Louis de Wohl > Quotes

“There is nothing to unify God and the soul but the Cross.”
― Louis de Wohl, The Quiet Light: A Novel About Thomas Aquinas

“Gregor flushed as he went on: "The entire content of the Confesions could be put into one single sentence in the book: when Augustine addresses God, saying: 'Thou hast made us for Thyself and our heart is unquiet until it rests in Thee.' This sentence, my lords and friends, is immortal. It contains the very heart of religion.”
― Louis de Wohl The Restless Flame

“Tell me, son... have you ever been intimidated by anyone?'
'Oh yes,' said Thomas.
'I don't believe it. By whom?'
'By Our Lord... on the altar.”
― Louis de Wohl

“Nos hiciste para Ti y nuestro corazón está inquieto mientras no descanse en Ti.”
― Louis de Wohl, Corazón inquieto: La vida de san Agustín

“the vows before the Superior elected. Shortly before nine o’clock he went to see Father Ignatius to say goodbye. He found him out of bed and just finished dressing. Ignatius put his arm round the younger man’s shoulders and limped with him to the door. “Rodriguez left a quarter of an hour ago”, he said. It was a very beautiful morning. “Who is going to do all those letters now?” Francis blurted out. Ignatius smiled—without answering. And suddenly Francis knew that he would never see this man again, this incredible man whom he loved more than he had loved anybody else on earth; he knew that there was between them a very special love, beyond all the ties with the other companions, born of the air and soil and blood of their country, born out of the very hardships of the battle Ignatius had waged to win him over during all those long years in Paris. And he knew that the gateway to heaven could look like a man and be a man, a small, frail, bald man, who was for Christ on earth what Saint Michael was for God in heaven. “Go”, said Ignatius. “Go and set all afire.”
― Louis de Wohl, Set All Afire: A Novel of St. Francis Xavier

“But in this life on earth we have not only the fear but the certainty that we shall lose it. For one day we must die. Therefore true happiness... lasting, everlasting happiness cannot be our lot on earth. Nor could it be otherwise. For everlasting happiness is only another name for God.”
― Louis de Wohl, The Quiet Light: A Novel About Thomas Aquinas

“la verdad sigue siendo verdad aunque la exprese un mentiroso.”
― Louis de Wohl, El último cruzado: la vida de Don Juan de Austria

“Once more, as in the times of Nero and Diocletian and Attila, people were whispering of the Antichrist.”
― Louis de Wohl, The Quiet Light: A Novel of St. Thomas Aquinas

“not a particularly courageous one. It is better to face the problems of your own time and deal with them as best you can. As for me, I have no wish to live in a pagan Rome, whether it be in republican times or under Augustus. And under”
― Louis de Wohl, Citadel of God: A Novel about Saint Benedict

“A saint was a lover; he was in love with God. A true lover was happiest when talking to the beloved, and next to that, when he could talk about the beloved. Whatever he did, said, or thought would always encompass the beloved or be encompassed by the beloved. Lesser men were like the moon, reflecting the divine fire as light, but the lover, the saint, was like the sun, lit up by the divine fire, burning and yet not consumed. It was the light of that fire that made the monastery what it was, a radiant place full of happy expectation. Only the best could live here all the time. He could not. I wish I could die here though, he thought.”
― Louis de Wohl, Citadel of God: A Novel about Saint Benedict

“I know. That’s just it. So are Christ’s miracles. Historical facts. Reported by eyewitnesses. I can see no reason why I should believe Flavius Josephus when he tells me about the destruction of Jerusalem but not the Apostle John when he tells me about the miracles of Christ. I have no reason whatsoever to doubt either author’s sincerity.”
― Louis de Wohl, The Living Wood: A Novel about Saint Helena and the Emperor Constantine

“Hay algo sagrado en el alumbramiento del pensamiento, como en el de una criatura.”
― Louis de Wohl, Corazón inquieto: La vida de san Agustín

“I have come to believe that very intelligent people often suffer from a special kind of stupidity," said Roger. "Sometimes it serves as a kind of armor for them. As long as they can doubt something, they don't think they need to believe it. And if they don't believe it, why should they keep the obligations that come with it?”
― Louis de Wohl, The Joyful Beggar: A Novel of St. Francis of Assisi