50 St Catherine of Siena Quotes for Life and Faith

Draw inspiration from these faithful St Catherine of Siena quotes.

St Catherine of Siena was born and named Caterina Benincasa in the 1300s.

She had a very large family and spent her younger years working to serve and care for them.

She didn’t want to become a nun so she found a way to study while being able to live at home.

She was known for giving to those in need to the point of sharing things that belonged to her own family.

It was also believed that she had a few mystical experiences throughout her life that changed the way she interacted.

She moved from being quiet in her home to interacting and sharing messages out in the community.

In 1970 she became a doctor of the church and then became a patron saint in Europe in 1999.

Don’t forget to also check out these St. Teresa of Avila quotes on her message for humanity.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration. 

Explore our complete collection of motivational quotes here.

Motivational St Catherine of Siena Quotes

1. “If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on fire.” – St Catherine of Siena

2. “Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.” – St Catherine of Siena

3. “Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.” – St Catherine of Siena

4. “We’ve had enough exhortations to be silent. Cry out with a thousand tongues – I see the world is rotten because of silence.” – St Catherine of Siena

5. “Speak the truth in a million voices. It is silence that kills.” – St Catherine of Siena

6. “Be strong and kill yourself with the sword of hate and love, then you will not hear the insults and abuse which the enemies of the Church throw at you. Your eyes will not see anything which seems impossible or the sufferings which may follow, but only the light of faith, and in that light, everything is possible, and remember God never lays greater burdens on us than we can bear.” – St Catherine of Siena

7. “We’ve had enough of exhortations to be silent! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues. I see that the world is rotten because of silence.” – St Catherine of Siena

8. Do not be satisfied with little things, because God wants great things!” – St Catherine of Siena

9. “Start being brave about everything. Drive out darkness and spread light. Don’ look at your weaknesses. Realize instead, that in Christ crucified you can do everything.” – St Catherine of Siena

10. “Be a vase, which thou fillest at the source and at the source dost drink from.” – St Catherine of Siena

11. “Perfection does not consist in macerating or killing the body, but in killing our perverse self-will.” – St Catherine of Siena

12. “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” – St Catherine of Siena

13. “Let us enter into the house of knowledge of ourselves.” – St Catherine of Siena

14. “To a brave man good and bad luck are like his right and left hand. He uses both.” – St Catherine of Siena

15. “Obedient people never trust in themselves.” – St Catherine of Siena

16. “Out of darkness is born the light.” – St Catherine of Siena

St Catherine of Siena Quotes About God

17. “Turn over the rudder in God’s name, and sail with the wind heaven sends us.” – St Catherine of Siena

18. “You, God, made yourself lowly and small to make us great!” – St Catherine of Siena

19. “He will provide the way and the means, such as you could never have imagined. Leave it all to Him, let go of yourself, lose yourself on the Cross, and you will find yourself entirely.” – St Catherine of Siena

20. “What is it you want to change? Your hair, your face, your body? Why? For God is in love with all those things and he might weep when they are gone.” – St Catherine of Siena

21. “To the servant of God… every place is the right place, and every time is the right time.” – St Catherine of Siena

22. God is closer to us than water is to a fish.” – St Catherine of Siena

23. “We are of such value to God that He came to live among us… and to guide us home. He will go to any length to seek us, even to being lifted high upon the cross to draw us back to Himself. We can only respond by loving God for His love.” – St Catherine of Siena

24. “You must believe in truth that whatever God gives or permits is for your salvation.” – St Catherine of Siena

25. “Strange that so much suffering is caused because of the misunderstandings of God’s true nature. God’s heart is more gentle than the Virgin’s first kiss upon Christ. And God’s forgiveness to all, to any thought or act, is more certain than our own being.” – St Catherine of Siena

St Catherine of Siena Quotes About Heaven

26. All the way to heaven is heaven, because Jesus said, “I am the way.” – St Catherine of Siena

27. “Every step of the way to heaven is heaven.” – St Catherine of Siena

28. “Believe no happiness can be found worthy to be compared with that of a soul in Purgatory except that of the saints in Paradise. And day by day this happiness grows as God flows into these souls, more and more as the hindrance to His entrance is consumed. Sin’s rust is the hindrance, and the fire burns the rust away so that more and more the soul opens itself up to the divine inflowing.” – St Catherine of Siena

29. “The path to heaven lies through heaven, and all the way to heaven is heaven.” – St Catherine of Siena

30. “On two feet you must walk my way; on two wings you must fly to heaven.” – St Catherine of Siena

St Catherine of Siena Quotes About Love

31. “We trust and believe in what we love.” – St Catherine of Siena

32. “Love follows knowledge.” – St Catherine of Siena

33. “You know that every evil is founded in self-love, and that self-love is a cloud that takes away the light of reason, which reason holds in itself the light of faith, and one is not lost without the other.” – St Catherine of Siena

34. “I had not been able to show, by finite things, because My love was infinite, how much more love I had, I wished you to see the secret of the Heart.” – St Catherine of Siena

35. “You are rewarded not according to your work or your time but according to the measure of your love.” – St Catherine of Siena

36. “Love transforms one into what one loves.” – St Catherine of Siena

37. “There will be love in proportion to faith and faith in proportion to love.” – St Catherine of Siena

38. “The strongest and purest love is not the one that starts from impressions, but the one that comes from admiration.” – St Catherine of Siena

39. “Love does not stay idle.” – St Catherine of Siena

40. “The human heart is always drawn by love.” – St Catherine of Siena

St Catherine of Siena Quotes About the Soul

41. “The soul is in God and God in the soul, just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish.” – St Catherine of Siena

42. “O my soul, what are you doing? Are you not aware that God sees you always? You can never hide yourself from His sight. O Father, have pity on us because we are blind and in darkness. Drive out the darkness and give me light. Melt the ice of my self-love and kindle in me the fire of Your charity.” – St Catherine of Siena

43. “And the eternal Father said, ‘And if anyone should ask me what this soul is, I would say: She is another me, made so by the union of love.” – St Catherine of Siena

44. “A soul cannot live without loving. It must have something to love, for it was created to love.” – St Catherine of Siena

45. “When the soul has passed through the doctrine of Christ crucified, with true love of virtue and hatred of vice, and has arrived at the house of self-knowledge and entered therein, she remains, with her door barred, in watching and constant prayer, separated entirely from the consolations of the world.” – St Catherine of Siena

46. “The soul always fears until she arrives at true love.” – St Catherine of Siena

47. “The soul cannot live without love. She always wants to love something because love is the stuff she is made of, and through love I created her.” – St Catherine of Siena

48. “The soul, as soon as she comes to know Me, reaches out to love her neighbors.” – St Catherine of Siena

49. “The soul is as obedient as she is humble and as humble as she is obedient.” – St Catherine of Siena

50. “Enrich your soul in the great goodness of God: The Father is your table, the Son is your food, and the Holy Spirit waits on you and then makes His dwelling in you.” – St Catherine of Siena

What did you learn from these St Catherine of Siena quotes?

St Catherine didn’t only work in the religious community, she also took an active role in politics during her time.

She worked for reform while traveling around and caring for others.

She was an activist and stayed involved in the political and religious affairs happening in the church.

There are fewer than 40 individuals who have been made doctors of the church, which is an important designation within the Roman Catholic church.

This designation means that her work and writings are important pieces of the faith and stand above the others.

She is one of only four women who are included in this group.

What’s your biggest takeaway from these St Catherine of Siena quotes and sayings?

Do you have any other favorite quotes to add?

Let us know in the comment section below.