110+ Saint Francis de Sales Quotes On Humility, Marriage And Fear

Saint Francis de Sales was a Swiss Roman Catholic bishop and clergyman who lived in the 16th century. He is known for his deep spiritual writings and for his role in the Counter-Reformation. He is also known as the patron saint of writers and journalists. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Saint Francis de Sales on love, humility, marriage.

Top 10 Saint Francis De Sales Quotes

1. What we need is a cup of understanding, a barrel of love, and an ocean of patience.
2. Half an hour's meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed.
3. Great occasions for serving God come seldom, but little ones surround us daily.
4. I have made a pact with my tongue, not to speak when my heart is disturbed.
5. Have patience with all things, But, first of all with yourself.
6. Anxiety is the greatest evil that can befall a soul, except sin. God commands you to pray, but He forbids you to worry.
7. Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.
8. Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.
9. Doing little things with a strong desire to please God makes them really great.
10. Be who you are and be that well.

Saint Francis de Sales Image Quotes

Have patience with all things, But, first of all with yourself. — Saint Francis de Sales

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength. — Saint Francis de Sales

Doing little things with a strong desire to please God makes them really great. — Saint Francis de Sales

Be who you are and be that well. — Saint Francis de Sales

You can attract more bees with a spoonful of sugar than a cupful of vinegar. — Saint Francis de Sales

Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections. — Saint Francis de Sales

Saint Francis De Sales Short Quotes

• You can attract more bees with a spoonful of sugar than a cupful of vinegar.
• Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections.
• A judicious silence is always better than truth spoken without charity.
• God is present everywhere, and every person is His work.
• Friendship requires great communication.
• Whatever happens, abide steadfast in a determination to cling simply to God.
• Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt.
• The greatest method of praying is to pray the Rosary.
• Have patience to walk with short steps until you have wings to fly.
• There is no better means of attainment to the spiritual life Than by continually beginning again.

Saint Francis de Sales Quotes About Love

It is not those who commit the least faults who are the most holy, but those who have the greatest courage, the greatest generosity, the greatest love, who make the boldest efforts to overcome themselves, and are not immediately apprehensive about tripping. — Saint Francis de Sales

It is to those who have the most need of us that we ought to show our love more especially. — Saint Francis de Sales

We must never undervalue any person. The workman loves not that his work should be despised in his presence. Now God is present everywhere, and every person is His work. — Saint Francis de Sales

Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly. — Saint Francis de Sales

We must fear God out of love, not love Him out of fear. — Saint Francis de Sales

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves. — Saint Francis de Sales

Make yourself familiar with the angels and behold them frequently in spirit; for without being seen, they are present with you. — Saint Francis de Sales

The Prayer of the sick person is his patience and his acceptance of his sickness for the love of Jesus Christ. Make sickness itself a prayer, for there is none more powerful, save martyrdom! — Saint Francis de Sales

Don't get upset with your imperfections. Surrender to the Power of God's Love, which is greater than our weakness. — Saint Francis de Sales

The test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying, not "What a lovely sermon!" but "I will do something." — Saint Francis de Sales

Saint Francis de Sales Quotes About Humility

If after all your efforts you cannot succeed, you could not please our Lord more than by sacrificing to Him your will, and remaining in tranquility, humility, and devotion, entirely conformed and submissive to His divine will and good pleasure. — Saint Francis de Sales

If, when stung by slander or ill-nature, we wax proud and swell with anger, it is a proof that our gentleness and humility are unreal, and mere artificial show. — Saint Francis de Sales

True humility scarcely ever utters words of humility. — Saint Francis de Sales

Humility makes our lives acceptable to God, meekness makes us acceptable to men. — Saint Francis de Sales

Professions of humility are the very cream, the very essence of pride; the really humble person wishes to be, and not to appear so. Humility is timorous, and starts at her shadow; and so delicate that if she hears her name pronounced it endangers her existence. — Saint Francis de Sales

The highest point of humility consists in not merely acknowledging one's abjection, but in taking pleasure therein, not from any want of breadth or courage, but to give the more glory to God's Divine Majesty, and to esteem one's neighbour more highly than one's self. — Saint Francis de Sales

Provided that God be glorified, we must not care by whom. — Saint Francis de Sales

Humility consists in not esteeming ourselves above other men, and in not seeking to be esteemed above them. — Saint Francis de Sales

There is nothing small in the service of God. — Saint Francis de Sales

Saint Francis de Sales Quotes About Fear

We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God. If at times we are somewhat stunned by the tempest, never fear. Let us take breath, and go on afresh. — Saint Francis de Sales

