How we cite our quotes: (Book.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #7
For my will was perverse and lust had grown from it, and when I gave in to lust habit was born, and when I did not resist the habit it became a necessity. (VIII.5.1)
Augustine is making lust sound a lot like a drug addiction… or a Pringles commercial. Sex has become such a fixture in Augustine's life that it's threatening his lifelong quest for truth and wisdom.
Quote #8
So these two wills within me, one old, one new, one the servant of the flesh, the other of the spirit, were in conflict and between them they tore my soul apart. (VIII.5.1)
So that conflict Augustine has been alluding to since Book II? He just stated it. Now that he's acknowledged that these two wills are irreconcilable, he can't go on pretending that everything is peachy. His two wills are going to have to duke it out.
Quote #9
But I still postponed my renunciation of this world's joys, which would have left me free to look for that other happiness, the very search for which, let alone its discovery, I ought to have prized above the discovery of all human treasures and kingdoms or the ability to enjoy all the pleasures of the body at a mere nod of the head. (VIII.7.2)
See, now Augustine is getting his priorities straight. Or trying to. He knows that he should renounce this world's joys, but that's easier said than done.