St. John of the Cross

“To come to the possession you have not, you must go by a way in which you possess not.”

“To come to be what you are not, you must go by a way in which you are not.”

“To come to enjoy that which thou enjoyest not, thou must go through that which thou enjoyest not.”

“In order to arrive at having pleasure in everything, desire to have pleasure in nothing.”

“In order to arrive at possessing everything, desire to possess nothing.”

“In order to arrive at being everything, desire to be nothing.”

“In order to arrive at knowing everything, desire to know nothing.”

“He who would attain to the All must lose the All in the All.”

“To go from the all to the all, you must give yourself wholly.”

“In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.”

“What is more pleasing to God than to be loved by God?”

“Love is the inclination of the soul to God for His own sake.”

“Where there is no love, put love and you will draw out love.”

“He has eyes only for her with whom he is in love.”

“He sees her in everything, and in all her words and actions.”

“To love is to be transformed into what we love.”

“To love God is to become God.”

“To love is to labor to detach and deprive ourselves for God of all that is not God.”

“In the dark night of the soul, bright flows the river of God.”