The merit of the cross does not consist in its heaviness, but in the manner in which we carry it. I would even say that it is sometimes more virtuous to carry a cross of straw than a heavy cross because we have to be more attentive for fear of losing it. — Saint Francis de Sales

The Devil doesn't fear austerity but holy obedience. — Saint Francis de Sales

Those who love to be feared fear to be loved. — Saint Francis de Sales

Those who love to be feared fear to be loved, and they themselves are more afraid than anyone, for whereas other men fear only them, they fear everyone. — Saint Francis de Sales

Fear is a greater evil than evil itself. — Saint Francis de Sales

Saint Francis de Sales Quotes About Prayer

Every Christian needs a half-hour of prayer each day, except when he is busy, then he needs an hour. — Saint Francis de Sales

By turning your eyes on God in meditation, your whole soul will be filled with God. Begin all your prayers in the presence of God. — Saint Francis de Sales

Make sickness itself a prayer. — Saint Francis de Sales

Those who pray from the heart do not think about the prayer they are saying, but about the God to whom they pray. — Saint Francis de Sales

Saint Francis de Sales Quotes About Devotional

One single day of devotion is worth more than a thousand years of worldly life. — Saint Francis de Sales

Charity and devotion differ no more, the one from the other, than the flame from the fire. — Saint Francis de Sales

Every vocation becomes more agreeable when united with devotion. — Saint Francis de Sales

One single act done with aridity of spirit is worth more than many done with feelings of devotion. — Saint Francis de Sales

Saint Francis de Sales Quotes About Gentleness

When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time. — Saint Francis de Sales

If you would fall into any extreme, let it be on the side of gentleness. The human mind is so constructed that it resists rigor, and yields to softness. — Saint Francis de Sales

He who can preserve gentleness amid pains, and peace amid worry multitude of affairs, is almost perfect. — Saint Francis de Sales

Better make penitents by gentleness than hypocrites by severity. — Saint Francis de Sales

You learn to love by loving. — Saint Francis de Sales

If the heart wanders or is distracted, bring it back to the point quite gently... And even if you did nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back, though it went away every time you brought it back, your hour would be very well employed. — Saint Francis de Sales

It is wonderful how attractive a gentle, pleasant manner is, and how much it wins hearts. — Saint Francis de Sales

Souls do not wish to be bullied, but gently brought back; such is the nature of man. — Saint Francis de Sales

Saint Francis de Sales Quotes About Spirit

Never be hurried in anything. Do all things calmly and in a spirit of repose. Do not lose your inward peace even if everything seems to be going wrong. What is anything in life compared to peace of soul? — Saint Francis de Sales

The spirit cannot endure the body when overfed, but, if underfed, the body cannot endure the spirit. — Saint Francis de Sales

Do not complain then of your poverty, my daughter, - we only complain of that which is unwelcome, and if poverty is unwelcome to you, you are no longer poor in spirit. — Saint Francis de Sales

To live according to the spirit is to love according to the spirit. — Saint Francis de Sales

Saint Francis de Sales Famous Quotes And Sayings

Have patience with all things, But, first of all with yourself. — Saint Francis de Sales

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength. — Saint Francis de Sales

God takes pleasure to see you take your little steps; and like a good father who holds his child by the hand, He will accommodate His steps to yours and will be content to go no faster than you. Why do you worry? — Saint Francis de Sales

Don't get upset with your imperfections. It's a great mistake because it leads nowhere - to get angry because you are angry, upset at being upset, depressed at being depressed, disappointed because you are disappointed. So don't fool yourself. Simply surrender to the Power of God's Love, which is always greater than our weakness. — Saint Francis de Sales

Have patience with all things - but first with yourself. Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being. You are perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumphs or tribulations can ever change that. — Saint Francis de Sales

Doing little things with a strong desire to please God makes them really great. — Saint Francis de Sales

Be who you are and be that well. — Saint Francis de Sales

It is right that you should begin again every day. There is no better way to complete the spiritual life than to be ever beginning it over again. — Saint Francis de Sales

The highest degree of meekness consists in seeing, serving, honoring, and treating amiably, on occasion, those who are not to our taste, and who show themselves unfriendly, ungrateful, and troublesome to us. — Saint Francis de Sales

Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections. — Saint Francis de Sales

To lose ourselves in God is simply to give up our own will to Him. When a soul can truly say Lord I have no other will than Thine it is truly lost in God and united to Him. — Saint Francis de Sales

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them -- every day begin the task anew. — Saint Francis de Sales

