François Fénelon Quotes (1651-1715)

Philosopher, Poet

About François Fénelon

François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai (August 6 1651 – January 7 1715) was a French educationalist, critic, poet, and political and religious philosopher.

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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful François Fénelon quotes.

“The presence of God calms the soul, and gives it quiet and repose.”
“God never makes us sensible of our weakness except to give us of His strength.”
François Fénelon
“If we love Him infinitely more than we do ourselves, we make an unconditional sacr”
“Sur-tout ne vous laissez point ensorceler par les attraits diaboliques de la géométrie.”
“Je proteste que personne n'admire Cicéron plus que je fais: il embellit tout ce qu’il touche.”
“D'ordinaire, ceux qui gouvernent les enfants ne leur pardonnent rien, et se pardonnent tout à eux-mêmes.”
“Le bon historien n'est d'aucun temps ni d'aucun pays: quoiqu'il aime sa patrie, il ne la flatte jamais en rien.”
“L'humilité produit le support d'autrui. La vue seule de nos misères peut nous rendre compatissants et indulgents pour celles d'autrui”
“Toutes les guerres sont civiles; car c'est toujours l'homme contre l'homme qui répand son propre sang, qui déchire ses propres entrailles.”
“Let us endeavor to commence every enterprise with a pure view to the glory of God, continue it without distraction, and finish it without impatience.”
François Fénelon
“Quiconque est capable de mentir est indigne d'être compté au nombre des hommes; et quiconque ne sait pas se taire est indigne de gouverner.”
“Tout le genre humain n’est qu’une famille dispersée sur la face de toute la terre. Tous les peuples sont frères, et doivent s’aimer comme tels.”
“We are never less alone than when we are in the society of a single, faithful friend; never less deserted than when we are carried in the arms of the All-Powerful.”
François Fénelon
“O Lord! take my heart, for I cannot give it; and when Thou hast it, O! keep it, for I cannot keep it for Thee; and save me in spite of myself, for Jesus Christ's sake.”
“When you come to be sensibly touched, the scales will fall from your eyes; and by the penetrating eyes of love you will discern that which your other eyes will never see.”
François Fénelon
“This poor world, the object of so much insane attachment, we are about to leave; it is but misery, vanity, and folly; a phantom, — the very fashion of which "passeth away."”
François Fénelon
“Here it is that the Spirit teaches us all truth; for all truth is eminently contained in this sacrifice of love, where the soul strips itself of every thing to present it to God.”
François Fénelon
“Nous verrons à sa lumière, dans l'éternité, que ce que nous désirions nous eût été funeste, et que ce que nous voulions éviter était essentiel à notre bonheur.”
“O God, the creature knows not to what end Thou hast made Him; teach him, and write in the depths of his soul that the clay must suffer itself to be shaped at the will of the potter.”
“God works in a mysterious way in grace as well as in nature, concealing His operations under an imperceptible succession of events, and thus keeps us always in the darkness of faith.”
“Pure love is in the will alone; it is no sentimental love, for the imagination has no part in it; it loves, if we may so express it, without feeling, as faith believes without seeing.”
François Fénelon
“This is the love that does all things; that brings to pass even the evils we suffer; so shaping them that they are but instruments of preparing the good which, as yet, has not arrived.”
“There is but one way in which God should be loved, and that is to take no step except with Him and for Him, and to follow with a generous self-abandonment every thing which He requires.”
“We may be sure that it is the love of God only that can make us come out of self. If His powerful hand did not sustain us, we should not know how to take the first step in that direction.”
“If we had strength and faith enough to trust ourselves entirely to God, and follow Him simply wherever He should lead us, we should have no need of any great effort of mind to reach perfection.”
François Fénelon

François Fénelon Quotes by Topic

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François Fénelon on Prayer 4 quotes

“Prayer is so necessary, and the source of so many blessings, that he who has discovered the treasure cannot be prevented from having recourse to it, whenever he has an opportunity.”
François Fénelon
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François Fénelon on Temptation 3 quotes

“The realization of God's presence is the one sovereign remedy against temptation.”
François Fénelon
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François Fénelon on Simplicity 3 quotes

“God would behold in you a simplicity which will contain so much the more of His wisdom as it contains less of your own.”
François Fénelon
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François Fénelon on Love 2 quotes

“The whole human race is just a family scattered across the face of the whole earth. All peoples are brothers, and must love each other as such.”
François Fénelon
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François Fénelon on Humility 2 quotes

“I pray often to God that He would keep you in the hollow of His hand. The most essential point is lowliness. It is profitable for all things, for it produces a teachable spirit which makes every thing easy.”
François Fénelon
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François Fénelon on Worship 2 quotes

“There are two principal points of attention necessary for the preservation of this constant spirit of prayer which unites us with God; we must continually seek to cherish it, and we must avoid every thing that tends to make us lose it.”
François Fénelon
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François Fénelon on Soul

“Oh! how seldom the soul is silent, in order that God may speak.”
François Fénelon

François Fénelon on Charity

“Nothing will make us so charitable and tender to the faults of others as by self-examination thoroughly to know our own.”
François Fénelon

François Fénelon on Worry

“Why art thou troubled and anxious about many things? One thing is needful — to love Him and to sit attentively at His feet.”
François Fénelon

François Fénelon on Perfection

“It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.”
François Fénelon

François Fénelon on Self-righteousness

“Let us pray God that He would root out of our hearts every thing of our own planting, and set out there, with His own hands, the tree of life, bearing all manner of fruits.”

François Fénelon on Asceticism

“Whoever will labor to get rid of self, to deny himself, according to the instructions of Christ, strikes at once at the root of every evil, and finds the germ of every good.”
François Fénelon

What François Fénelon Said About Others

Discover personal opinions François Fénelon shared regarding contemporaries.

François Fénelon on Historian

“The good historian is not for any time or any country: while he loves his fatherland, he never flatters it in anything.”
François Fénelon

François Fénelon on Joseph Addison

“It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.”
François Fénelon

About François Fénelon

François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai (August 6 1651 – January 7 1715) was a French educationalist, critic, poet, and political and religious philosopher.