The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass.
Saint AugustineRead
Now the Apostle, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says, "Knowledge inflates: but love edifies." The only correct inerpretation of this saying is that knowledge is valuable when charity informs it. Without charity, knowledge inflates; that is, it exalts man to an arrogance which is nothing but a kind of windy emptiness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Knowledge can lead to arrogance if not guided by love and charity.
This quote by Saint Augustine emphasizes that knowledge alone is insufficient if it is not accompanied by love and charity. He warns that knowledge can elevate a person’s status but may also lead to arrogance and emptiness if it is not used with a loving intent to uplift others. True wisdom lies in the combination of knowledge and compassion, which enriches both the knower and those around them.
Themes
KnowledgeLoveCharityWisdomArrogance
In practice
Example use cases
During a seminar on ethics, you could use this quote to highlight the importance of compassion in leadership.
More from Saint Augustine
All quotes →There is no health in those who are displeased by an element in Your creation, just as there was none in me when I was displeased by many things You had made. Because my soul didn't dare to say that my God displeased me, it refused to attribute to You whatever was displeasing.
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Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.
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Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of his head are easier by far to count than his feeling, the movements of his heart.
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Whatever skills I have acquired, whatever gifts I have been given, I place them at Your service.
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Everyone who observes himself doubting observes a truth, and about that which he observes he is certain; therefore he is certain about a truth. Everyone therefore who doubts whether truth exists has in himself a truth on which not to doubt.... Hence one who can doubt at all ought not to doubt the existence of truth.
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