--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Do not say that you have chaste minds if…" description: "\"Do not say that you have chaste minds if you have unchaste eyes, because an unchaste eye is the messenger of an unchaste heart.\" — Saint Augustine" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5e9/saint-augustine-328_chaste_do-not-say-that-you-have-chaste-minds-if_918059.png" --- # Do not say that you have chaste minds if you have unchaste… ![“Do not say that you have chaste minds if you have unchaste eyes, because an unchaste eye is the messenger of an unchaste heart.” quote by Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5e9/saint-augustine-328_chaste_do-not-say-that-you-have-chaste-minds-if_918059.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5e9/saint-augustine-328_chaste_do-not-say-that-you-have-chaste-minds-if_918059.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5e9/saint-augustine-328_chaste_do-not-say-that-you-have-chaste-minds-if_918059.png) > “Do not say that you have chaste minds if you have unchaste eyes, because an unchaste eye is the messenger of an unchaste heart.” [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A pure mind cannot coexist with impure sight; visual impurity reflects a corrupt heart. **In simple terms:** Impure eyes betray a corrupt heart. Key Takeaway Guard your gaze to protect inner virtue. Themes morality selfcontrol integrity Mood reflective serious Type ethical spiritual When to use this quote - personal relationships - media consumption - ethical decision making Key Concepts spirituality human nature Questions to Reflect On - How does what you see shape your character? - Can you change your heart without changing your gaze? A Different Perspective Eyes can be deceiving; inner change requires more than visual discipline. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Chaste](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chaste/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Messengers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/messengers/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) ## Related quotes > [A wanton eye is a messenger of an unchaste heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/a-wanton-eye-is-a-messenger-of-an-unchaste-heart/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [O Master, make me chaste, but not yet!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/o-master-make-me-chaste-but-not-yet/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [A Roman divorced from his wife, being highly blamed by his friends, who demanded, "Was she not chaste? Was she not fair? Was she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plutarch/a-roman-divorced-from-his-wife-being-highly-blamed-by-his-friends-who/) [Plutarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plutarch/) > [If she be not honest, chaste, and true, there's no man happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/if-she-be-not-honest-chaste-and-true-there-s-no-man-happy/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [There's a disciplined erotic component to it, so that the height of sexual contact is the embrace, the modest touch, a relatively chaste kiss.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/there-s-a-disciplined-erotic-component-to-it-so-that-the-height-of/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [Mediocre people often have a tinge of religion about them, but it is only a tinge. They take their religion as it comes. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-dubay/mediocre-people-often-have-a-tinge-of-religion-about-them-but-it-is/) [Thomas Dubay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-dubay/) > [The eye of a man should be still more reverent before the rising of a young maiden than before the rising of a star.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-eye-of-a-man-should-be-still-more-reverent-before-the-rising-of-a/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Too chaste an adolescence makes for a dissolute old age. It is doubtless easier to give up something one has known than something one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-gide/too-chaste-an-adolescence-makes-for-a-dissolute-old-age-it-is/) [Andre Gide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-gide/) > [“The girl's life had been squandered in the streets, and among the most noisome of the stews and dens of London, but there was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/the-girl-s-life-had-been-squandered-in-the-streets-and-among-the-most/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“A virtuos woman is not moved by big names and flamboyance, but only men of profound wisdom and integrity move her.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/a-virtuos-woman-is-not-moved-by-big-names-and-flamboyance-but-only/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [“It is better to lock up your heart with a merciless padlock, than to fall in love with someone who doesn't know what they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/it-is-better-to-lock-up-your-heart-with-a-merciless-padlock-than-to/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [Staying chaste until marriage, a commandment of my faith, was one of the most difficult challenges of my young life. I had a powerful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/feisal-abdul-rauf/staying-chaste-until-marriage-a-commandment-of-my-faith-was-one-of/) [Feisal Abdul Rauf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/feisal-abdul-rauf/) > [Manye chapeleyns arn chaste, ac charite is aweye; Are none hardere than hii whan hii ben avaunced: Unkynde to hire kyn and to alle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-langland/manye-chapeleyns-arn-chaste-ac-charite-is-aweye-are-none-hardere-than/) [William Langland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-langland/) > [The one who has not conquered the passions cannot enter the chaste and pure region of the heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-aleksandrovich-antonov/the-one-who-has-not-conquered-the-passions-cannot-enter-the-chaste/) [Vladimir Aleksandrovich Antonov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-aleksandrovich-antonov/) > [It is not always from valor or from chastity that men are brave, and women chaste.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/it-is-not-always-from-valor-or-from-chastity-that-men-are-brave-and/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) ## More by Saint Augustine > [Lust indulged became habit, and habit unresisted became necessity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/lust-indulged-became-habit-and-habit-unresisted-became-necessity/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [The playthings of our elders are called business.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/the-playthings-of-our-elders-are-called-business/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [Do what you can and pray for what you cannot yet do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/do-what-you-can-and-pray-for-what-you-cannot-yet-do/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [For I did not know that the soul needs to be enlightened by light from outside itself, so that it can participate in truth,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/for-i-did-not-know-that-the-soul-needs-to-be-enlightened-by-light/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [My mother spoke of Christ to my father, by her feminine and childlike virtues, and, after having borne his violence without a murmur or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/my-mother-spoke-of-christ-to-my-father-by-her-feminine-and-childlike/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [Wicked sons do not have the Holy Ghost in the same way as do beloved sons, and yet they do have Baptism. So, too,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/wicked-sons-do-not-have-the-holy-ghost-in-the-same-way-as-do-beloved/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [To wisdom belongs the intellectual apprehension of things eternal; to knowledge, the rational apprehension of things temporal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/to-wisdom-belongs-the-intellectual-apprehension-of-things-eternal-to/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [It is this one Spirit who makes it possible for an infant to be regenerated . . . when that infant is brought to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/it-is-this-one-spirit-who-makes-it-possible-for-an-infant-to-be/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [God has no need of your money, but the poor have. You give it to the poor, and God receives it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/god-has-no-need-of-your-money-but-the-poor-have-you-give-it-to-the/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [Nothing conquers except truth and the victory of truth is love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/nothing-conquers-except-truth-and-the-victory-of-truth-is-love/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [“O God, who is ever at work and ever at rest. May I be ever at work and ever at rest.