Bonaventure Quotes
Bonaventure was a 13th-century Italian Franciscan friar, theologian, philosopher, and Cardinal, regarded as one of the most important medieval Christian thinkers alongside his contemporary Thomas Aquinas. He served as Minister General of the Franciscan Order from 1257 to 1274, during which time he produced an extensive body of philosophical, theological, and devotional writings. The quotes below are attributed to Bonaventure, organized by topic.
Browse Bonaventure by topic
Bonaventure on Death
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“It will avail a man little to have been a religious, to have been patient and humble, devout and chaste, to have loved God and to have exercised himself in all the virtues, if he continues not to the end. He must persevere to win the crown. In the race of the spiritual life all the virtues run, but only perseverance “receives the prize” (1 Cor. 9:24.) It is not the beginner in virtue but “he that shall persevere unto the end that shall be saved” (Matt 10: 22.) “What is the use of seeds sprouting if afterwards they wither and die?” None whatever!”
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“Christ’s death on the Cross should live in our thoughts and imagination, for frequent thought on the Passion of Christ keeps aflame and brings to intense heat the fires of earnest piety.”
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Bonaventure on God
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Attributed to Bonaventure:
“Let us run, then, with all our being, to enter the joy of our Lord.”
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Attributed to Bonaventure:
“He who is not enlightened by such great splendours of created things is blind; he who is not awakened by such great cries is deaf.”
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Attributed to Bonaventure:
“The soul, in its journey to God, ascends through nature, through itself, and finally through what is above.”
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Attributed to Bonaventure:
“Christ is our way to ascend; Christ is the door, the ladder, the vehicle.”
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“But the soul cannot have any virtue if God is not loved with all the heart; for from that love flows the fulness of all grace, and without it no grace can flow into the soul, nor can it abide in it.”
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“The virtue of gratitude is extremely commendable and pleasing in the sight of God, as its opposite is a detestable vice before him. Of which subject, thus speaks St. Bernard: Learn to be thankful for every grace received. Consider diligently the favors heaped upon you, that no gift of God be defrauded of the due return of gratitude and thanksgiving you ought to make, whether the gift be great, middling, or little.”
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“For the nearer any one approaches to God, the more he is illuminated, and therefore the more clearly does he see the majesty and mercy of God.”
Life of Christ, Chapter XXXIV, Of the Multiplication of the Loaves, and how God provides for those who love Him -
“Life of Christ, Chapter XXXIV, Of the Multiplication of the Loaves, and how God provides for those who love Him”
For the nearer any one approaches to God, the more he is illuminated, and therefore the more clearly does he see the majesty and mercy of God. -
“Contemplation deepens the more we feel the working of God’s grace within our hearts, and the better we learn to encounter God in creatures outside ourselves.”
Bonaventure, On the Sentences , Book 2, 23, 2, 3 | Quoted by Pope Francis in Laudato si' (2015), paragraph 233
Bonaventure on Knowledge
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Attributed to Bonaventure:
“All knowledge serves theology.”
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Attributed to Bonaventure:
“The light of natural knowledge is in vain if our affections are not rightly ordered.”
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“Let us not believe that it is enough to read without unction, to speculate without devotion, to investigate without wonder, to observe without joy, to act without godly zeal, to know without love, to understand without humility, to strive without divine grace, or to reflect as a mirror without divinely inspired wisdom.”
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“...Though His Passion sufficed for all, yet all would not profit from it, for some would be reprobate, hard-hearted, and impenitent.”
Life of Christ, Chapter LXXI
Bonaventure on Life
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“Life of Christ, Chapter LXXI”
...Though His Passion sufficed for all, yet all would not profit from it, for some would be reprobate, hard-hearted, and impenitent.