John of the Cross Quotes
1542–1591 Spain
Saint John of the Cross, or San Juan de la Cruz (24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591) was a Spanish Carmelite mystic and poet.
Also known as: Saint John of the Cross, St. John of the Cross, Juan de Yepes y Álvarez, Juan de la Cruz, San Juan de la Cruz
Random John of the Cross quote
39 quotes
There is nothing better or more necessary than love.
At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.
the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2002)
One human thought alone is worth more than the entire world, hence God alone is worthy of it.
In a word, it is for this love that we are all created.
When the soul, then, in any degree possesses the spirit of solitary love, we must not interfere with it.
The appetites weaken a person's virtue because they are like shoots burgeoning about a tree, sapping its strength, and causing it to be fruitless.
Upon a darkened night the flame of love was burning in my breast.
Those who let their appetites take hold of them suffer torture and affliction like an enemy held prisoner.
God is a dark night to man in this life.
Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved.
God desires the smallest degree of purity of conscience in you more than all the works you can perform.
Hence the love of God in the pure and simple soul is almost continually in act.
And by a lantern bright I fled my house while all in quiet rest.
The soul that walks in love neither tires others nor grows tired
Blessed are they who, setting aside their own pleasure and inclination, consider things according to reason and justice before doing them.
O guiding night! O night more lovely than the dawn!
Live as though only God and yourself were in this world, so that your heart may not be detained by anything human.
Strive to preserve your heart in peace; let no event of this world disturb it; reflect that all must come to an end.
The soul that desires God to surrender himself to it entirely must surrender itself entirely to him without keeping anything for itself.
The very pure spirit does not bother about the regard of others or human respect, but communes inwardly with God, alone and in solitude as to all forms, and with delightful tranquility, for the knowledge of God is received in divine silence.