St John of the Cross Quotes: A Journey of Spiritual Wisdom

The endurance of darkness is the preparation for great light.

In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.

He who interrupts the course of his spiritual exercises and prayer is like a man who allows a bird to escape from his hand; he can hardly catch it again.

To reach satisfaction in all, desire its possession in nothing. To come to possess all, desire the possession of nothing.

The soul that walks in love neither rests nor grows tired.

It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others.

Where there is no love, put love, and you will draw out love.

The farther the soul advances, the less it has to say.

To love is to be transformed into what we love. To love God is therefore to be transformed into God.

The road is narrow. It is not enough to wish to be on the path.

Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved.

Silence is God’s first language.

God does not fit in an occupied heart.

Take God for your bride and friend and walk with him continually; and you will not sin and will learn to love, and the things you must do will work out prosperously for you.

Those who seek satisfaction in themselves will never be satisfied.

We must dig deeply in Christ. He is like a rich mine with many pockets containing treasures: however deep we dig we will never find their end or limit.

God has to work in the soul in secret and in darkness because if we fully knew what was happening, and what Mystery, transformation, God and Grace will eventually ask of us, we would either try to take charge or stop the whole process.

In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.

The more lofty the degree of loving union to which God destines the soul, so much more profound and persistent must be its purifications.

Endeavor to be inclined always not to think, but to do what is good.

To reach satisfaction in all, desire satisfaction in nothing.

Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved.

Although you perform many works, if you do not deny your will and submit yourself, losing all solicitude about yourself and your affairs, you will not reach perfection.

It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others.

We must dig deeply in Christ. He is like a rich mine with many pockets containing treasures: however deep we dig we will never find their end or their limit.

In order to be truly happy, the soul must be filled with truth.

Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent.

The soul that is attached to anything however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for, until the cord be broken the bird cannot fly.

One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer.

God passes through the thicket of the world, and wherever His glance falls He turns all things to beauty.

The endurance of darkness is the preparation for great light.

If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.

In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.

The road is narrow. He who wishes to travel it more easily must cast off all things and use the cross as his cane.

Never was a fount so clear, undimmed and bright; From it alone, I know proceeds all light.

Take God for your spouse and friend and walk with him continually, and you will not sin and will learn to love.

The more lofty the degree of loving union to which God destines the soul, so much more profound and persistent must be its purgations.

One act of thanksgiving, when things go wrong with us, is worth a thousand thanks when things are agreeable to our inclinations.

To reach satisfaction in all, desire satisfaction in nothing.

O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor haughty my eyes. I have not gone after things too great, nor marvels beyond me.

The soul that journeys in the light and verities of the faith is not deceived either by the devil or by its own senses, or by its desires.

It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others.

God does not fit in an occupied heart.

In the end of life, what matters is not to be great, but to be holy.

God does not abandon anyone who loves Him.

We must dig deeply in Christ. He is like a rich mine with many pockets containing treasures.

In detachment, the spirit finds quiet and repose for coveting nothing. Nothing wearies it by elation, and nothing oppresses it by dejection, because it stands in the center of its own humility.

To come to the possession of all, desire the possession of nothing.

Every step we take in love we tread on the love of self.