He prays well who is so absorbed with God that he does not know he is praying.
François de Sales (1567-1622) French bishop, saint, writer [a.k.a. Francis de Sales, b. François de Boisy]
(Attributed)
Quotations by:
François de Sales
Nothing is so strong as gentleness; nothing so gentle as real strength.
François de Sales (1567-1622) French bishop, saint, writer [a.k.a. Francis de Sales, b. François de Boisy]
(Attributed)
Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself.
François de Sales (1567-1622) French bishop, saint, writer [a.k.a. Francis de Sales, b. François de Boisy]
(Attributed)
Those who love to be feared fear to be loved.
François de Sales (1567-1622) French bishop, saint, writer [a.k.a. Francis de Sales, b. François de Boisy]
(Attributed)
In Jean-Pierre Camus, The Spirit of Saint Francis de Sales, 7.3 (1952)
My test of the real worth of a man as a preacher is when his congregation go away, saying, not, “What a beautiful sermon!” but “I will do something.”
François de Sales (1567-1622) French bishop, saint, writer [a.k.a. Francis de Sales, b. François de Boisy]
(Attributed)
(Source)
The more you say, the less people remember.
The fewer the words, the greater the profit.
François de Sales (1567-1622) French bishop, saint, writer [a.k.a. Francis de Sales, b. François de Boisy]
(Attributed)
In S.A. Bent, comp., Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men (1887). Usually attributed, due to structure of that reference, to Francois Fénelon.
The world often looks with contempt upon piety because it pictures the pious as men of downcast and sorrowful faces, but Christ himself testifies that the inner life is a soft, sweet, and happy one.
François de Sales (1567-1622) French bishop, saint, writer [a.k.a. Francis de Sales, b. François de Boisy]
Introduction to a Devout Life (1618)
A brave man can easily bear with contempt, slander, and false accusations from an evil world; but to bear such injustice at the hands of good men, of friends and relations, is a great test of patience.
François de Sales (1567-1622) French bishop, saint, writer [a.k.a. Francis de Sales, b. François de Boisy]
Introduction to a Devout Life, Part III, no. 3, “On Patience” (1618)
There was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust.
François de Sales (1567-1622) French bishop, saint, writer [a.k.a. Francis de Sales, b. François de Boisy]
Introduction to the Devout Life (1609)
Fear is a greater evil than the evil itself.
François de Sales (1567-1622) French bishop, saint, writer [a.k.a. Francis de Sales, b. François de Boisy]
Letters to Persons in the World, 6,12
Love is the abridgment of all theology.
François de Sales (1567-1622) French bishop, saint, writer [a.k.a. Francis de Sales, b. François de Boisy]
Treatise on the Love of God, Book 9, ch. 1 [tr. Mackey (1884)]
(Source)