John of St. Samson Quotes

Servant of God John of St. Samson , also known as Jean du Moulin or Jean de Saint-Samson, was a French Carmelite friar and mystic of the Catholic Church. He is known as the soul of the Touraine Reform of the Carmelite Order, which stressed prayer, silence and solitude. John was blind from the age of three after contracting smallpox and receiving poor medical treatment for the disease. He insisted very strongly on the mystical devotion of the Carmelites. He has been referred to as the "French John of the Cross" by students of Christian mysticism. Wikipedia  

✵ 29. December 1571 – 1636
John of St. Samson photo
John of St. Samson: 48 quotes1 like

Famous John of St. Samson Quotes

“Love which is not humble is a devil.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“The forgetting of all things and of one's self, combined with contemplation, makes a man divine”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“God takes such great pleasure in the sanctity of His saints that in the interests of a few, He often allows the whole Church to suffer great loss.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“The obedience of those, purified in soul and body in the furnace of humiliation, is of infinite worth to God.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“In a word, frankly, I am in love with the love in my Spouse.”

John of St. Samson

From The Epithalamium

“The more a person strives after God, the more earnest he will become--the les he will converse with men.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

John of St. Samson Quotes about love

“Aspiration, practiced as a familiar, respectful and loving conversation with God, is such an excellent method, that, by means of it, one soon arrives at the summit of all perfection, and falls in love with Love.”

John of St. Samson

From The Goad, the Flames, the Arrows and the Mirror of the love of God
Variant: Aspiration, practiced as a familiar, respectful and loving conversation with God, is such an excellent method, that, by means of it, one soon arrives at the summit of all perfection, and falls in love with Love.

John of St. Samson Quotes about God

“The worst of all human miseries is not to know God, not to feel Him, not to desire Him, not to taste Him.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“Every soul, touched by God, feels and believes in the depths of its being that it is more sinful than all men together.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“True solitude is in the soul. The soul has as its desert and homeland God Himself, the father and teacher of all souls”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

John of St. Samson Quotes

“My exercise consists in a total elevation of the spite above all created and sense-objects.”

John of St. Samson

From The Exercise of Elevation of the Spirit to God
Context: My exercise consists in a total elevation of the spite above all created and sense-objects. By this exercise I am securely concentrated within myself and gaze steadily at God who in a simple manner draws me to the state of simple unity and nakedness of spirit, which is called “simple idleness.” In this state of simplicity of rest I am passively possessed and held above every sense-image. This rest remains mine, whether I am by myself doing nothing or whether I am engaged in activity that is exterior or interior and mental. This is what I can tell you about my interior life: my condition is simple, naked, darkened and without knowledge even of God, in nakedness and darkness of spirit. I am lifted above every kind of illumination existing below this level; in this state I cannot bring into play my interior faculties. They are all without exception drawn and held under the influence of this unique and simple “image.” This image, in fact, holds them in a state of naked simplicity above vision and essence at the highest level of spirit, beyond spirit. It is there that I find myself in the nakedness and darkness of the all-incomprehensible depths, incomprehensible because of their darkness, where everything of the senses, everything specific and created melts down and blend into the unity of spirit, or rather into the simplicity of essence or spirit.

“To possess nothing and to be nothing is to be full of God.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.
Context: Whoever refuses to follow Christ in His poverty will never possess Him in the abundance of His graces and virtues in this life, nor in His glory in the next. To possess nothing and to be nothing is to be full of God.

“The corruption of the world and of the worldliness is a consequence of the fact that men have no eye whatever for the majesty of God in and around themselves;”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.
Context: The corruption of the world and of the worldliness is a consequence of the fact that men have no eye whatever for the majesty of God in and around themselves; therefore has God delivered them to the natural and brutal motions of their heart.

“Sing boldly, O spouses of a Bridegroom such as mine!”

John of St. Samson

From The Epithalamium
Context: Sing boldly, O spouses of a Bridegroom such as mine! you, I say, whom are my companions in this fate and enjoyment so happy as ours! Sing at my happy insistence as I will sing by yours, a new song containing endless praises of the infinitely excessive grandeur and love of our Bridegroom, coming to so admirably espouse us, to deiformly deify us of him and in him, and to make us oneself of oneself.

“Nothing ever astonishes the really simple person.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“Desire, abide, suffer and die unknown for all time; this is true sanctity!”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“Modesty enables physical deformity.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“I beg everyone from the highest to the lowest to forgive me; I have given them all much very bad example.”

John of St. Samson

Among his last words, after receiving the final Sacraments

“Whether great attraction and strong interior occupations are of nature or of grace can be known by the fact that they are accompanied by perfect rest or subtle disquiet.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“It is much more trying to be continually tormented by evil men than by devils.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“Perfect contemplatives hear without astonishment all that the learned propound since they excel in a science transcending all understanding.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“Those who apply themselves more ardently to the practice of love, by that very face bring more devils upon their heads.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“The heavenly Bridegroom allows small failings and common weaknesses in order to deliver his loved ones from pride.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.