Be thankful for the least gift, so shalt thou be meant to receive greater.
Thomas a Kempis
Endeavor to be always patient of the faults and imperfections of others for thou has many faults and imperfections of thine own that require forbearance. If thou are not able to make thyself that which thou wishest, how canst thou expect to mold another in conformity to thy will?
Thomas a Kempis
Love flies, runs, and rejoices; it is free and nothing can hold it back.
Thomas a Kempis
Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying or meditating or endeavoring something for the public good.
Thomas a Kempis
- More quotations on: [Laziness]
Of two evils we must always choose the least.
Thomas a Kempis
- More quotations on: [Evil]
Remember that lost time does not return.
Thomas a Kempis
The good devout man first makes inner preparation for the actions he has later to perform. His outward actions do not draw him into lust and vice; rather it is he who bends them into the shape of reason and right judgement. Who has a stiffer battle to fight than the man who is striving to conquer himself.
Thomas a Kempis
Who has a harder fight than he who is striving to overcome himself.
Thomas a Kempis
First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.
Thomas a Kempis, 1420
- More quotations on: [Peace]
And when he is out of sight, quickly also is he out of mind.
Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.
Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ

Thomas, whose family name was Hammercken, was born in the Rhineland town of Kempen near Düsseldorf in Germany. The school he attended at nearby Deventer in Holland had been started by Gerard Groote, founder of the Brothers of the Common Life. These were men devoted to prayer, simplicity, and union with God. Thomas of Kempen, as he was known at school, was so impressed by his teachers that he decided to live his own life according to their ideals. When he was 19, he entered the monastery of Mount St. Agnes, which the Brothers had recently started near Zwolle in Holland and which was then being administered by his older brother John. He spent the rest of his long life behind the walls of that monastery
. The pattern of Thomas's life remained the same over the years. He devoted his time to prayer, study, copying manuscripts, teaching novices, offering Mass, and hearing the confessions of people who came to the monastery church. From time to time Thomas was given a position of authority in the community of monks, but he consistently preferred the quiet of his cell to the challenge of administration. He was pleasant but retiring. The other monks eventually recognized Thomas's talent for deep thought and stopped troubling him with practical affairs.
Thomas wrote a number of sermons, letters, hymns, and lives of the saints. He reflected the mystical spirituality of his times, the sense of being absorbed in God. The most famous of his works by far is The Imitation of Christ, a charming instruction on how to love God. This small book, free from intellectual pretensions, has had great appeal to anyone interested in probing beneath the surface of life. "A poor peasant who serves God," Thomas wrote in it, "is better than a proud philosopher who … ponders the courses of the stars." The book advised the ordering of one's priorities along religious lines. "Vain and brief is all human comfort. Blessed and true is that comfort which is derived inwardly from the Truth." Thomas advised where to look for happiness. "The glory of the good is in their own consciences, and not in the mouths of men." The Imitation of Christ has come to be, after the Bible, the most widely translated book in Christian literature. Thomas died in the same monastic obscurity in which he had lived, on Aug. 8, 1471.

Here is a bit more info, also a prayer that is within the text of the play:

Thomas is known almost entirely for composing or compiling a manual of spiritual advice known as The Imitation of Christ, in which he urges the reader to seek to follow the example of Jesus Christ and to be conformed in all things to His will. An extract follows: When God bestows Spiritual comfort, receive it with a grateful
heart; but remember that it comes of God's free gift, and not
of your own merit. Do not be proud, nor over joyful, nor
foolishly presumptuous; rather, be the more humble for this
gift, more cautious, and more prudent in all your doings, for
this hour will pass, and temptation will follow it. When
comfort is withdrawn, do not immediately despair, but humbly
and patiently await the will of Heaven; for God is able to
restore you to a consolation even richer than before. This is
nothing new or strange to those who know the ways of God, for
the great Saints and Prophets of old often experienced these
changes. ...Indeed, the temptation that precedes is often a
sign of comfort to follow. For heavenly comfort is promised to
those who have been tried and tempted."To him who overcomes,"
says God, "I will give to eat of the Tree of Life."
PRAYER (traditional language)
Holy Father, who hast nourished and strengthened thy Church by The writings of thy servant Thomas a Kempis: Grant that we may learn from him to know what we ought to know, to love what we ought to love, to praise what highly pleaseth thee, and always to seek to know and follow thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
PRAYER (contemporary language)
Holy Father, who have nourished and strengthened your Church by The writings of your servant Thomas a Kempis: Grant that we may learn from him to know what we ought to know, to love what we ought to love, to praise what highly pleases you, and always to seek to know and follow your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Psalm 34:1-8 or 33:1-5,20-21Philippians 4:4-9Luke 6:17-23 (St2)