“As soon as you read The Imitation of Christ, you will understand why it has been at the top of the best-selling spiritual reading lists for generations.” - Eugene Peterson

“The most faithful translation of the original Latin text” - John Stott, Eugene Peterson, and Richard Foster

"The Imitation of Christ" is the most widely read book among Christians after the Bible.
This book is a classic among immortal classics that needs no further explanation or introduction.
As it is a classic, there are traces of efforts made during the translation process to express it in a new way that suits our lives today, with concerns raised about whether it would be difficult for modern readers to read.
This book, used as the official textbook for devotional training by the Society of Jesus, allows readers to experience a sense of their soul being purified and sanctified, along with their emotions.

“We must plan every word and every action as if we were to die tomorrow.
If you have a clear conscience, you will not be afraid of death.
It is much easier to escape from sin than from death.
If you're prepared to face death today, will you ever feel like you have more to prepare for tomorrow? Tomorrow is uncertain.
How can we be sure we'll live to see tomorrow? Living longer doesn't automatically make us better people.
Time sometimes increases the burden of our sins rather than our actions.
For people in the world, just living a good day can be a great thing.
Many people can tell you the time of their conversion, but their lives have little to do with it.
Happy is he who prepares for his own death and for his daily death.
If we have ever witnessed the death of another, we will be reminded that we too will go down the same path.” --- p.53, Part 1, Holy Advice for the Spiritual Life

“Be humble and peaceful.
Then Jesus will be with you.
Be devoted and restrained in your speech.
Then Jesus will dwell with you.
If we focus on external things, He will not find a place within us.
If we lose Him by driving Him away, who will we turn to in times of need, who will we have as true friends? A life without friends is nothing.
If Jesus is not your first friend, you will experience sadness and loneliness.
It would be far better to be abandoned by the whole world than to offend Jesus.
Therefore, even if you receive love from some people in the world, you must love only Jesus more especially.
Make lots of friends.
And truly love them.
But love Jesus more especially.” --- p.78 Part 2 From the Holy Exhortations for the Inner Life

“If you desire too much the things of this world, you may lose forever the things of heaven and the things of eternity.
We can use temporary things, but we must desire eternal things.
You can't find satisfaction in temporary things.
Because we were not created to be satisfied with temporary things.
Possessing everything in the world does not guarantee happiness or blessings.
Happiness is in God, the creator of all things.
A fool who loves the world cannot taste happiness.
But those who are good and faithful servants of Christ and have a spiritual and transparent heart who live the life of the kingdom of heaven can have a foretaste of that happiness.
But our citizenship is in heaven.
And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20).
All human comfort is vain and futile.
“Those who receive inner comfort from the truth enjoy true blessings.” --- p.125 Part 3 Holy inner comfort given by the Lord (1)

“A true and fruitful union can never be achieved without self-renunciation.
Let me emphasize again what I often say.
When you deny yourself and let go of yourself, you will find true inner peace.
Give everything you have to everyone.
Don't ask for anything and don't even think about getting it back.
Abide in me purely and unwaveringly.
Then you will own everything.
If your mind is free, darkness will not come.
Work hard on this.
If you make this your prayer topic and desire, you can cast off all selfishness, follow Me who has given up everything, die to yourself, and enter the path to eternal life with Me.
Then all vain imaginations, evil worries and useless concerns will disappear.
Excessive fear will recede and inordinate love will also disappear.” --- p.162 Part 4 Holy Inner Comfort Given by the Lord (2)

“When the time comes, confess to God secretly all the wrong things that have arisen from evil desires.
Continue to repent and mourn for the fleshly and worldly things.
Check yourself for the following: inability to control your passions, acting out of greed, being absorbed in external things and neglecting the internal, not being able to shake off various useless imaginations, being indifferent to internal matters and absorbed in external ones, living easily laughing and talking and forgetting tears and repentance, being quick and enthusiastic about the comforts and pleasures of the flesh but insensitive to the strictness of life, being interested in hearing new things and seeing beautiful things but slow to be humble and low, being greedy for what you receive but stingy in giving and stubbornly guarding what is yours.
Also, speaking carelessly and not being able to keep silent, not being careful about your actions, always being too hasty and greedy about food, not listening to the word of the Lord, being quick to rest and slow to work, being quick to listen to others' stories and dozing off during sacred worship, and ending worship hastily…
When you have examined everything in this way and truly regret your wrongdoings, ask me for forgiveness.
Then you will be forgiven.”

--- p.230 Part 5: From the Blessing of the Holy Eucharist of Jesus