The Saints on the Virtue of Obedience

"Obedience is, in a way, the mother of all virtues." -St. Augustine of Hippo 

"The Devil doesn’t fear austerity but holy obedience." -St. Francis de Sales 

"If obedience is lacking, even prayer cannot be pleasing to God." -St. Thomas Aquinas 

"The devil, seeing that there is no shorter road to the summit of perfection than that of obedience, artfully insinuates many repugnances and difficulties under color of good, to prevent us from following it." -St. Teresa of Avila

"The whole of your faith is founded upon obedience, for by it you prove your fidelity." -St Catherine of Siena  

"Obedience is a short cut to perfection." -St. Philip Neri

"Obedience is the key with which Heaven is opened. Christ sweet Jesus left you this sweet key of obedience; for, as you know, He left His Vicar, Christ-on-earth, whom you are all obliged to obey until death — and whoever is outside his obedience is in a state of damnation." -St. Catherine of Siena 

"Love without limit for our best of fathers, our heavenly Father, is demonstrated and developed through obedience, particularly when it comes to fulfilling obligations that are not to our liking." -St. Maximilian Kolbe 

"Many Religious and others have been Saints without meditation, but without obedience no one." -St. Francis de Sales 

"[W]hen God sends His inspirations to a heart, the first grace He sheds upon it is that of obedience." -St. Teresa of Avila

"The chief merit of obedience consists not in following the will of a mild, amiable Superior who asks rather than commands, but in remaining patiently under the yoke of one who is imperious, rigorous, harsh, ill-humored, and never satisfied. This is a pure fountain of water gushing from the throat of a bronze lion." -St. Francis de Sales 

"A single instant passed under simple obedience is immeasurably more valuable in the sight of God than an entire day spent in the most sublime contemplation.' -St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi