Anselm of Canterbury Quotes

• For I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand. For I believe this: unless I believe, I will not understand.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Believe, Order, Canterbury

  271 Copy quote

• I do not try, Lord, to attain Your lofty heights, because my understanding is in no way equal to it. But I do desire to understand Your truth a little, that truth that my heart believes and loves. I do not seek to understand that I may believe; but I believe so that I may understand. For I believe this also, that unless I believe, I shall not understand.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Believe, Heart, Understanding

  146 Copy quote

• Remove grace, and you have nothing whereby to be saved. Remove free will and you have nothing that could be saved.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Grace, Free Will, Remove

  177 Copy quote

• God is that, the greater than which cannot be conceived.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  God, Canterbury, Greater

  162 Copy quote

• God does not delay to hear our prayers because He has no mind to give; but that, by enlarging our desires, He may give us the more largely.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Prayer, Giving, Mind

  185 Copy quote

• Disasters teach us humility.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Humility, Disaster, Teach

  70 Copy quote

• Let no worldly prosperity divert you, nor any worldly adversity restrain you from His praise.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Adversity, Prosperity, Praise

  102 Copy quote

• Idleness is the enemy of the soul.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Soul, Enemy, Manual Labor

  76 Copy quote

• I believe in order that I may understand.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Faith, Believe, Order

  88 Copy quote

• God often works more by the life of the illiterate seeking the things that are God's, than by the ability of the learned seeking the things that are their own.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Ability, Illiterate, Seeking

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers" by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p.123, 1895.

  98 Copy quote

• A Prayer of Anselm My God, I pray that I may so know you and love you that I may rejoice in you. And if I may not do so fully in this life let me go steadily on to the day when I come to that fullness . . . Let me receive That which you promised through your truth, that my joy may be full.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Life, Prayer, Truth

  92 Copy quote

• A single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Catholic, May, Intention

  118 Copy quote

• God hath promised pardon to him that repenteth, but he hath not promised repentance to him that sinneth.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Repentance, Pardon

  66 Copy quote

• It is impossible to save one's soul without devotion to Mary and without her protection.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Religious, Soul, Impossible

  63 Copy quote

• Spare me through your mercy, do not punish me through your justice.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Justice, Mercy, Canterbury

  73 Copy quote

• O supreme and unapproachable light! O whole and blessed truth, how far art thou from me, who am so near to thee! How far removed art thou from my vision, though I am so near to thine! Everywhere thou art wholly present, and I see thee not. In thee I move, and in thee I have my being; and I cannot come to thee. Thou art within me, and about me, and I feel thee not.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Art, Moving, Blessed

  St. Anselm of Canterbury “Anselm's Philosophy”, Lulu.com

  89 Copy quote

• Therefore Lord, not only are you that than which a greater cannot be thought but you are also something greater than can be thought.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  God, Greatness, Lord

  78 Copy quote

• Lust desireth not procreation, but pleasure only.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Lust, Pleasure, Procreation

  49 Copy quote

• And indeed we believe you [God] to be something than which a greater cannot be conceived.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  God, Believe, Greater

  46 Copy quote

• There is no inconsistency in God's commanding us not to take upon ourselves what belongs to Him alone. For to execute vengeance belongs to none but Him who is Lord of all; for when the powers of the world rightly accomplish this end, God himself does it who appointed them for the purpose.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Forgiveness, Doe, Purpose

  St. Anselm of Canterbury “Anselm's Philosophy”, Lulu.com

  51 Copy quote

• God was conceived of a most pure Virgin ... it was fitting that the virgin should be radiant with a purity so great that a greater purity cannot be conceived.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Purity, Fitting, Should

  "Mary for Earth and Heaven" by William McLaughlin, p. 115-116, 2002.

  54 Copy quote

• Therefore Lord God, you are more truly omnipotent, because you have no power through impotence and nothing can be against you.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  God, Omnipotence, Lord

  32 Copy quote

• But a problem occurs about nothing. For that from which something is made is a cause of the thing made from it; and, necessarily,every cause contributes some assistance to the effect's existence.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Causes, Problem, Made

  42 Copy quote

• It is, therefore, not proper for God thus to pass over sin unpunished.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Forgiveness, Sin

  St. Anselm of Canterbury “Anselm's Philosophy”, Lulu.com

  21 Copy quote

• I have written the little work that follows . . . in the role of one who strives to raise his mind to the contemplation of God and one who seeks to understand what he believes.

  Anselm of Canterbury

  Work, Believe, Mind

  32 Copy quote

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