Top 100 Kempis Quotes
#1. As it happens I've spent a night and a day going through your records. Fascinating stuff." Kempis took a roll of parchment from his cloak and tossed it onto the desk. "You know what really bugs me?" Enli steepled his hands. "I'm on tenterhooks." "Anolamies." "Anomalies?" "Them too.
Marc Turner
#2. Go where thou wilt, seek what thou wilt, and thou shalt not find a higher way above, nor a safer way below, than the way of the holy Cross.
- Thomas A Kempis (The Following of Christ)
Thomas A Kempis
#4. Those who attempt to search into the majesty of God will be overwhelmed with His Glory!
Thomas A Kempis
#6. Your love for your friend should be grounded in Me, and for My sake you should love whoever seems to be good and is very dear to you in this life. Without Me friendship has no strength and cannot endure. Love which I do not bind is neither true nor pure.
Thomas A Kempis
#8. Now is the time to be doing, now is the time to be stirring, now is the time to amend myself.
Thomas A Kempis
#9. Sweet shall be your rest if your heart does not reproach you.
Thomas A Kempis
#10. Whoever finds Jesus, finds a rich treasure, and a good above every good. He who loses Jesus loses much indeed, and more than the whole world. Poorest of all is he who lives without Jesus, and richest of all is he who stands in favor with Jesus.
Thomas A Kempis
#11. The only safe ruler is he who has learned to obey willingly.
Thomas A Kempis
#12. For it is the grace of Christ, and not our own virtue, that gives us the power to overcome the flesh and the world.
Thomas A Kempis
#14. Seek a suitable time for thy meditation, and think frequently of the mercies of God to thee.
Thomas A Kempis
#15. O Lord, you know what is best for me. Let this or that be done, as you please. Give what you will, how much you will, and when you will.
Thomas A Kempis
#16. Love is swift, sincere, pious, joyful, generous, strong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, courageous, and never seeking its own; for wheresoever a person seeketh his own, there he falleth from love ...
Thomas A Kempis
#17. How great is the frailty of human nature which is ever prone to evil! Today you confess your sins and tomorrow you again commit the sins which you confessed.
Thomas A Kempis
#18. 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.
Thomas A Kempis
#19. If you can win complete mastery over self, you will easily master all else. To triumph over self is the perfect victory.
Thomas A Kempis
#20. If you gave more frequent thought to your death than to a long life, you would unquestionably be more eager to amend your life.
Thomas A Kempis
#21. Rest from inordinate desire or knowledge, for therein is found much distraction and deceit.
Thomas A Kempis
#22. And therefore ought each of us to give heed concerning trials and temptations, and watch unto prayer, lest the devil find occasion to deceive; for he never sleepeth, but goeth about seeking whom he may devour.
Thomas A Kempis
#23. The more and better thou knowest, the more heavy will be thy judgment unless thy life be also more holy.
Thomas A Kempis
#24. 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.
Thomas A Kempis
#25. Be assured that if you knew all, you would pardon all.
Thomas A Kempis
#26. Thou wilt always rejoice in the evening if thou has spent the day profitably.
Thomas A Kempis
#27. Esoteric words neither make us holy nor righteous; only a virtuous life makes us beloved of God. I would rather experience repentance in my soul than know how to define it.
Thomas A Kempis
#28. To assume you have it all figured out is a warning signal that you aren't humble enough to listen to God and to others. If you refuse to chisel away at arrogant attitudes, trouble lies ahead. You know very little if you claim to have all the answers.
Thomas A Kempis
#30. Renounce all things, and thou shalt find all things; give up thy lust, and thou shalt find rest.
Thomas A Kempis
#31. What I have given, I can take away and restore when it pleases Me. What I give remains Mine, and thus when I take it away I take nothing that is yours, for every good gift and every perfect gift is Mine.
Thomas A Kempis
#32. Nothing will hinder you more than thinking only about yourself.
Thomas A Kempis
#33. Don't flatter the rich, or appear to willing before the great.
Thomas A Kempis
#34. Christ was willing to suffer wrongs and to be despised, and do you dare to complain of anything?.
Thomas A Kempis
#35. But because many endeavor to get knowledge rather than to live well, they are often deceived and reap little or no benefit from their labor.
