QuoteProject
Should you ask me what is the first thing in religion, I should reply that the first, second, and third thing therein is humility.
Saint Augustine
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Humility is the core principle of religion and spirituality.

Saint Augustine emphasizes that humility is fundamental to the practice of religion, suggesting that without a humble attitude, the essence of faith and spirituality may not be truly understood or embraced. This quote highlights humility as a foundational virtue that shapes our interactions with God and with one another.

Themes

HumilityReligionFaithSpiritualityVirtue

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a sermon to emphasize the importance of humility in religious life.

More from Saint Augustine

The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass.
Saint AugustineRead
There is no health in those who are displeased by an element in Your creation, just as there was none in me when I was displeased by many things You had made. Because my soul didn't dare to say that my God displeased me, it refused to attribute to You whatever was displeasing.
Saint AugustineRead
Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.
Saint AugustineRead
Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of his head are easier by far to count than his feeling, the movements of his heart.
Saint AugustineRead
Whatever skills I have acquired, whatever gifts I have been given, I place them at Your service.
Saint AugustineRead
Everyone who observes himself doubting observes a truth, and about that which he observes he is certain; therefore he is certain about a truth. Everyone therefore who doubts whether truth exists has in himself a truth on which not to doubt.... Hence one who can doubt at all ought not to doubt the existence of truth.
Saint AugustineRead

Similar quotes

Where both reason and experience fall short, there occurs a vacuum that can be filled by faith.
Jostein GaarderRead
CERBERUS, n. The watch-dog of Hades, whose duty it was to guard the entrance - against whom or what does not clearly appear; everybody, sooner or later, had to go there, and nobody wanted to carry off the entrance.
Ambrose BierceRead
The word 'ivory' rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. By Jove! I've never seen anything so unreal in my life. And outside, the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something great and invincible, like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion.
Joseph ConradRead
Capitalism is not the system of the past; it is the system of the future -- if mankind is to have a future
Ayn RandRead
When the palace is magnificent, the fields are filled with weeds, and the granaries are empty.
LaoziRead
A function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it invites a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it passes for acceptance of an idea.
William O. DouglasRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.