Inspirational Quotations by Francis de Sales (#646)

Today marks the birthday of Saint Francis de Sales (1567–1622,) a venerated Roman Catholic priest. This patron saint of writers and journalists (his feast day is January 24) was a Bishop of Geneva.

De Sales was born to an aristocratic family of the Duchy of Savoy (composing regions of today’s Italy, France, and Switzerland.) After studying law, he decided to pursue his sense of call to a priestly vocation, much to the disappointment of his ambitious father who wanted him to engage in a political career.

At age 35, de Sales was appointed the Catholic Bishop of Geneva, just as religious divisions spread across Europe following the Protestant Reformation. Specifically, Geneva and the surrounding cantons were deeply influenced by the French theologian John Calvin. De Sales reputedly won over half of the region’s Calvinists back to Roman Catholicism through his deep faith, gentle nature, and the eloquence of his writings. His two most influential works are Introduction to the Devout Life (1609) and Treatise on the Love of God (1616.)

In Treatise on the Love of God, de Sales challenged the contemporaneous belief that only those who withdrew from society to pursue a religious calling could realize a spiritual union with God. He declared that it could also be achieved by people busy with the ordinary affairs of the world: “It is an error, or rather a heresy, to say devotion is incompatible with the life of a soldier, a tradesman, a prince, or a married woman…. It has happened that many have lost perfection in the desert who had preserved it in the world.”

De Sales described the spiritual life as one of perpetual growth and transformation. In Introduction to a Devout Life he advises, “We must not be disturbed at our imperfections since for us perfection consists in fighting against them. How can we fight against them unless we see them, or overcome them unless we face them.”

De Sales also established the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary (commonly called the Visitation Sisters) in collaboration with Saint Jane Frances de Chantal.

Inspirational Quotations by Saint Francis de Sales

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)

A quarrel between friends, when made up, adds a new tie to friendship, as … the callosity formed round a broken bone makes it stronger than before.
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)

God requires a faithful fulfillment of the merest trifle given us to do, rather than the most ardent aspiration to things to which we are not called.
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)

Flowers often grow more beautifully on dung-hills than in gardens that look beautifully kept.
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)

We must never undervalue any person.—The workman loves not to have his work despised in his presence. Now God is present everywhere, and every person is his work.
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)

Friendships begun in this world will be taken up again, never to be broken off.
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving.
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them—every day begin the task anew.
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)

True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice.
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)

There are no galley-slaves in the royal vessel of divine love—every man works his oar voluntarily!
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)

There was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust.
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)

We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God.
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)