Thomas a` Kempis (c.1379-August 8, 1471)

Thomas a` Kempis (c.1379-August 8, 1471) was an Augustinian friar at Zwolle in the Netherlands, who wrote the devotional, On the Imitation of Christ, 1420. This work has greatly influenced western writers, including: Martin Luther, Samuel Johnson, George Eliot and Lamartine.

In Imitation of Christ, Thomas a` Kempis wrote:

<Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.> 1379TK001

In Imitation of Christ, Thomas a` Kempis wrote:

<Man proposes, but God disposes.> 1379TK002

In Imitation of Christ, Thomas a` Kempis wrote:

<Love is swift, sincere, pious, pleasant, gentle, strong, patient, faithful, prudent, longsuffering, manly and never seeking her own; for wheresoever a man seeketh his own, there he falleth from love.> 1379TK003

In Imitation of Christ, Thomas a` Kempis wrote:

<Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, nothing higher, nothing wider, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller or better in heaven or in earth; for love is born of God, and cannot rest but in God, above all created things.> 1379TK004

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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.

Endnotes:

1379TK001. Thomas a` Kempis, 1420, in his work, Imitation of Christ, book. I, ch. 16. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 149.

1379TK002. Thomas a` Kempis, Thomas, in his work, Imitation of Christ, book. I, ch. 19. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 149.

1379TK003. Thomas a` Kempis, 1420, in his work, Imitation of Christ, book. III, ch. 5. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 149.

1379TK004. Thomas a` Kempis, Perry Tanksley, To Love is to Give (Jackson, Mississippi: Allgood Books, Box 1329; Parthenon Press, 201 8th Ave., South, Nashville, Tennessee, 1972), p. 51.


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