Top Twenty St. John Paul II Quotes

October 22 is the feast of Saint John Paul II. Here are my all-time top twenty favorite quotes from Saint John Paul II:

1.  "Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."

2. "True holiness does not mean a flight from the world; rather, it lies in the effort to incarnate the Gospel in everyday life, in the family, at school and at work, and in social and political involvement."

3.  "When the cross is embraced it becomes a sign of love and of total self-giving. To carry it behind Christ means to be united with him in offering the greatest proof of love … the choice is between a full life and an empty existence, between truth and falsehood."
~ Pope St. John Paul II, World Youth Day, February 2001.

4.  "As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live."

5.  "It is Jesus you seek when you dream of happiness. He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are attracted;...it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices others try to stifle." - World Youth Day, 2000

6.  "It is unbecoming for a cardinal to ski badly."

7.  "I have a sweet tooth for song and music. This is my Polish sin."

8.  "I am a young person aged 83 -- speaking to youths."

9.  "The Pope cannot remain a prisoner of the Vatican. I want to go to everybody...from the nomads of the steppes to the monks and nuns in their convents...I want to cross the threshold of every home."

10. "What really maters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love Him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And, without the love of Jesus, everything is useless."

11. "The goal and target of our life is He, the Christ who awaits us -- each one singly and altogether -- to lead us across the boundaries of time to the eternal embrace of the God who loves us."

12. "There is no evil to be faced that Christ does not face with us. There is no enemy that Christ has not already conquered. There is no cross to bear that Christ has not alreasy borne for us, and does not now bear with us."

13. "Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power ... Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of states, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development."

14. "Jesus Christ has taken the lead on the way of the cross. He has suffered first. He does not drive us toward suffering but shares it with us, wanting us to have life and to have it in abundance."

15. “From the paradox of the Cross springs the answer to our most worrying questions. Christ suffers for us. He takes upon himself the sufferings of everyone and redeems them. Christ suffers with us, enabling us to share our pain with him.  United to the suffering of Christ, human suffering becomes a means of salvation.”
– Pope St. John Paul II, Message for the World Day of the Sick, February 11, 2004

16. "To be actively pro-life is to contribute to the renewal of society through the promotion of the common good. It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop." -- Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life),101, 1995

17. “A person’s rightful due is to be treated as an object of love, not as an object for use.”

18. “Love between man and woman cannot be built without sacrifices and self-denial.”

19. “I plead with you! Never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.”

20. “It is the duty of every man to uphold the dignity of every woman.”