Love is the beauty of the soul.
The soul, which is spirit, can not dwell in dust; it is carried along to dwell in the blood.
Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.
Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of his head are easier by far to count than his feeling, the movements of his heart.
Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.
You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.
O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet.
There is no possible source of evil except good.
Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt.
Our bodies are shaped to bear children, and our lives are a working out of the processes of creation.
There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart.
He who labours, prays.
Pray as though everything depended on God.
They have begun to call ‘Christian’ the true religion which existed before.
Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.
Punishment is justice for the unjust.
This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.
If we did not have rational souls, we would not be able to believe.
Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.
A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.
To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it.
If we live good lives, the times are also good.
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows.
Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.
To seek the highest good is to live well.
It has eyes to see misery and want.
Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.
Custom is second nature.
We cannot pass our guardian angel’s bounds, resigned or sullen, he will hear our sighs.
It is not the punishment but the cause that makes the martyr.
The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.
Don’t you believe that there is in man a deep so profound as to be hidden even to him in whom it is?
What does love look like? It has the hands to help others.
It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.
The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.
Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.