Thomas A Kempis
#36. A man that is well ordered in his soul needeth little the unkind demeanor of worldly people nor yet their proud behavior.
Thomas A Kempis
#37. Of what use is a long life, if we amend so little? Alas, a long life often adds to our sins rather than to our virtue!
Thomas A Kempis
#38. Endeavor to be patient in bearing with the defects and infirmities of others, of what sort 'soever they be; for that thyself also has many failings which must be borned with by others.
Thomas A Kempis
#39. A man who truly knows himself realizes his own worthlessness, and takes no pleasure in the praises of men.
Thomas A Kempis
#40. O Lord, self-renunciation is not the work of one day, nor children's sport; yea, rather in this word is included all perfection.
Thomas A Kempis
#41. Scruples, temptations, and fears, and cutting perplexities of the heart, are often the lot of the most excellent persons.
Thomas A Kempis
#42. 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.
Thomas A Kempis
#43. It is futile to wish for a long life, and then to give so little care to living well.
Thomas A Kempis
#44. The rich of this world will vanish like smoke, and no memory of their past pleasures will remain. But even in their lifetime they do not enjoy them without bitterness, weariness and fear, for the very things whence they derive their pleasures often carry with them the seeds of sorrow.
Thomas A Kempis
#45. Given to thee. If it seemeth to thee that thou knowest many things, and understandest them well, know also that there are many more things which thou knowest
Thomas A Kempis
#46. If you wish to draw profit, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and never with the design of gaining a reputation for learning.
Thomas A Kempis
#47. Restrain an inordinate desire for knowledge, in which is found much anxiety and deception. Learned men always wish to appear so, and desire recognition of their wisdom. But there are many matters, knowledge of which brings little or no advantage to the soul.
Thomas A Kempis
#48. We are not wise in ourselves.7 So we must support one another,8 be tolerant of each other,9 help, teach and advise one another. It is in times of trouble that we really discover the true value of our helpers. They do not weaken us, but reveal their true nature.
Thomas A Kempis
#49. If you wish to stand and progress as you ought, hold yourself an exile and a pilgrim on the earth.
Thomas A Kempis
#50. What doth it profit thee to enter into deep discussion concerning the Holy Trinity, if thou lack humility, and be thus displeasing to the Trinity? For verily it is not deep words that make a man holy and upright;
Thomas A Kempis
#51. Always be ready; always live in such a way that death can never find you unprepared.
Thomas A Kempis
#52. All Saints have passed through much tribulation and temptation, and have profited thereby. And they who endured not temptation became reprobate and fell away. There is no position so sacred, no place so secret, that it is without temptations and adversities.
Thomas A Kempis
#53. Let temporal things be in the use, eternal things in the desire.
Thomas A Kempis
#54. By two wings a man is lifted up from things earthly: by simplicity and purity.
Thomas A Kempis
#55. Oh, God. It was that damned tale that had stirred up these thoughts in her....
George Kempis
#56. The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid.
Thomas A Kempis
#57. Great tranquility of heart is his who cares for neither praise nor blame.
Thomas A Kempis
#58. Both above and below, without and within, which way so ever thou dost turn thee, everywhere thou shalt find the Cross; and everywhere of necessity thou must hold fast patience, if thou wilt have inward peace, and enjoy an everlasting crown.
Thomas A Kempis
#59. The deepest and most profitable lesson is this,the true knowlege and contempt of ourselves.
Thomas A Kempis
#61. Gladly we desire to make other men perfect, but we will not amend our own fault.
Thomas A Kempis
#62. There is no creature so small and abject, that it representeth not the goodness of God.
Thomas A Kempis
#63. How sweet it is to love, and to be dissolved, and as it were to bathe myself in thy love.
Thomas A Kempis
#64. The reflections on a day well spent furnish us with joys more pleasing than ten thousand triumphs.
Thomas A Kempis
#65. You are a man, not God; you are human, not an angel. How can you expect to remain always in a constant state of virtue, when this was not possible even for an angel of Heaven, nor for the first man in the Garden?
Thomas A Kempis
#66. He that seeketh anything else but simply God and the salvation of his soul, will find nothing but trouble and sorrow.
Thomas A Kempis
#67. We are often moved with passion and think it to be zeal.
Thomas A Kempis
#68. I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it.
Thomas A Kempis
#69. Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.