We do not very often come across opportunities for exercising strength, magnanimity, or magnificence; but gentleness, temperance, modesty, and humility, are graces which ought to colour everything we do. There may be virtues of a more exalted mould, but... these are the most continually called for in daily life. — Saint Francis de Sales

It is better to remain silent than to speak the truth ill-humoredly, and spoil an excellent dish by covering it with bad sauce. — Saint Francis de Sales

We may be excused for not always being bright, but we are not excused for not being gracious, yielding and considerate. — Saint Francis de Sales

Be not miserable about what may happen tomorrow. The same everlasting Father, who cares for you today, will care for you tomorrow. — Saint Francis de Sales

Let the enemy rage at the gate; let him knock, pound, scream, howl; let him do his worst. We know for certain that he cannot enter our soul except by the door of our consent. — Saint Francis de Sales

All of us can attain to Christian virtue and holiness, no matter in what condition of life we live and no matter what our life work may be. — Saint Francis de Sales

When you have received Him, stir up your heart to do Him homage; speak to Him about your spiritual life, gazing upon Him in your soul where He is present for your happiness; welcome Him as warmly as possible, and behave outwardly in such a way that your actions may give proof to all of His Presence. — Saint Francis de Sales

The declared enemies of God and His Church, heretics and schismatics, must be criticized as much as possible, as long as truth is not denied. It is a work of charity to shout: 'Here is the wolf!' when it enters the flock or anywhere else. — Saint Francis de Sales

It is the mark of a mean, vulgar and ignoble spirit to dwell on the thought of food before meal times or worse to dwell on it afterwards, to discuss it and wallow in the remembered pleasures of every mouthful. Those whose minds dwell before dinner on the spit, and after on the dishes, are fit only to be scullions. — Saint Francis de Sales

Let us run to Mary, and, as her little children, cast ourselves into her arms with a perfect confidence. — Saint Francis de Sales

Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself. I mean, do not be disturbed because of your imperfections, and always rise up bravely from a fall. I am glad that you make a daily new beginning; there is no better means of progress in the spiritual life than to be continually beginning afresh, and never to think that we have done enough. — Saint Francis de Sales

By giving yourself to God, You not only receive Himself in exchange, but eternal life as well. — Saint Francis de Sales

Flowers often grow more beautifully on dung-hills than in gardens that look beautifully kept. — Saint Francis de Sales

Have Jesus always for your patron, His Cross for a mast on which you must spread your resolutions as a sail. Your anchor shall be a profound confidence in Him, and you shall sail prosperously. — Saint Francis de Sales

True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice. — Saint Francis de Sales

Take care of your health, that it may serve you to serve God. — Saint Francis de Sales

There is no artifice as good and desirable as simplicity. — Saint Francis de Sales

Humor is the foundation of reconciliation. — Saint Francis de Sales

Strive to see God in all things without exception. Do not smother yourself...If you start smothering yourself with a host of cares and longings and wishes ... you will be disabling yourself from serving God with all your heart. — Saint Francis de Sales

Examine from time to time what are the dominant passions of your soul, and having ascertained this, mold your life, so that in thought, word, and deed you may as far as possible counteract them. — Saint Francis de Sales

Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself. — Saint Francis de Sales

Big fires flare up in a wind, but little ones are blown out unless they are carried in under cover. — Saint Francis de Sales

The state of marriage is one that requires more virtue and constancy than any other; it is a perpetual exercise in mortification. — Saint Francis de Sales

Nothing appeases an enraged elephant so much as the sight of a little lamb. — Saint Francis de Sales

God requires a faithful fulfillment of the merest trifle given us to do, rather than the most ardent aspiration to things to which we are not called. — Saint Francis de Sales

Make friends with the angels, who though invisible are always with you. Often invoke them, constantly praise them, and make good use of their help and assistance in all your temporal and spiritual affairs. — Saint Francis de Sales

The truly patient man neither complains of his hard lot nor desires to be pitied by others. He speaks of his sufferings in a natural, true, and sincere way, without murmuring, complaining, or exaggerating them. — Saint Francis de Sales

While I am busy with little things, I am not required to do greater things. — Saint Francis de Sales

We are sometimes so busy being good angels that we neglect to be good men and women. — Saint Francis de Sales

Mount Calvary is the academy of love. — Saint Francis de Sales

Do not desire crosses, unless you have borne those already laid upon you well — it is an abuse to long after martyrdom while unable to bear an insult patiently. — Saint Francis de Sales

