Pope Gregory I > Quotes

“We make Idols of our concepts, but Wisdom is born of wonder”
― St. Gregory the Great

“There are some so restless that when they are free from labour they labour all the more, because the leisure they they have for thought, the worse interior turmoil they have to bear.”
― St. Gregory the Great

“The bliss of the elect in heaven would not be perfect unless they were able to look across the abyss and enjoy the agonies of their brethren in eternal fire.”
― Pope Gregory I

“No one does more harm in the Church than he who has the title or rank of holiness and acts perversely.”
― Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“The sacred Scriptures grow with the one who reads them.”
― Pope Gregory I

“those who do not speak the words of God with humility must be advised that when they apply medicine to the sick, they must first inspect the poison of their own infection, or else by attempting to heal others, they kill themselves.”
― Pope Gregory I, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“If before the severe judge idle speech is reprehended, how much more that which is hurtful. Consider, then, how damnable those words be, which proceed of malice, when that talk shall be punished which proceedeth only from idleness.”
― Pope Gregory I, The Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great

“All men are equal by nature but are made unequal by sin, and therefore one should be ruled over by another.”
― Pope Gregory I

“I am an ape forced to play the lion.”
― Gregory the Great

“For it is no doubt impossible to eradicate everything at once from their obstinate minds, because he who endeavours to reach the highest place rises by degrees or steps and not by leaps.”
― Pope Gregory I

“And so there are some, as we have said, enriched with great gifts, who, while they are ardent for the studies of contemplation only, shrink from serving to their neighbour’s benefit by preaching; they love a secret place of quiet, they long for a retreat for speculation. With respect to which conduct, they are, if strictly judged, undoubtedly guilty in proportion to the greatness of the gifts whereby they might have been publicly useful. For with what disposition of mind does one who might be conspicuous in profiting his neighbours prefer his own privacy to the advantage of others, when the Only-begotten of the supreme Father Himself came forth from the bosom of the Father into the midst of us all, that He might profit many?”
― Pope Gregory I, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“The spiritual director should not reduce his attention to the internal life because of external occupations, nor should he relinquish his care for external matters because of his anxiety for the internal life.”
― Pope Gregory I, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“Pope Gregory believed that successful pastoral leadership required a balance between the contemplation of the isolated ascetic and the action of the well-trained administrator.”
― Pope Gregory I, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“Moreover, because the slothful mind is typically brought to its downfall gradually, when we fail to control our speech, we move on to more harsh words. Thus, at first, we are happy to speak of others kindly; afterwards, we begin to pick at the lives of those of whom we speak, and finally our tongues break into open slander against them.”
― Pope Gregory I, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“Necessity demands that one should carefully examine who it is that comes to the position of spiritual authority; and coming solemnly to this point, how he should live; and living well, how he should teach; and teaching rightly, with what kind of self-examination he should learn of his own weakness.”
― Pope Gregory I, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“[S]ome sins are forgiven in this world, and some other may be pardoned in the next: for that which is denied concerning one sin, is consequently understood to be granted touching some other.”
― Pope Gregory I, The Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great

“He must, therefore, be the model for everyone. He must be devoted entirely to the example of good living. He must be dead to the passions of the flesh and live a spiritual life. He must have no regard for worldly prosperity and never cower in the face of adversity. He must desire the internal life only.”
― Pope Gregory I, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“From his younger years, he always had the mind of an old man; for his age was inferior to his virtue. All vain pleasure he despised, and though he was in the world, and might freely have enjoyed such commodities as it yields, yet he esteemed it and its vanities as nothing.”
― Gregory the Great, Life and Miracles of St. Benedict

“because in truth these who know not the things of the Lord are unknown of the Lord; as Paul attests, who says, But if any man knoweth not, he shall not be known (1 Cor. xiv. 38).”
― Pope Gregory I, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“And let the fear and dread of you be upon all of the animals of the earth.”45 Clearly, fear and dread were prescribed for the animals, but evidently it was forbidden among humans. By nature a human is superior to a brute animal, but not other humans.”
― Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“Tunc enim robustius contra vitia erigitur, cum subdita rationi famulatur.”
― Pope Gregory I

“For, indeed, nothing is more fugitive than the heart, which deserts us as often as it slips away through bad thoughts.”
― Gregory the Great, The Book of the Pastoral Rule

“By the wounds of his body, he cured the wounds of his soul, in that he turned pleasure into pain, and by the outward burning of extreme smart, quenched that fire which, being nourished before with the fuel of carnal cogitations, inwardly burned in his soul: and by this means he overcame the sin, because he made a change of the fire.”
― Gregory the Great, Life and Miracles of St. Benedict

“The care of souls is the art of all arts.”
― Gregory the Great

“Painting can do for the illiterate what writing does for those who can read.”
― Pope Gregory the Great

“The shepherds themselves have not known understanding (Isai. lvi. 11); whom again the Lord denounces, saying, And they that handle the law knew Me not (Jer. ii. 8).”
― Pope Gregory I, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“Against such the Lord complains by the prophet, saying, They have reigned, and not by Me; they have been set up as princes, and I knew it not (Hos. viii. 4).”
― Pope Gregory I, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“For indeed, we sin greatly if we do not rejoice in the good works of others, and we gain no reward if we do not imitate the things that we love.”
― Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule

“For David said: 'Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me', was not himself born of any illicit union, but in lawful wedlock. But knowing himself to have been conceived in iniquity, he grieved that he had been born in sin, like a tree bearing in its branches the sap of evil drawn form its root. In saying this, he does not term the bodily union of married people iniquity, but the desire of such union. For there are many things that are lawful and legitimate, and yet in the doing of them we are to some extent contaminated. Lawful intercourse should be for the procreation of offspring, and not for mere pleasure; to obtain children, and not to satisfy lust.”
― Pope Gregory I

“certain Goth, named Galla, was of the impious sect of the Arians. This terrible Goth, during the reign of King Totila, did with monstrous cruelty persecute religious men of the Catholic Church. If any cleric or monk came into his sight, he was sure not to escape from his hands alive. This man, enraged with an insatiable desire of spoil and pillage, lighted one day upon a husbandman, whom he tormented with cruel torments. The rustic, overcome with pain, professed that he had committed his goods to the custody of the servant of God, Benedict. This he feigned that he might free himself from torments and prolong his life for some time. Then this Galla desisted from tormenting him and, tying his arms together with a strong cord, made him run before his horse to show him who this Benedict was that had received his goods. Thus the man went in front, having his arms bound, and brought him to the holy man’s monastery, whom he found sitting alone at the monastery gate, reading. Then the countryman said to Galla, who followed furiously after him, “See! This is Father Benedict whom I told you of.” The barbarous ruffian, looking upon him with enraged fury, thought to affright him with his usual threats, and began to cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Rise, rise and deliver up this rustic’s goods which thou hast received.” At whose voice the man of God suddenly lifted up his eyes from reading and saw him and also the countryman whom he kept bound; but, as he cast his eyes upon his arms, in a wonderful manner the cords fell off so quickly that no man could possibly have so soon untied them. When Galla perceived the man whom he brought bound so suddenly loosened and at liberty, struck with fear at the sight of so great power, he fell prostrate and bowed his stiff and cruel neck at the holy man’s feet, begging his prayers. But the holy man rose not from his reading, but called upon the brethren to bring him to receive his benediction. When he was brought to him, he exhorted him to leave off his barbarous and inhuman cruelty.”
― Pope Gregory I, Life and Miracles of St. Benedict