Thomas A Kempis
#71. Always be thou prepared, and so live that death may never find thee unprepared.
Thomas A Kempis
#72. Study to do another's will rather than thine own. Choose ever to have less rather than more. Seek ever the lower place and to be subject to all; ever wish and pray that the will of God may be perfectly done in thee and in all. Behold such a man enters the bounds of peace and calm.
Thomas A Kempis
#73. The highest in God's esteem are the lowest in their own.
Thomas A Kempis
#74. Do not read to satisfy curiosity or to pass the time, but study such things as move your heart to devotion.
Thomas A Kempis
#76. Love Jesus and keep Him as your friend. When all others forsake you He will not leave you nor will He allow you to perish on the last day. Whether you like it or not the day will come when you will find yourself separated from everyone and from everything.
Thomas A Kempis
#77. Constantly choose rather to want less, than to have more.
Thomas A Kempis
#78. Love feels no burden, regards not labors, strives toward more than it attains, argues not of impossibility, since it believes that it may and can do all things.
Thomas A Kempis
#79. We should have much more peace if we would not busy ourselves with the sayings and doings of others.
Thomas A Kempis
#80. A life without a purpose is a languid, drifting thing. Every day we ought to renew our purpose, saying to ourselves: This day let us make a sound beginning, for what we have hitherto done is nought.
Thomas A Kempis
#81. I have sought for happiness everywhere, but I have found it nowhere except in a little corner with a little book.
Thomas A Kempis
#82. Is a man one whit the better because he is grown great in other men's esteem?
Thomas A Kempis
#83. Caution is crediting, and reserve in speaking, and in revealing one's self to but very few, are the best securities both of a good understanding with the world, and of the inward peace of our own minds.
Thomas A Kempis
#84. Quickly enough we feel and reckon up what we bear at the hands of others, but we reflect not how much others are bearing from us.
Thomas A Kempis
#85. Happy is the man who renounces everything which may bring a stain or burden upon his conscience
Thomas A Kempis
#86. The enemy is more easily overcome if he be not suffered to enter the door of our hearts, but be resisted without the gate at his first knock.
Thomas A Kempis
#87. O God, You Who are the truth, make me one with You in love everlasting. I am often wearied
by the many things I hear and read, but in You is all that I long for. Let the learned be still, let all
creatures be silent before You; You alone speak to me.
Thomas A Kempis
#88. He that avoideth not small faults, by little and little falleth into greater.
Thomas A Kempis
#89. A man of peace does more good than a very learned man.
Thomas A Kempis
#90. SHUN the gossip of men as much as possible, for discussion of worldly affairs, even though sincere, is a great distraction inasmuch as we are quickly ensnared and captivated by vanity.
Thomas A Kempis
#91. Simplicity and purity are the two wings by which a man is lifted above all earthly things. Simplicity is in the intention - purity in the affection. Simplicity tends to God,- purity apprehends and tastes Him.
Thomas A Kempis
#92. All Scripture ought to be read in the spirit in which it was written.
Thomas A Kempis
#93. The man who is not yet wholly dead to self, is soon tempted, and is overcome in small and trifling matters.
Thomas A Kempis
#94. I would far rather feel remorse than know how to define it.
Thomas A Kempis
#95. Always keep a good distance between yourself and lying, quarreling, detracting, insulting and gossip. The person who can do that will some day learn to enjoy the silence.
Thomas A Kempis
#96. They will forget times of distress. Rough garments will become brilliant while silks and satins lose their sheen. The humble cottage will be more desirable than a palatial home. Patience will be more honorable than power. Obedience will count more than knowledge.
Thomas A Kempis
#97. Be Yourself -The man who is neither bent upon pleasing his fellows nor afraid of offending them will enjoy great peace.
Thomas A Kempis
#98. No one is so good that he is immune from temptation. We will never be entirely free from it ... There is no order so holy, no place so secret where there will be no temptation.
Thomas A Kempis
#99. Activate yourself to duty by remembering your position, who you are, and what you have obliged yourself to be.
Thomas A Kempis
#100. The Voice of Christ: My child, this is the disposition which you should have if you wish to walk with Me. You should be as ready to suffer as to enjoy. You should as willingly be destitute and poor as rich and satisfied.
Thomas A Kempis
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