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If you do not learn to deny yourself, you can make no progress in perfection.

John of the Cross

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John of the Cross
Age: 49 †
Born: 1542
Born: June 24
Died: 1591
Died: December 14
Carmelite Friar
Catholic Priest
Poet
Saint
Writer
Saint John of the Cross
Juan de la Cruz
Make
Deny
Perfection
Progress
Learn

More quotes by John of the Cross

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Let my soul live as if separated from my body.
John of the Cross
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My sole occupation is love.
John of the Cross
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If you lose an opportunity you will be like one who lets the bird fly away you will never get it back.
John of the Cross
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He who loves is not ashamed before men of what he does for God, neither does he hide it through shame though the whole world should condemn it.
John of the Cross
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Live in faith and hope, though it be in darkness, for in this darkness God protects the soul. Cast your care upon God for you are His and He will not forget you. Do not think that He is leaving you alone, for that would be to wrong Him.
John of the Cross
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Faith is a dark night for man, but in this very way it gives him light.
John of the Cross
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The centre of the soul is God and, when the soul has attained to Him according to the whole capacity of its being, which is the strength and virtue of the soul, it will have reached the last and the deep centre of the soul, which will be when with all its powers it loves and understands and enjoys God.
John of the Cross
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Would that men might come at last to see that it is quite impossible to reach the thicket of the riches and wisdom of God except by first entering the thicket of much suffering, in such a way that the soul finds there its consolation and desire. The soul that longs for divine wisdom chooses first, and in truth, to enter the thicket of the cross.
John of the Cross
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God leads every soul by a separate path.
John of the Cross
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Though the path is plain and smooth for men of good will, he who walks it will not travel far, and will do so only with difficulty, if he does not have good feet: that is, courage and a persevering spirit.
John of the Cross
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Never listen to accounts of the frailty of others and if anyone should complain to you of another, humbly ask him not to speak about him at all.
John of the Cross
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Seek in reading and thou shalt find in meditation knock in prayer and it shall be opened in contemplation.
John of the Cross
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Desolation is a file, and the endurance of darkness is preparation for great light.
John of the Cross
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God passes through the thicket of the world, and wherever His glance falls He turns all things to beauty.
John of the Cross
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However softly we speak, God is so close to us that he can hear us nor do we need wings to go in search of him, but merely to seek solitude and contemplate him within ourselves, without being surprised to find such a good Guest there.
John of the Cross
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However high be your endeavors, unless you renounce and subjugate your own will - unless you forget yourself and all that pertains to yourself - not one step will you advance on the road to perfection.
John of the Cross
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At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.
John of the Cross
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Never relax, for you will not attain to the possession of true spiritual delights if first you do not learn to deny your every desire.
John of the Cross
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Not to follow the advice of our confessor is pride and a want of faith.
John of the Cross
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God desires the smallest degree of purity of conscience in you more than all the works you can perform.
John of the Cross