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Inordinate love for the flesh is cruelty, because under the appearance of pleasing the body, we kill the soul.

Bernard of Clairvaux

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Bernard of Clairvaux
Abbot
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Mystic
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Religious
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Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Saint Bernard
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
St. Bernard
Bernhard
Kill
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Inordinate
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More quotes by Bernard of Clairvaux

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Among us on the earth there is His memory but in the Kingdom of heaven His very Presence. That Presence is the joy of those who have already attained to beatitude the memory is the comfort of us who are still wayfarers, journeying towards the Fatherland.
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It's not as if grace did one half of the work and free choice the other each does the whole work, in its own peculiar contribution. Grace does the whole work, and so does free choice - with this one qualification: That whereas the whole is done in free choice, so is the whole done of grace.
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there are four degrees of love: 1) Love of self for self's sake. 2) Love of God for self's sake. 3) Love of God for God's own sake. 4) Love of self for God's sake.
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Therefore gird yourselves manfully and take up joyful arms for the name of God.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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With her for guide, you shall never go astray while invoking her, you shall never lose heart so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception while she holds your hand, you cannot fall under her protection you have nothing to fear if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary if she shows you favor, you shall reach the goal.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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Action and contemplation are very close companions they live together in one house on equal terms. Martha and Mary are sisters.
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My child, seek those things which make for peace. Cease to stir up the King against the Church, and urge upon him a better course of action. If you will promise to do this, I in return promise to entreat the merciful Lord to grant you offspring.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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If then you are wise, you will show yourself rather as a reservoir than as a canal. For a canal spreads abroad water as it receives it, but a reservoir waits until it is filled before overflowing, and thus communicates, without loss to itself, its superabundant water. In the Church at the present day, we have many canals, few reservoirs.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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Learn first to love yourself, and then you can love me.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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Humility in furs is better than pride in tunics.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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There are some who wish to learn for no other reason than that they may be looked upon as learned, which is ridiculous vanity ... Others desire to learn that they may morally instruct others, that is love. And, lastly, there are some who wish to learn that they may be themselves edified and that is prudence.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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Ingratitude is the soul's enemy... Ingratitude is a burning wind that dries up the source of love, the dew of mercy, the streams of grace.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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If you would know whether you have made a good confession, ask yourself I you have resolved to abandon your sins.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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Wherever...thou shalt be, pray secretly within thyself. If thou shalt be far from a house of prayer, give not thyself trouble to seek for one, for thou thyself art a sanctuary designed for prayer. If thou shalt be in bed, or in any other place, pray there thy temple is there.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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It was love that motivated His self-emptying, that led Him to become a little lower than angels, to be subject to parents, to bow His head beneath the Baptist's hands, to endure the weakness of the flesh, and to submit to death even upon the cross
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God will either give us what we ask, or what He knows to be better for us.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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From the best bliss that earth imparts, we turn unfilled to Thee again.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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Understanding is the sure and clear knowledge of some invisible thing.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you need is not a sceptre but a hoe.
Bernard of Clairvaux
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Let no one believe that he has received the divine kiss, if he knows the truth without loving it or loves it without understanding it. But blessed is that kiss whereby not only is God recognized but also the Father is loved for there is never full knowledge without perfect love.
Bernard of Clairvaux