The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass.
Saint AugustineRead
Bad company is like a nail driven into a post, which, after the first and second blow, may be drawn out with little difficulty; but being once driven up to the head, the pincers cannot take hold to draw it out, but which can only be done by the destruction of the wood.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Choosing the right company is crucial, as bad influences can leave lasting damage that is hard to remove.
This quote by Saint Augustine highlights the idea that negative associations and harmful relationships can have significant and lasting impacts on our lives. Just like a nail that is driven too deep into wood, bad company can create scars that are not easily removed and may require substantial effort or sacrifice to overcome.
Themes
CompanyInfluenceRelationshipsChoicesNegativity
In practice
Example use cases
During a mentorship seminar, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of surrounding oneself with positive influences.
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.
Saint AugustineRead
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.
Saint AugustineRead
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.
Saint AugustineRead
Whatever skills I have acquired, whatever gifts I have been given, I place them at Your service.
Saint AugustineRead
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.
Saint AugustineRead
Similar quotes
Before I knew that a man could kill a man, because it happens all the time. Now I know that even the person with whom you've shared food, or whom you've slept, even he can kill you with no trouble. The closest neighbor can kill you with his teeth: that is what I have Learned since the genocide, and my eyes no longer gaze the same on the face of the world.
Philip ZimbardoRead
We've got a thing called the 'tall poppy syndrome' in New Zealand, where if anyone is doing really well, it's quite common to try and bring them down - like, cut them down and say, 'You've been to the moon? So what? I mean, plenty of people have been to the moon.'
Taika WaititiRead
There is something so amiable in the prejudices of a young mind, that one is sorry to see them give way to the reception of more general opinions.
Jane AustenRead
A comfortable, convenient life is not a real life - the more comfortable, the less alive. The most comfortable life is in the grave.
RajneeshRead
Of a truth, men are mystically united: a mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one.
Thomas CarlyleRead
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Rutger HauerRead