The soul that is attached to anything, however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for until the cord be broken, the bird cannot fly.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
In detachment, the spirit finds quiet and repose for coveting nothing.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
The soul that journeys to God, but doesn’t shake off it’s cares and quiet it’s appetities, is like someone who drags a cart of dirt uphill.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Be interiorly detached from all things and do not seek pleasure in any temporal thing, and your soul will concentrate on goods you do not know.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
In order that what we have said may be the more clearly and fully understood, it will be well to set down here and state how these desires are the cause of two serious evils in the soul: the one is that they deprive it of the Spirit of God, and the other is that the soul wherein they dwell is wearied, tormented, darkened, defiled and weakened.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
All the virtues grow through the practice of any one of them, and all the vices grow through the practice of any one of them likewise.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
