Jerome

"Opulence is always the result of theft, if not committed by the actual possessor, then by his predecessor."

"Amicum qui diu quaeritur, vix invenitur, difficile servatur."

"Caritas non potest conparari; dilectio pretium non habet."

"Amicitia quae desinere potest vera numquam fuit."

"Facilius enim neglegentia emendari potest quam amor nasci."

"Libet, sarcina corporis abiecta, ad purum aetheris evolare fulgorem. Paupertatem times? sed beatos Christus pauperes appellat. Labore terreris? at nemo athleta sine sudore coronatur. De cibo cogitas? sed fides famem non timet. Super nudam metuis humum exesa ieiuniis membra collidere? sed Dominus tecum iacet. Squalidi capitis horret inculta caesaries? sed caput tuum Christus est. Infinita eremi vastitas te terret? sed tu paradisum mente deambula. Quotiescumque illuc cogitatione conscenderis, toties in eremo non eris."

"Si rivus tenuiter fluit, non est alvei culpa, sed fontis."

"Cum subito raptus in spiritu...."

"Asino quippe lyra superflue canit."

"Nisi quod in se habet mordacis aliquid veritatis."

"Ita se natura habet, ut amara sit veritas, blanda vitia existimentur."

"Et sicut viri fortes in controversiis solent facere, culpam praemio redimerem."

"Non confundant opera tua sermonem tuum: ne cum in Ecclesia loqueris, tacitus quilibet respondeat, cur ergo haec quae dicis, ipse non facis?"

"Nemo invito auditori libenter refert. Sagitta in lapidem nunquam figitur, interdum resiliens percutit dirigentem."

"Facile contemnitur clericus, qui saepe vocatus ad prandium, ire non recusat."

"Negotiatorem clericum, et ex inope divitem, ex ignobili gloriosum quasi quandam pestem fuge."

"Ne hoc quidem scire quod nescias."

"Bruta quoque animalia et vagae aves, in easdem pedicas retiaque non incidunt."

"Interdum animus dominarum ex ancillarum habitu iudicatur."

"Speculum mentis est facies, et taciti oculi cordis fatentur arcana."

"Alius vulnus, nostra sit cautio."

"Plenus venter facile de ieiuniis disputat."

"Grandes materias ingenia parva non sufferunt."

"O mors quae fratres dividis, et amore societos, crudelis ac dura dissocias."

"Quotidie morimur, quotidie commutamur, et tamen aternos nos esse credimus."

"Difficulter eraditur, quod rudes animi praebiberunt. Lanarum conchylia quis in pristinum colorem revocet?"

"Proclivis est enim malorum aemulatio, et quorum virtutes assequi nequeas, cito imitaris vitia."

"Let your daughter have first of all the book of Psalms for holiness of heart, and be instructed in the Proverbs of Solomon for her godly life."

"The tired ox treads with a firmer step."

"Athletes as a rule are stronger than their backers; yet the weaker presses the stronger to put forth all his efforts."

"Audio religiosam habere te matrem, multorum annorum viduam, quae aluit, quae erudivit infantem et post studia Galliarum, quae vel florentissima sunt, misit Romam non parcens sumptibus et absentiam filii spe sustinens futurorum, ut ubertatem Gallici nitoremque sermonis gravitas Romana condiret nec calcaribus in te sed frenis uteretur, quod et in disertissimis viris Graeciae legimus, qui Asianum tumorem Attico siccabat sale et luxuriantes flagellis vineas falcibus reprimebant, ut eloquentiae toreularia non verborum pampinis, sed sensuum quasi uvarum expressionibus redundarent."

"It is no fault of Christianity that a hypocrite falls into sin."

"The charges we bring against others often come home to ourselves; we inveigh against faults which are as much ours as theirs; and so our eloquence ends by telling against ourselves."

"Neither Britain, a province fertile in tyrants, nor the people of Ireland, knew Moses and the prophets."

"A dreadful rumor reached us from the West. We heard that Rome was besieged, that the citizens were buying their safety with gold, and that when they had been thus despoiled they were again beleaguered, so as to lose not only their substance but their lives. ...The speaker's voice failed and sobs interrupted his utterance. The city which had taken the whole world was itself taken; nay, it fell by famine before it fell by the sword, and there were but few to be found to be made prisoner."

"Privilegia paucorum non faciunt legem."

"Ignoratio Scripturarum, ignoratio Christi est."

"De mysterio Trinitatis, cujus recta confessio est ignoratio scientiae"

"They fill their houses through the plunder and losses of others, so that the saying of the philosophers may be fulfilled, 'Every rich man is unjust or the heir of an unjust one.' (Omnis dives aut iniquis aut iniqui haeres.)"

"Non digne Graeca in Latinum transfero: aut Graecos lege (si ejusdem linguae habes scientiam); aut si tantum Latinus es, noli de gratuito munere judicare, et, ut vulgare proverbium est: equi dentes inspicere donati."

"Before Arius arose in Alexandria as a demon of the south, things were said incautiously [regarding the Trinity] which cannot be defended against a malevolent criticism."

"Innocence would be dead long ago if wickedness were always allied to power, and calumny could prevail in all that it seeks to accomplish."

"To die is the lot of all, to commit homicide only of the weak man."

"Pardon me for having praised Origen's zeal for Scriptural learning in my youthful days before I fully knew his heresies; and I will grant you (Rufinus) forgiveness for having written an Apology for his works when your head was grey."

"In the case of Tertullian we praise his great talent, but we condemn his heresy. In that of Origen we admire his knowledge of the Scriptures, but nevertheless we do not accept his false doctrine. As to Didymus, however, we extol both his powers of memory, and the purity of his faith in the Trinity, while on the other point in which he erred in trusting to Origen we withdraw from him. The vices of our teachers are not to be imitated, their virtues are."

"To sin is human, to lay snares is diabolical."

"When you have said what you like, you shall bear what you do not like."

"To be deceived is the common lot of both layman and bishop."

"The truth is, men are elected to the episcopate who come from the bosom of Plato and Aristophanes. How many can you find among them who are not fully instructed in these writers? All, whoever they may be, that are ordained at the present day from among the literate class make it their study not how to seek out the marrow of Scripture, but how to tickle the ears of the people with the flowers of rhetoric."

"“According to your faith, be it done unto you,” says God. (Matt 9:29) I do not, indeed, like the sound of those words. For if it be done unto me according to my faith, I shall perish. And yet I certainly believe in God the Father, I believe in God the Son, and I believe in God the Holy Ghost. I believe in one God; nevertheless, I would not have it done unto me according to my faith. For the enemy often comes, and sows tares in the Lord's harvest. I do not mean to imply that anything is greater than the purity of heart which believes that mystery; but undoubted faith towards God it is hard indeed to find."