Bernard of Clairvaux Quotes
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Slander is a poison which kills charity, both in the slanderer and the one who listens.
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Many appear full of mildness and sweetness as long as everything goes their own way; but the moment any contradiction or adversity arises, they are in a flame, and begin to rage like a burning mountain. Such people as these are like red-hot coals hidden under ashes. This is not the mildness which Our Lord undertook to teach us in order to make us like unto Himself.
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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.
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What I know of the divine sciences and Holy Scriptures, I learned in woods and fields. I have no other masters than the beeches and the oaks.
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The rivers of Grace cannot flow uphill, up the steep cliff of the proud man's heart.
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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.
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If you would know whether you have made a good confession, ask yourself I you have resolved to abandon your sins.
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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.
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Among us on the earth there is His memory; but in the Kingdom of heaven His very Presence. That Presence is the joy of those who have already attained to beatitude; the memory is the comfort of us who are still wayfarers, journeying towards the Fatherland.
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"My burden is light," said the blessed Redeemer, a light burden indeed, which carries him that bears it. I have looked through all nature for a resemblance of this, and seem to find a shadow of it in the wings of a bird, which are indeed borne by the creature, and yet support her flight towards heaven.
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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.
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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?
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Neither fear nor self-interest can convert the soul. They may change the appearance, perhaps even the conduct, but never the object of supreme desire... Fear is the motive which constrains the slave; greed binds the selfish man, by which he is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed (James 1:14). But neither fear nor self-interest is undefiled, nor can they convert the soul. Only charity can convert the soul, freeing it from unworthy motives.
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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.
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Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you need is not a sceptre but a hoe.
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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.
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Have death always before your eyes as a salutary means of returning to God.
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What we love we shall grow to resemble.
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God will become visible as God's image is reborn in you.
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We are to love God for Himself, because of a twofold reason; nothing is more reasonable, nothing more profitable.
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The Eucharist is that love which surpasses all loves in Heaven and on earth.
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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.
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Persecution shows who is a hireling, and who a true pastor.
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Inordinate love for the flesh is cruelty, because under the appearance of pleasing the body, we kill the soul.