Thomas à Kempis Quotes

In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro.

(Everywhere I have sought peace and not found it, except in a corner with a book.)

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

The more humble and obedient to God a man is, the more wise and at peace he will be in all that he does.

Those who attempt to search into the majesty of God will be overwhelmed with His Glory!

Learned arguments do not make a man holy and righteous, whereas a good life makes him dear to God.

If you wish to stand and progress as you ought, hold yourself an exile and a pilgrim on the earth.

A book has but one voice, but it does not instruct everyone alike.

If you wish to draw profit, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and never with the design of gaining a reputation for learning.

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.

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)

All men desire peace, but very few desire those things that make for peace.

First keep peace with yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.

Your love for your friend should be grounded in Me, and for My sake you should love whoever seems to be good and is very dear to you in this life. Without Me friendship has no strength and cannot endure. Love which I do not bind is neither true nor pure.

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.

Let temporal things be in the use, eternal things in the desire.