Thou must be emptied of that wherewith thou art full, that thou mayest be filled with that whereof thou art empty.

The saying expresses a classic Augustinian (and broadly Christian) pattern of conversion and spiritual growth: a person must be “emptied” of what currently fills them—pride, self-sufficiency, disordered desires, false attachments—so that they can receive what they lack, namely God’s grace, truth, and rightly ordered love. The paradox (“full” yet needing emptiness; “empty” yet capable of being filled) underscores that what seems like fullness can actually be a blockage. It also implies that transformation is not merely additive (learning more, acquiring more) but subtractive: relinquishing what crowds out the good. The line is often used to describe humility as the prerequisite for wisdom and sanctification.