Top 160 Saint Francis de Sales Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Be who you are and be that well.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

2. “Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

3. “What we need is a cup of understanding, a barrel of love, and an ocean of patience.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

4. “Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

5. “Every Christian needs a half-hour of prayer each day, except when he is busy, then he needs an hour.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

6. “Have patience with all things – but first with yourself. Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being. You are perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumphs or tribulations can ever change that.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

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7. “Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

8. “Have patience to walk with short steps until you have wings to fly.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

9. “Anxiety is the greatest evil that can befall a soul, except sin. God commands you to pray, but He forbids you to worry.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

10. “We must fear God out of love, not love Him out of fear.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

11. “Great occasions for serving God come seldom, but little ones surround us daily.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

12. “In everything, love simplicity.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

13. “Take care of your health, that it may serve you to serve God.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

14. “Have patience with all things, But, first of all with yourself.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

15. “True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

16. “Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

17. “We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God. If at times we are somewhat stunned by the tempest, never fear. Let us take breath, and go on afresh.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

18. “You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

19. “Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

20. “A spoon full of honey gets more flies than a barrel full of vinegar.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

21. “There is nothing small in the service of God.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

22. “When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

23. “The Lord delights in every little step you take.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

24. “Friendship requires great communication.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

25. “God is present everywhere, and every person is His work.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

26. “We have freedom to do good or evil; yet to make choice of evil, is not to use, but to abuse our freedom.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

27. “I have made a pact with my tongue, not to speak when my heart is disturbed.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

28. “Never be hurried in anything. Do all things calmly and in a spirit of repose. Do not lose your inward peace even if everything seems to be going wrong. What is anything in life compared to peace of soul?”

— Saint Francis de Sales

29. “Every morning prepare your soul for a tranquil day.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

30. “God will either shield you from suffering or give you unfailing strength to bear it.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

31. “Faith is like a bright ray of sun light. It enables us to see God in all things as well as all things in God.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

32. “It is not those who commit the least faults who are the most holy, but those who have the greatest courage, the greatest generosity, the greatest love, who make the boldest efforts to overcome themselves, and are not immediately apprehensive about tripping.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

33. “Truly it is a blessed thing to love on earth as we hope to love in Heaven, and to begin that friendship here which is to endure for ever there.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

34. “Obedience is a consecration of the heart, chastity of the body, and poverty of all worldly goods to the Love and Service of God. Blessed indeed are the obedient, for God will never permit them to go astray.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

35. “Is it not a great temptation to be so valiant in imagination and so cowardly in execution?”

— Saint Francis de Sales

36. “To love our neighbor in charity is to love God in man.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

37. “Don’t get upset with your imperfections. Surrender to the Power of God’s Love, which is greater than our weakness.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

38. “Humility consists in not esteeming ourselves above other men, and in not seeking to be esteemed above them.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

39. “The state of marriage is one that requires more virtue and constancy than any other; it is a perpetual exercise in mortification.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

40. “Mount Calvary is the academy of love.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

41. “God takes pleasure to see you take your little steps; and like a good father who holds his child by the hand, He will accommodate His steps to yours and will be content to go no faster than you. Why do you worry?”

— Saint Francis de Sales

42. “Let God be the air in which your heart breathes at ease.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

43. “Make yourself familiar with the angels and behold them frequently in spirit; for without being seen, they are present with you.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

44. “You learn to love by loving.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

45. “Make sickness itself a prayer.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

46. “If, when stung by slander or ill-nature, we wax proud and swell with anger, it is a proof that our gentleness and humility are unreal, and mere artificial show.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

47. “He who stays not in his littleness, loses his greatness.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

48. “Work hard every day at increasing your purity of heart, which consists in appraising things and weighing them in the balance of God’s will.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

49. “Half an hour’s meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed.”

— Saint Francis de Sales

50. “Doing little things with a strong desire to please God makes them really great.”

— Saint Francis de Sales