Letters of Saint Augustine (#211) Quotes

Context

In this letter, Saint Augustine gives advice to a convent full of nuns on how they should conduct themselves as Christian servants of God.

The nuns are running amok. Saint Augustine sees that there has been a lot of conflict in the convent where his own sister used to be in charge, and it looks like one of the big sources of this conflict is the fact the many nuns have different interpretations of Christian morality. So here, he lays down the law and says that, in the eyes of God, it's important to always love people.

Then again, people often break the rules of Christianity, and Augustine knows they must be punished for their sins. But here, he makes the point that it's the sin we punish and not the sinner. In other words, you can hate the things a person says and does, but you should never hate that person. This is like the difference between saying to someone "You did a terrible thing" and "You are a terrible person." See the diff?

Where you've heard it

In his super famous autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi expressed his approval for this phrase. For this reason, many people mistakenly think that Gandhi was actually the first person who ever said it.

Additional References

• "Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin" by Elephant Stone
• Desperate Housewives

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

There are some folks out there who find it pretentious just to give advice that sounds Biblical. The mention of sin in this one and the shortness of the quote have actually made many people think that Jesus spoke these words when it was actually Augustine. If you correct them and say it was Augustine, your pretentious factor might hop up a point or two. Plus, people might be uncomfortable with you offering Christian advice, especially if it's coming out of nowhere.