Walter Hilton

“Regard yourself all the more as a sinner because you cannot feel yourself to be what you are.”

“The purpose of prayer is not to inform our Lord what you desire, for He knows all your needs. It is to render you able and ready to receive the grace which our Lord will freely give you. This grace cannot be experienced until you have been refined and purified by the fire of desire in devout prayer. For although prayer is not the cause for which our Lord gives grace, it is nevertheless the means by which grace, freely given, comes to the soul.”

“We therefore need to know the gifts given us by God, so that we may use them, for by these we shall be saved.”

“Some people understand the charity of our Lord and are saved by it; others, relying on this mercy and kindness, continue in their sins, thinking that it may be theirs whenever they wish. But this is not so, for then they are too late and are taken in their sins before they expect it, and so damn themselves.”

“There are many who are hypocrites although they think they are not, and there are many who are afraid of being hypocrites although they certainly are not. Which is the one and which is the other God knows, and none but He.”

“What is humility but truthfulness? There is no real difference.”

“I desire the love of God not because I am worthy, but because I am unworthy.”

“One who loves God retains this humility at all times, not with weariness and struggle, but with pleasure and gladness.”