St. Thomas More: My Favorite Quotes

 
Thomas More - saint, knight, Lord Chancellor of England, author and martyr, born in London February 7, 1477 - 78; executed at Tower Hill, July 6, 1535.

"We cannot go to heaven in feather beds."

"Every tribulation which ever comes our way either is sent to be medicinal, if we will take it as such, or may become medicinal, if we will make it such, or is better than medicinal, unless we forsake it."

"What does it avail to know that there is a God, which you not only believe by Faith, but also know by reason: what does it avail that you know Him if you think little of Him?"

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest."

"But no matter how high in the clouds this arrow of pride may fly, and no matter how exuberant one may feel while being carried up so high, let us remember that the lightest of these arrows still has a heavy iron head. High as it may fly, therefore, it inevitably has to come down and hit the ground. And sometimes it lands in a not very clean place.”

"As Boethius says: For one man to be proud that he has rule over other men is much like one mouse being proud to have rule over other mice in a barn."

"What men call fame is, after all, but a very windy thing. A man things that many are praising him, and talking of him alone, and yet they spend but a very small part of the day thinking of him, being occupied with things of their own."

"Your reasons for wanting me to stay away from Holy Communion are exactly the ones which cause me to go so often. My distractions are great, but it is in Communion that I recollect myself. I have temptations many times a day; by daily Communion I get the strength to overcome them. I have much very important business to handle and I need light and wisdom; it is for this reason that I go to Holy Communion every day to consult Jesus about them." (St. Thomas More's response when friends reproached him for going to Holy Communion so often.)
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