Saint Catherine of Siena · 1347–1380
St Catherine of Siena Quotes
Catherine could not write in her own hand for most of her life and dictated everything, including letters to popes telling them what to do. The voice in them is unmistakable.
On courage and truth
She wrote to Pope Gregory XI to tell him to return to Rome. He did.
“Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.”
“Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.”
On love
The Dialogue is framed as God speaking to her, and she recorded it in the third person.
“I have loved you without being loved by you: but you have never loved me without being loved by me.”
Quotes wrongly attributed to St Catherine of Siena
These circulate widely under St Catherine of Siena's name and are not his. They are listed here so you do not put one in a homily, a bulletin or a citation.
“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”
The most repeated line attributed to Catherine, and the wording is not hers. It is a modern paraphrase, probably of a passage in her letters about being what God made you; no critical edition contains this sentence.
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