Quotes about Temptation

I suppose this work is part of the devil that is in us all.

The most likely man to go to hell is the man who has nothing to do on earth. Idle people tempt the devil to tempt them.

The devil will let a preacher prepare a sermon if it will keep him from preparing himself.

To be a saint is the exception to be upright is the rule. Err, falter, sin, but be upright. To commit the least possible sin is the law for man. Sin is a gravitation.

Why should the devil have all the best tunes?

The devil should not be allowed to keep all the best tunes for himself.

I believe Satan exists for two reasons: first, the Bible says so, and second, I've done business with him.

The Devil, it is true, is not exactly a doctor who has taken degrees, but he is very learned, very expert for all that. He has not been carrying on his business during thousands of years for nothing.

Son, as long as you live, Satan will use what you see and what you hear against you.

Even Believers can yield to the wrong spirits. Peter once rebuked Jesus, telling Him that He would not suffer.

Saint Thomas Aquinas says, wisely, that the only way to drive out a bad passion is by a stronger good passion. The same is true of thoughts as of passions. When your mind wanders, like a child, your will must bring it back, like a mother. [. . .] The will-parent must discipline the mind-child, avoiding both the opposite extremes commonly made in disciplining either children or thoughts: tyranny or permissiveness.

God wants us to worry about our sins before we sin; the devil wants us to worry after we sin. God wants us to feel free after we repent (for we really are free then); the devil is a deceiver). The devil tempts us to cavalier pride before we sin and worrisome despair afterward, since pride and despair both separate us from God, and anything that separates us from God is the devil's friend and our enemy, while anything that brings us close to God is the devil's enemy and our friend.