise of the Mother gives equal praise to the Son.

In his greediness, he counts all that he has clutched as nothing in comparison with what is beyond his grasp, and loses all pleasure in his actual possessions by longing after what he has not, yet covets.

Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment. I love because I love; I love in order that I may love.

The heart of Christ can be seen through the openings of his wounds. For what can prove to me so clearly as your wounds that you, O Lord Jesus, are sweet & mild & plenteous in mercy.

Humility is, of all graces , the chiefest when it does not know itself to be a grace at all.

There is no greater misery than false joys.

All things are possible to one who believes.

It is in the perfect union of two hearts that complete and total marriage consists.

There are some who wish to learn for no other reason than that they may be looked upon as learned, which is ridiculous vanity ... Others desire to learn that they may morally instruct others, that is love. And, lastly, there are some who wish to learn that they may be themselves edified; and that is prudence.

The peacemakers shall be called the sons of God, who came to make peace between God and man. What then shall the sowers of discord be called, but the children of the devil? And what must they look for but their father's portion?

Obey your bishop! "Obey those set over you [Heb 13:17]," the teachers of the Church ... I remind you, my dear friends, of what I said when I was with you: do not receive any outside or unknown preacher, unless he be sent by your bishop or preaches with the permission of the pope. For "how shall they preach unless they are sent [Rom 10:15]?

If then you are wise, you will show yourself rather as a reservoir than as a canal. For a canal spreads abroad water as it receives it, but a reservoir waits until it is filled before overflowing, and thus communicates, without loss to itself, its superabundant water. In the Church at the present day, we have many canals, few reservoirs.

There are three distinct comings of the Lord of which I know: His coming to men, His coming into men, and His coming against men.

Prostrate, see Thy cross I grasp,And Thy pierced feet I clasp;Gracious Jesus, spurn me not;On me, with compassion fraught,Let Thy glances fall.Thy cross of agony,My Beloved, look on me;Turn me wholly unto Thee;"Be thou whole," say openly:"I forgive thee all.

O Blessed Mary, whoever loves you honors God; whoever serves you pleases God; whoever invokes your holy name with a pure heart will infallibly receive the object of his petition.

Let us then cast ourselves at the feet of this good Mother, and embracing them let us not depart until she blesses us, and accepts us for her children.

How beautiful then is modesty and what a gem among virtues it is.

Jesus the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills my breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see,
And in Thy presence rest.

The rivers of Grace cannot flow uphill, up the steep cliff of the proud man's heart.

O wretched slaves of Mammon, you cannot glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ while you trust in treasures laid up on earth: you cannot taste and see how gracious the Lord is, while you are hungering for gold. If you have not rejoiced at the thought of His coming, that day will be indeed a day of wrath to you.

From the best bliss that earth imparts, we turn unfilled to Thee again.

A truly obedient man does not discriminate between one thing and another, since his only aim is to execute faithfully whatever may be assigned to him.

What we love we shall grow to resemble.

With her for guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear; if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favor, you shall reach the goal.

Slander is a poison which kills charity, both in the slanderer and the one who listens.

For I have learnt for a fact that nothing so effectively obtains, retains and regains grace, as that we should always be found not high-minded before God, but filled with holy fear.

The tears of those repenting are the wine of angels.

We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still:
We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.

Action and contemplation are very close companions; they live together in one house on equal terms. Martha and Mary are sisters.

Theirs is an endless road, a hopeless maze, who seek for goods before they seek for God.

Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

Believe one who has tried, you shall find a fuller satisfaction in the woods than in the books. The trees and the rocks will teach you that which you cannot hear from the masters.