Francois Fenelon (1651 – 1715) was a French Roman Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer. Today he is remembered mostly as the author of The Adventures of Telemachus, first published in 1699. Fenelon’s early education was provided in the Chateau de Fenelon by private tutors, who gave him a thorough grounding in the language and literature of the Greek and Latin classics. At age 12 he was sent to the University of Cahors, where he studied rhetoric and philosophy. Following further education in theology, he was ordained as a priest when he was 24 years old.
Quotes by Francois Fenelon…
Remain in peace; the fervor of devotion does not depend upon yourself; all that lies in your power is the direction of your will. Give that up to God without reservation. The important question is not how much you enjoy religion, but whether you will whatever God wills. Humbly confess your faults; be detached from the world, and abandoned to God; love him more than yourself, and his glory more than your life; the least you can do is to desire and ask for such a love. God will then love you and put his peace in your heart.
Never let us be discouraged with ourselves. It is not when we are conscious of our faults that we are the most wicked, on the contrary, we are less so. We see by a brighter light, and let us remember for our consolation, that we never perceive our sins till we begin to cure them.
It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are, the more quiet and gentle we become towards the defects of others.
The entire root of your problem is that you cannot get outside of yourself.
This simplicity expands itself little by little to outer things.
True piety has in it nothing weak, nothing sad, nothing constrained. It enlarges the heart. It is simple, free, and attractive.
Make not a close friend of a melancholy, sad person. He will be sure to increase your adversity and decrease your good fortune. He goes always heavily loaded, and you must bear half.
If we were faultless, we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate. If we were to acknowledge honestly that we have not virtue enough to bear patiently with our neighbor’s weaknesses, we should show our own imperfection, and this alarms our vanity.
God never makes us sensible of our weaknesses, except to give us of his strength.
Be free, gay, simple, a child. But be a sturdy child who fears nothing.
