Quotes

St. Augustine

• Look for: Struggles with sin, personal story, finding God, inner feelings, memory

• Clue words: restless heart, "take and read", pears, grace, desire, conversion, childhood, search for truth, confession, temptation, evil for its own sake, light and darkness, mother (Monica)

• Main idea: He’s opening up about his personal journey to God and wrestling with right and wrong.

St. Thomas Aquinas

• Look for: Logical step-by-step arguments, nature, proving God exists, combining faith and reason

• Clue words: Five Ways, motion, cause and effect, necessary being, design, truth, reason, intellect, eternal law, natural law, divine law, the soul, virtue

• Main idea: He’s trying to explain Christian ideas using clear thinking and philosophy.

Kierkegaard

• Look for: Faith being hard or confusing, making a leap, personal belief that feels risky

• Clue words: leap of faith, knight of faith, infinite resignation, Abraham and Isaac, paradox, ethics vs. faith, fear and trembling, individual, passion, the absurd

• Main idea: Faith isn’t logical—it’s scary and personal, like what Abraham had to do.
  
  

Descartes

• Look for: Doubting everything, thinking to prove you exist, separating body and mind

• Clue words: cogito (I think, therefore I am), doubt, clear and distinct, evil deceiver, wax example, mind vs. body, thinking thing, God’s perfection, mathematics, method

• Main idea: He’s trying to find certainty by starting from scratch using only thought.
  
  

Martin Luther

• Look for: Faith over works, freedom in Christ, being ruled by the soul not the body

• Clue words: faith alone, grace, Christian liberty, bondage to sin, inner vs. outer man, law and gospel, freedom through Christ, scripture, spirit, serving others

• Main idea: You can’t earn salvation—you’re saved by true faith and grace.
  
  

St. Ignatius of Loyola

• Look for: Making choices for God, reflection, spiritual growth, deep service

• Clue words: discernment, spiritual exercises, pilgrimage, the Jesuits, indifference, finding God's will, greater glory of God, obedience, poverty, mission, retreat

• Main idea: He focuses on choosing a life that serves God with discipline and love.

Pascal

• Look for: People feeling lost or distracted, choosing belief, heart vs. mind

• Clue words: wager, the heart has its reasons, misery and greatness of man, distraction, diversion, two infinities, thinking reed, hidden God, custom/habit, faith as a bet

• Main idea: Life is uncertain, but it's smarter to believe in God than to risk not believing.

Machiavelli

• Look for: Power, being feared, trickery, doing what works (not what’s right)

• Clue words: fear vs. love, lion and fox, virtù, fortune (fortuna), The Prince, power, appearances, ruling, warfare, cruelty, ends justify the means, reputation

• Main idea: A leader has to be clever and strong—even if that means being ruthless.

Thomas Hobbes

• Look for: People are dangerous, life without rules is violent, strong leader needed

• Clue words: Leviathan, state of nature, war of all against all, fear, self-preservation, contract, sovereign, power, no right or wrong, equality in killing, competition, security

• Main idea: Without government, life is chaos—so we need one powerful ruler to keep peace.

John Locke

• Look for: Rights, freedom, fair government, law of nature, reason

• Clue words: life, liberty, property, consent, government by the people, revolt, law of nature, mixing labor, legislative power, punishment, trust, social contract, common good

• Main idea: People are generally good and have rights—government should protect them, not rule them.

Sigmund Freud

• Look for: Inner conflict, guilt, being unhappy in society, love vs. aggression

• Clue words: Eros (love) and Thanatos (death), repression, superego, civilization causes guilt, love thy neighbor, id, ego, superego, instincts, inner struggle, discontent, psychology, pleasure principle
  
  

• Main idea: We all want things we can’t have, and that causes frustration and guilt in society.

Immanuel Kant

• Look for: Duty, reason, doing what’s right even if it’s hard, treating people with respect

• Clue words: good will, duty, categorical imperative, universal law, treat others as ends, reason, freedom and morality, autonomy, moral law, self-legislation

• Main idea: Morality means doing the right thing just because it’s right—using reason and respect.

Friedrich Nietzsche

• Look for: Criticizing religion or society, being strong, making your own values

• Clue words: will to power, slave morality, master morality, herd, ascetic priest, genealogy, resentment (ressentiment), truth as illusion, revaluation of values

• Main idea: We’ve been taught to be weak—real strength comes from creating your own path.

Pope Francis

• Look for: Caring for the Earth, responsibility, connectedness, helping the poor

• Clue words: Laudato Si', our common home, integral ecology, climate, environment, consumerism, waste, pollution, stewardship, interconnectedness, justice for the poor

• Main idea: Everything is connected, and we have to take care of the Earth and each other.

Martin Luther King Jr.

• Look for: Justice, protest, moral duty, urgency, standing up for what’s right

• Clue words: Letter from Birmingham Jail, just vs. unjust laws, civil disobedience, white moderate, freedom, nonviolent protest, time is now, natural law, direct action

• Main idea: It’s your moral duty to stand against injustice, even if it’s uncomfortable.