Thomas Becket

Clergyman

1119-12-21

Quotes by Thomas Becket

• My beloved brethren, why do you not rise together with me against the malignants? Why do you not stand up with me to oppose those who work iniquity? Do you not know how that God will scatter the bones of those who strive to oppress Him? They shall be confounded, because the Lord hath despised them.

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• The more I loved the king, the more I opposed his injustice until his brow fell lowering upon me. He heaped calumny after calumny on my head, and I chose to be driven out rather than to subscribe.

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• My hopes are laid up within my own bosom, for he is not alone with whom the Lord is; when he falls, he shall not be dashed to pieces, for the Lord sustains him in his hand.

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• The king, you say, desires to do what is right. My clergy are banished, my possessions are taken from me, the sword hangs over my neck. Do you call this right?

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• With shame be it spoken: by her fall, the Church's liberties have been sacrificed for the sake of temporal advantages. The road to her ruin lay through the sinuous paths of riches: she has been prostituted in the streets to princes; she has conceived iniquity and will bring forth oppression to the undeserving.

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• Wait the end with joy. It is the end which characterizes everything and which tests a man's expectations.

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• Those who tread among serpents, and along a tortuous path, must use the cunning of the serpent.

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• I was called before the king's tribunal like a layman and was deserted in the quarter where I had looked for support. My brethren, the bishops, sided with the court and were ready to pronounce judgment against me.

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• The rashness of the persecutor hath overspread the rights of the persecuted so that punishment is awarded to him that has gained the victory, the inglorious triumphs, and the man who deserved bonds has carried off the prize.

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• The Church of Christ is constituted in two orders, the clergy and the people, the one having the care of the Church that all may be ruled for the salvation of souls; the other contains kings, princes, and nobles who have to carry on secular government that all things may lead to the peace and unity of the Church.

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• Do you not know that the largest trees, which have required years to grow, are cut down in one hour? It is foolish to look for their fruits and yet to be unprepared for their fall. Let it be your consolation, then, that God's enemies, however honorable and exalted they may have been, shall nevertheless fade away like the smoke.

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• It is important that the Church of London, which has now lost its ruler, should receive for its new bishop a man whose personal merit, attainments in learning, and prudence in managing public business shall not be unworthy of the dignity of that see.

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• Many are needed to plant and water what has been planted now that the faith has spread so far and there are so many people... No matter who plants or waters, God gives no harvest unless what is planted is the faith of Peter and unless he agrees to his teachings.

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• Between the uprightness of my conscience and the hardness of my lot, I know not how either to show respect to my feelings or to the times. The bitterness of my mind urges me at all hazards to speak what I think, whereas the necessity of the times prompts me, however unbecomingly, to keep silence. Good God! Which way shall I turn myself?

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• Remember the sufferings of Christ, the storms that were weathered... the crown that came from those sufferings which gave new radiance to the faith... All saints give testimony to the truth that without real effort, no one ever wins the crown.

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• Who shall resist Anti-Christ when he comes if we show such patience towards the vices and crimes of his precursors? By such leniency, we encourage kings to become tyrants and tempt them to withdraw every privilege and all jurisdiction from the Churches.

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• Whosoever wisely examines the works of God will speedily discover what is next to be done.

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• To Him I look as my judge, to Him as the avenger of my wrongs, firm in my own good conscience and secure in the sincerity of my devotion, rooted in faith and confident that those who in the love of justice suffer injury can never be confounded, nor those who break the horns of the persecutors of the Church be deprived of their everlasting reward.

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• When is constancy required, except under persecution. Are not friends then proved? If they always yield, how can they ever succeed? They must, one time or other, make a stand.

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