Isidore of Seville Quotes

• If a man wants to be always in God's company, he must pray regularly and read regularly. When we pray, we talk to God; when we read, God talks to us.

  Isidore of Seville

  Men, Saint, Want

  100 Copy quote

• Nothing exists without music, for the universe itself is said to have been framed by a kind of harmony of sounds, and the heaven itself revolves under the tone of that harmony.

  Isidore of Seville

  Music, Heaven, Sound

  97 Copy quote

• Confession heals, confession justifies, confession grants pardon of sin, all hope consists in confession; in confession there is a chance for mercy.

  Isidore of Seville

  Faith, Christian, Hope

  93 Copy quote

• All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection. By reading we learn what we did not know; by reflection we retain what we have learned. The conscientious reader will be more concerned to carry out what he has read than merely to acquire knowledge of it. In reading we aim at knowing, but we must put into practice what we have learned in our course of study.

  Isidore of Seville

  Spiritual, Reading, Reflection

  85 Copy quote

• Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. Both are good when both are possible. Otherwise, prayer is better than reading.

  Isidore of Seville

  Prayer, Reading

  49 Copy quote

• The more you devote yourself to study of the sacred utterances, the richer will be your understanding of them, just as the more the soil is tilled, the richer the harvest.

  Isidore of Seville

  Catholic, Understanding, Utterance

  55 Copy quote

• War with vices, but peace with individuals.

  Isidore of Seville

  War, Vices, Individual

  37 Copy quote

• Teaching unsupported by grace may enter our ears, but it never reaches the heart. When God's grace does touch our innermost minds to bring understanding, then his word, which is received by the ear, can sink deep into the heart.

  Isidore of Seville

  Teaching, Heart, Grace

  53 Copy quote

• We, as Catholics are not permitted to believe anything of our own will, nor to choose what someone has believed of his. We have God's apostles as authorities, who did not themselves of their own wills choose anything of what they wanted to believe, but faithfully transmitted to the nations, the teachings of Christ.

  Isidore of Seville

  Teaching, Believe, Catholic

  46 Copy quote

• Tshe suffering of adversity does not degrade you but exalts you. Human tribulation teaches you; it does not destroy you. The more we are afflicted in this world, the greater is our assurance for the next. The more we sorrow in the present, ..the greater will be our joy in the future.

  Isidore of Seville

  Sympathy, Adversity, Joy

  42 Copy quote

• Letters are signs of things, symbols of words, whose power is so great that without a voice they speak to us the words of the absent; for they introduce words by the eye, not by the ear.

  Isidore of Seville

  Eye, Voice, Ears

  "An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages: Isidore of Seville", by Ernest Brehaut New York: B. Franklin, 1964.

  52 Copy quote

• Baptism is not the work of man but of Christ, and this sacrament is so holy that it would not be defiled, even if the minister were a murderer.

  Isidore of Seville

  Men, Baptism, Christ

  41 Copy quote

• Mary means enlightener, because She brought forth the Light of the world. In the Syriac tongue, Mary signifies Lady.

  Isidore of Seville

  Mean, Light, World

  36 Copy quote

• In the active life all the vices are first of all to be removed by the practice of good works, so that in the contemplative life a man may, with now purified mental gaze, pass on to the contemplation of the Divine Light.

  Isidore of Seville

  Men, Contemplative Life, Light

  33 Copy quote

• It is agreed that all sound which is the material of music is of three sorts. First is harmonica, which consists of vocal music; second is organica, which is formed from the breath; third is rhythmica, which receives its numbers from the beat of the fingers. For sound is produced either by the voice, coming through the throat; or by the breath, coming through the trumpet or tibia, for example; or by touch, as in the case of the cithara or anything else that gives a tuneful sound on being struck.

  Isidore of Seville

  Music, Voice, Numbers

  30 Copy quote

• Number is divided into even and odd. Even number is divided into the following: evenly even, evenly uneven, and unevenly uneven. Odd number is divided into the following: prime and incomposite, composite, and a third intermediate class (mediocris) which in a certain way is prime and incomposite but in another way secondary and composite.

  Isidore of Seville

  Class, Numbers, Way

  29 Copy quote

• Tolle numerum omnibus rebus et omnia pereunt.Take from all things their number and all shall perish.

  Isidore of Seville

  Numbers, Measurement, All Things

  35 Copy quote

• The name of medicine is thought to have been given from 'moderation', modus, that is, from a due proportion, which advises that things be done not to excess, but 'little by little', paulatim. For nature is pained by surfeit but rejoices in moderation. Whence also those who take drugs and antidotes constantly, or to the point of saturation, are sorely vexed, for every immoderation brings not health but danger.

  Isidore of Seville

  Health, Names, Medicine

  31 Copy quote

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