Famous quotes, beautiful phrases and aphorisms celebrated according to the thought of Saint Ambrose of Trier or more frequently from Milan, speeches and reflections on life.
Saint Ambrose quotes
- Everything that comes from the ground has its own special reason for being and each thing, as far as it is within it, contributes to the general plan of Creation.
- There are things that are born to be eaten, and there are others that are born for other use. There is no germ that is superfluous, there is not one that is idle on earth.
- What you consider useless to you is useful to others, and often to yourself, in another way.
- What is not needed for food is for medicine and what is harmful to your food often benefits that of fairs and birds.
- The land belongs to everyone, not just the rich.
- More and more those who accumulate than those who leave; every day the rich oppress the poor poorly.
- As long as you are free from constraints, keep away from the yoke and the weight of servitude.
- You are rich? Don't take on mortgages. Are you poor? Don't take on mortgages.
- The swallow knows when to arrive, when to leave; that tender bird also knows how to announce the beginning of spring with its arrival.
- You are rich? You don't need to ask.
Recommended readings- Phrases of St. Dominic of Guzman: biography
- Phrases of Santa Gemma Galgani: quotes and aphorisms
- Phrases of Saint Anthony of Padua: quotes, aphorisms
- Phrases of San Filippo Neri: famous aphorisms from the writings
- Phrases of San Camillo de Lellis: quotes and thoughts
- Where there is faith, there is freedom.
- Are you poor? Review the difficulty of returning.
- Opulence is diminished by wear; poverty is not alleviated by usury.
Sant’Ambrogio Aphorisms
- In fact, evil is never corrected with evil, nor does the wound heal itself with the wound, on the contrary it becomes gangrenous in the ulcer.
- Sweetness has the job of easing justice. With what spirit, in fact, could you dislike those who you dislike and are convinced that they will not already be objects of pity, but of contempt on the part of their doctor?
- Anyone who, in fact, intends to correct the defects of human frailty must support and, in some way, weigh the weakness itself on his shoulders, not already discard it.
- Those who think that hardness is preferable to sweetness, pride to humility and who, while invoking divine piety for themselves, deny it to others are not to be counted among the disciples of Christ.
- If the supreme end of the virtues is the progress of the masses, mildness, undoubtedly, is the virtue that excels above all. It does not arouse the resentment of the people it judges guilty, rather, after condemning them, it puts them in a position to be forgiven.
- Whoever is dear to God is not ruthless, but meek.
- What then is the psalm if not the musical instrument of the virtues, playing which with the plectrum of the Holy Spirit, the venerable prophet makes the sweetness of the heavenly sound echo on earth?
- Christ appeared in the flesh: he is our life in everything. His divinity is life, his eternity is life, his flesh is life, his passion is life. His death is life, his wound is life, his blood is life, his burial is life, his resurrection is everyone's life.
- He is the bean that has dissolved, he died in his body for us, to produce an abundant harvest in us.
- No task is more urgent than returning the thanks.
- And so his death is brought to life. So what has been done in him is life. Meat was made in him: it is life. Death was made in him: it is life. Remission of sins was made in him: it is life. Wound was made in him: it is life. Mockery was made in him: it is life. Partition was made in him: it is life. Burial was made in him: it is life. Resurrection was made in him: it is life. See how many things have been done in him! From them was produced the reversal of our existence, which was ruined and which was returned to us.
- Whoever promises God and keeps what he promised him, praises him.
- The earth was created as a common good for all, rich and poor.
St. Ambrose phrases
- What is sweeter than a psalm?
- Even man, specifically the inner one, was made in him, was crucified in him, was renewed in him, was buried in him, buried together with him, raised with him.
- Too long-winded prayer often becomes mechanical and on the other hand excessive distancing leads to negligence.
- What you give to the poor is not an asset of your property, but it is an asset that you return to it, because it is a common good given for the use of all, which you are wrongly enjoying alone.
- If individuals pray only for themselves, grace is only in proportion to everyone's prayer, according to his greater or lesser dignity. If, on the other hand, individuals pray for everyone, everyone pray for individuals and the advantage is greater.
- Whoever seeks Christ tries to see him not with the eyes of the external man, but with the internal gaze. The eternal cannot be seen in bodily appearances, since visible things are for a moment, invisible ones are eternal.
- First we must die to sin and only later can we establish in this body the variety of the various works of virtue with which to pay the Lord the homage of our devotion.
- Adam was led to sin by Eve, not Eve by Adam. It is right, therefore, that the woman should accept as master those who have led to sin.
- When you ask for forgiveness for yourself, then that is the moment to remind you that you must give it to others.
- If you also want to possess Christ, seek him incessantly and do not fear suffering.
- You think: times are bad, times are heavy, times are difficult. Live well and change your times.
- To hurt the enemy is victory; the criminal is justice; the innocent, the murder.
- Blessed is he at whose door Christ knocks. Our door is faith, which - if it is strong - strengthens the whole house. This is the door through which Christ enters.
- When you are in Rome, you live like the Romans; when you are in another place, you live as you live in that place.
