Augustine of Hippo
Too late loved I Thee, O Thou Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new! too late I loved Thee! And behold, Thou wert within, and I abroad, and there I searched for Thee; deformed I, plunging amid those fair forms which Thou hadst made. Thou wert with me, but I was not with Thee. Things held me far from Thee, which, unless they were in Thee, were not at all.
Source details
A.D. 397 · Confessions, Book X, ch. 27 — "Too late loved I Thee, O Thou Beauty"
Checked word-for-word against The Confessions of St. Augustine · 2026-07-18