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/o-god-who-is-ever-at-work-and-ever-at-rest-may-i-be-ever-at-work-and/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [Our Lord reserved to Himself certain things which He would do in due time in a manner outside the course and order of nature,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/our-lord-reserved-to-himself-certain-things-which-he-would-do-in-due/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/give-me-chastity-and-continence-but-not-yet/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [Nothing, therefore, happens unless the Omnipotent wills it to happen. He either permits it to happen, or He brings it about Himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/nothing-therefore-happens-unless-the-omnipotent-wills-it-to-happen-he/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [The reward of patience Is patience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/the-reward-of-patience-is-patience/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) [Explore all 672 Saint Augustine quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) ## More Chaste quotes > [It is not always from valor or from chastity that men are brave, and women chaste.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/it-is-not-always-from-valor-or-from-chastity-that-men-are-brave-and/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [The one who has not conquered the passions cannot enter the chaste and pure region of the heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-aleksandrovich-antonov/the-one-who-has-not-conquered-the-passions-cannot-enter-the-chaste/) [Vladimir Aleksandrovich Antonov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-aleksandrovich-antonov/) > [Manye chapeleyns arn chaste, ac charite is aweye; Are none hardere than hii whan hii ben avaunced: Unkynde to hire kyn and to alle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-langland/manye-chapeleyns-arn-chaste-ac-charite-is-aweye-are-none-hardere-than/) [William Langland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-langland/) > [Staying chaste until marriage, a commandment of my faith, was one of the most difficult challenges of my young life. I had a powerful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/feisal-abdul-rauf/staying-chaste-until-marriage-a-commandment-of-my-faith-was-one-of/) [Feisal Abdul Rauf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/feisal-abdul-rauf/) > [“It is better to lock up your heart with a merciless padlock, than to fall in love with someone who doesn't know what they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/it-is-better-to-lock-up-your-heart-with-a-merciless-padlock-than-to/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [“A virtuos woman is not moved by big names and flamboyance, but only men of profound wisdom and integrity move her.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/a-virtuos-woman-is-not-moved-by-big-names-and-flamboyance-but-only/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [“The girl's life had been squandered in the streets, and among the most noisome of the stews and dens of London, but there was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/the-girl-s-life-had-been-squandered-in-the-streets-and-among-the-most/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [Too chaste an adolescence makes for a dissolute old age. It is doubtless easier to give up something one has known than something one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-gide/too-chaste-an-adolescence-makes-for-a-dissolute-old-age-it-is/) [Andre Gide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-gide/) > [The eye of a man should be still more reverent before the rising of a young maiden than before the rising of a star.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-eye-of-a-man-should-be-still-more-reverent-before-the-rising-of-a/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Mediocre people often have a tinge of religion about them, but it is only a tinge. They take their religion as it comes. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-dubay/mediocre-people-often-have-a-tinge-of-religion-about-them-but-it-is/) [Thomas Dubay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-dubay/) > [There's a disciplined erotic component to it, so that the height of sexual contact is the embrace, the modest touch, a relatively chaste kiss.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/there-s-a-disciplined-erotic-component-to-it-so-that-the-height-of/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [If she be not honest, chaste, and true, there's no man happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/if-she-be-not-honest-chaste-and-true-there-s-no-man-happy/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [A Roman divorced from his wife, being highly blamed by his friends, who demanded, "Was she not chaste? Was she not fair? Was she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plutarch/a-roman-divorced-from-his-wife-being-highly-blamed-by-his-friends-who/) [Plutarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plutarch/) > [Make me chaste and To what excesses will men not go for the sake of a religion in which they believe so little and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/make-me-chaste-and-to-what-excesses-will-men-not-go-for-the-sake-of-a/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [Art is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-is-never-chaste-it-ought-to-be-forbidden-to-ignorant-innocents/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 169 Chaste quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chaste/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Do not say that you have chaste minds if you have unchaste eyes, because an unchaste eye is the messenger of an unchaste heart.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Saint Augustine" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/do-not-say-that-you-have-chaste-minds-if-you-have-unchaste-eyes/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Chaste" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/do-not-say-that-you-have-chaste-minds-if-you-have-unchaste-eyes/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5e9/saint-augustine-328_chaste_do-not-say-that-you-have-chaste-minds-if_918059.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5e9/saint-augustine-328_chaste_do-not-say-that-you-have-chaste-minds-if_918059.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5e9/saint-augustine-328_chaste_do-not-say-that-you-have-chaste-minds-if_918059.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Do not say that you have chaste minds if you have unchaste eyes, because an unchaste eye is the messenger of…” — Saint Augustine", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Saint Augustine", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Do not say that you have...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/do-not-say-that-you-have-chaste-minds-if-you-have-unchaste-eyes/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/do-not-say-that-you-have-chaste-minds-if-you-have-unchaste-eyes/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```