Top 90 Ignatius of Loyola Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “It is proper to ask for sorrow with Christ in sorrow, anguish with Christ in anguish, tears and deep grief because of the great affliction Christ endures for me.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

52. “No idle word should be uttered. I understand a word to be idle when it serves no good purpose, either for myself or for another, and was not intended to do so.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

53. “If anyone asks you for something that you believe would be injurious to him, refuse, but in such a manner as not to lose his good-will.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

54. “Remember that the good angels do what they can to preserve men from sin and obtain God’s honor. But they do not lose courage when men fail.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

55. “He who is devout to the Virgin Mother will certainly never be lost.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

56. “Among the many signs of a lively faith and hope we have in eternal life, one of the surest is not being overly sad at the death of those whom we dearly love in our Lord.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

57. “Love is shown more in deeds than in words.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

58. “To withdraw from creatures and repose with Jesus in the Tabernacle is my delight; there I can hide myself and seek rest. There I find a life which I cannot describe, a joy which I cannot make others comprehend, a peace such as is found only under the hospitable roof of our best Friend.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

59. “So with that will prompt and prepared to serve all those whom I perceive to be servants of my Lord, I will speak of three things with simplicity and love as if I were speaking to my own soul.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

60. “The servant of God earns half a doctorate through illness.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

61. “As for joy, as little as one can have of it in this life, experience shows that it is not the idle who possess it, but those who are zealous in the service of God.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

62. “He who has heard the Word of God can bear his silences...”

— Ignatius of Loyola

63. “They who load us with insults and ignominies give us the means of acquiring treasures more precious than any that man can gain in this life.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

64. “All the honey that can be gathered from the flowers of this world has less sweetness than the vinegar and gall of Jesus Christ our Lord.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

65. “Stand firm and immovable as an anvil when it is beaten upon.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

66. “If one fears men much he will never do anything great for God: all that one does for God arouses persecution.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

67. “For it is not knowing much, but realising and relishing things interiorly, that contents and satisfies the soul.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

68. “Do not put faith in constant happiness, and fear most when all smiles upon you.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

69. “It is not the finest wood that feeds the fire of Divine love, but the wood of the Cross.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

70. “Concerning the harsh treatment of the body for our Lord’s sake, I would say, avoid anything that would cause the shedding even of a drop of blood.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

71. “Spiritual infirmities such as tepidity are caused, not only by chills but also by fevers, that is, by excessive zeal.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

72. “Let your modesty be a sufficient incitement, yea, an exhortation to everyone to be at peace on their merely looking at you.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

73. “Let me look at the foulness and ugliness of my body. Let me see myself as an ulcerous sore running with every horrible and disgusting poison.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

74. “The safest and most suitable form of penance seems to be that which causes pain in the flesh but does not penetrate to the bones, that is, which causes suffering but not sickness.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

75. “There is no doubt that God will never be wanting to us, provided that He finds in us that humility which makes us worthy of His gifts, the desire of possessing them, and the promptitude to co-operate industriously with the graces He gives us.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

76. “To have prevented one single sin is reward enough for the labors and efforts of a whole lifetime.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

77. “We should not have a petty regard for God’s gifts, though we may and should despise our own imperfections.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

78. “A religious ought to dread more being afraid of poverty than experiencing it.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

79. “Calisto, a companion of Ignatius, and who on recovering from a severe illness had heard of the imprisonment of Ignatius, hastened from Segnovia, where he was staying, and came to Alcala, that he, too, might be cast into prison.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

80. “Considering that the blessed life we so long for consists in an intimate and true love of God Our Creator and Lord, which binds and obliges us all to a sincere love.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

81. “He learned by experience that one train of thought left him sad, the other joyful. This was his first reasoning on spiritual matters.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

82. “If you attach your heart to certain places and occupations, obedience oftentimes places you in some other place that you may not like; to be always cheerful, be always humble and obedient.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

83. “Next it dawned on him that the former ideas were of the world, the latter God-sent; finally, worldly thoughts began to lose their hold, while heavenly ones grew clearer and dearer.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

84. “The picture. A great plain, comprising the entire Jerusalem district, where is the supreme Commander-in-Chief of the forces of good, Christ our Lord: another plain near Babylon, where Lucifer is, at the head of the enemy.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

85. “It is one thing to be eloquent and charming in profane speech, and another when the one speaking as a religious.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

86. “If, one day, I should offend God in any way, or grow remiss, though ever so little, in that which concerns His holy service and glory, I solemnly implore Him, rather let me die.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

87. “We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears white is really black, if the hierarchy of the Church so decides.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

88. “Above all, remember that God looks for solid virtues in us, such as patience, humility, obedience, abnegation of your own will – that is, the good will to serve Him and our neighbor in Him. His providence allows us other devotions only insofar as He sees that they are useful to us.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

89. “Fifth Rule. The fifth: In time of desolation never to make a change; but to be firm and constant in the resolutions and determination in which one was the day preceding such desolation, or in the determination in which he was in the preceding consolation. Because, as in consolation it is rather the good spirit who guides and counsels us, so in desolation it is the bad, with whose counsels we cannot take a course to decide rightly.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

90. “A thick and shapeless trunk would never believe that it could become a statue, admired as a miracle of sculpture, and would never consent to submit itself to the chisel of the sculptor who sees by his genius what he can make of it.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

91. “Up to his twenty-sixth year the heart of Ignatius was enthralled by the vanities of the world. His special delight was in the military life, and he seemed led by a strong and empty desire of gaining for himself a great name.”

— Ignatius of Loyola

92. “The Third Method of Prayer is that with each breath in or out, one has to pray mentally, saying one word of the Our Father, or of another prayer which is being recited: so that only one word be said between one breath and another, and while the time from one breath to another lasts, let attention be given chiefly to the meaning of such word, or to the person to whom he recites it, or to his own baseness, or to the difference from such great height to his own so great lowness.”

— Ignatius of Loyola