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  CONFESSIONS - BOOK II - CHAPTER VI
  by St. Augustine
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12. What was it in you, O theft of mine, that I, poor wretch, doted on--
you deed of darkness--in that sixteenth year of my age? Beautiful you
were not, for you were a theft. But are you anything at all, so that I
could analyze the case with you? Those pears that we stole were fair to
the sight because they were thy creation, O Beauty beyond compare, O
Creator of all, O thou good God--God the highest good and my true
good.[53] Those pears were truly pleasant to the sight, but it was not
for them that my miserable soul lusted, for I had an abundance of better
pears. I stole those simply that I might steal, for, having stolen them,
I threw them away. My sole gratification in them was my own sin, which I
was pleased to enjoy; for, if any one of these pears entered my mouth,
the only good flavor it had was my sin in eating it. And now, O Lord my
God, I ask what it was in that theft of mine that caused me such
delight; for behold it had no beauty of its own--certainly not the sort
of beauty that exists in justice and wisdom, nor such as is in the mind,
memory senses, and the animal life of man; nor yet the kind that is the
glory and beauty of the stars in their courses; nor the beauty of the
earth, or the sea--teeming with spawning life, replacing in birth that
which dies and decays. Indeed, it did not have that false and shadowy
beauty which attends the deceptions of vice.

13. For thus we see pride wearing the mask of high-spiritedness,
although only thou, O God, art high above all. Ambition seeks honor and
glory, whereas only thou shouldst be honored above all, and glorified
forever. The powerful man seeks to be feared, because of his cruelty;
but who ought really to be feared but God only? What can be forced away
or withdrawn out of his power--when or where or whither or by whom? The
enticements of the wanton claim the name of love; and yet nothing is
more enticing than thy love, nor is anything loved more healthfully than
thy truth, bright and beautiful above all. Curiosity prompts a desire
for knowledge, whereas it is only thou who knowest all things supremely.
Indeed, ignorance and foolishness themselves go masked under the names
of simplicity and innocence; yet there is no being that has true
simplicity like thine, and none is innocent as thou art. Thus it is that
by a sinner\\

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/st-augustine/confessions-book-ii-chapter-vi/
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