Do not be ashamed of being poor, or of asking alms. Receive what is given you with humility, and accept a refusal meekly. Frequently call to mind Our Lady's journey into Egypt with her Holy Child, and of all the poverty, contempt and suffering they endured. If you follow their example you will indeed be rich amid your poverty. — Saint Francis de Sales

A dance is the devil's procession, and he that entereth into a dance, entereth into his possession. — Saint Francis de Sales

A good discourse is that from which nothing can be retrenched without cutting into the quick. — Saint Francis de Sales

Go to your confessor; open your heart to him; display to him all the recesses of your soul; take the advice that he will give you with the utmost humility and simplicity. For God, Who has an infinite love for obedience, frequently renders profitable the counsels we take from others, but especially from those who are the guides of our souls. — Saint Francis de Sales

Obedience is a consecration of the heart, chastity of the body, and poverty of all worldly goods to the Love and Service of God. Blessed indeed are the obedient, for God will never permit them to go astray. — Saint Francis de Sales

We can never attain to perfection while we have an affection for any imperfection. — Saint Francis de Sales

One great remedy against all manner of temptation, great or small, is to open the heart and lay bare its suggestion, likings, and dislikings before some spiritual adviser; for, . . . the first condition which the Evil One makes with a soul, when he wants to entrap it, is silence. — Saint Francis de Sales

When charity requires it we must freely and mildly communicate to our neighbor not only what is his instruction, but also what is profitable for his consolation. — Saint Francis de Sales

There is nothing as strong as tenderness, And nothing as tender as true strength. — Saint Francis de Sales

True virtue has no limits, but goes on and on, and especially holy charity, which is the virtue of virtues, and which having a definite object, would become infinite if it could meet with a heart capable of infinity. — Saint Francis de Sales

A spoon full of honey gets more flies than a barrel full of vinegar. — Saint Francis de Sales

Represent to yourself a dark city all burning and stinking with fire and brimstone. The damned are in the depth of hell within this woful city, where they suffer unspeakable torments in all their senses and members. Consider above all the eternity of their pains, which above all things makes hell intolerable. — Saint Francis de Sales

In so far as divine love beautifies our souls. And makes us pleasing to His divine Majesty, it is called grace; in so far as it gives us strength to do good, it is called charity; but when it reaches such a degree of perfection, that it makes us not only do the good, but do so carefully, frequently and readily, then it is called devotion. — Saint Francis de Sales

To be pleased at correction and reproofs shows that one loves the virtues which are contrary to those faults for which he is corrected and reproved. And, therefore, it is a great sign of advancement in perfection. — Saint Francis de Sales

We must visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament a hundred thousand times a day. — Saint Francis de Sales

Obedience is a virtue of so excellent a nature, that Our Lord was pleased to mark its observance upon the whole course of His life; thus He often says, He did not come to do His Own will, but that of His Heavenly Father. — Saint Francis de Sales

Naturally we all have an inclination to command, and a great aversion to obey; and yet it is certain that it is more for our good to obey than to command; hence perfect souls have always had a great affection for obedience, and have found all their joy and comfort in it. — Saint Francis de Sales

When the bee has gathered the dew of heaven and the earth's sweetest nectar from the flowers, it turns it into honey, then hastens to its hive. In the same way, the priest, having taken from the altar the Son of God (who is as the dew from heaven, and true son of Mary, flower of our humanity), gives him to you as delicious food. — Saint Francis de Sales

If I want only pure water, what does it matter to me whether it be brought in a vase of gold or of glass? What is it to me whether the will of God be presented to me in tribulation or consolation, since I desire and seek only the Divine will? — Saint Francis de Sales

There are no galley-slaves in the royal vessel of divine love - every man works his oar voluntarily! — Saint Francis de Sales

Do not fret under such assistance as is needful; therein lies one great grace of poverty. It were overambitious to aim at being poor without suffering any inconvenience, in other words, to have the credit of poverty and the convenience of riches. — Saint Francis de Sales

Hell is full of good intentions and wills. — Saint Francis de Sales

Is it not a great temptation to be so valiant in imagination and so cowardly in execution? — Saint Francis de Sales

Life Lessons by Saint Francis de Sales

1. Saint Francis de Sales taught that gentleness and kindness are more effective in leading people to God than harshness and judgement. He believed that everyone should be treated with respect and that love should be the primary motivator in our lives.
2. He also taught that patience and humility are essential to achieving spiritual growth. He encouraged people to take their time and to be gentle with themselves in their spiritual journey.
3. Lastly, Saint Francis de Sales also taught that we should strive to be kind and compassionate to others, even those who are different from us. He believed that everyone should be loved and accepted, regardless of their beliefs or backgrounds.