Frasi di Tommaso da Kempis

“Grande pace mentale ha colui che non si preoccupa né dei complimenti né delle critiche.”

“Ho cercato la pace ovunque, non l’ho trovata da nessuna parte se non in un angolo con un libro.”

“Le avversità non rendono l'uomo debole ma mostrano la forza che ha.”

“Per prima cosa sii in pace con te stesso, poi potrai portare la pace agli altri.”

“È molto più prudente obbedire che comandare.”

“Un uomo di pace fa molto più bene di un uomo colto.”

“L'uomo propone, ma chi dispone è Dio.”
Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit

“L’amore non sente pesi, ignora i suoi problemi, affronta quello che è al di sopra delle sue forze, non invoca scuse per l’impossibilità, perché pensa che tutto sia legittimo per lui e che tutto sia possibile.”

“Porta con gioia la tua croce e quella porterà te.”

“Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit.”

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

“A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.”

“Jesus has now many lovers of the heavenly kingdom but few bearers of His cross.”

“Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of its trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse for impossibility, for it thinks all things are lawful for itself and all things are possible”

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

“At the Day of Judgement we shall not be asked what we have read but what we have done; not how well we have spoken, but how holily we have lived.”
Certe adveniente die judicii, non quæretur a nobis quid legimus, sed quid fecimus; nec quam bene diximus, sed quam religiose viximus.

“Wherever you go, there you are.”

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

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

“For a small reward, a man will hurry away on a long journey; while for eternal life, many will hardly take a single step.”

“Grant me prudently to avoid him that flatters me, and to endure patiently him that contradicts me.”

“Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying, or meditating, or endeavoring something for the public good.”

“By two wings is man lifted above earthly things, even by
simplicity and purity. Simplicity ought to be in the intention,
purity in the affection.”

“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.”

“Fight like a man. Habit is overcome by habit.”

“The Lord bestows his blessings there, where he finds the vessels empty.”

“As iron cast into fire loses its rust and becomes glowing white, so he who turns completely to God is stripped of his sluggishness and changed into a new man.”

“If thou desire to profit, read with humility, simplicity, and faithfulness; nor even desire the repute of learning.”

“Dispose thyself to patience rather than to comfort, and to the bearing of the cross rather than to gladness.”

“He that avoideth not small faults, by little and little falleth into greater.”

“Love is swift, sincere, pious, pleasant, gentle, strong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, manly and never seeking her own; for whosoever a man seeketh his own, there he falleth from love.”

“First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.”

“O Lord, self-renunciation is not the work of one day, nor children's sport; yea, rather in this word is included all perfection.”

“For they truly know their Lord in the breaking of bread, whose heart within them so vehemently burneth, whilst Thou, O blessed Jesus, dost walk and converse with them.”

“Without the Way,
there is no going,
Without the Truth,
there is no knowing,
Without the Life,
there is no living.”

“If thou seek rest in this life, how wilt them then attain to the everlasting rest? Dispose not thyself for much rest, but for great patience. Seek true peace — not in earth, but in heaven; not in men, nor in any other creature, but in God alone.”

“It is easier not to speak a word at all than to speak more words than we should.”

“No man ruleth safely but that he is willingly ruled.”

“Man proposes, but God disposes.”
Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit.