“From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us.”

We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble.

There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.

All the troubles of the Church, all the evils in the world, flow from this source: that men do not by clear and sound knowledge and serious consideration penetrate into the truths of Sacred Scripture.

One always goes on as one begins.

If we practice love of neighbor with great perfection, we will have done everything.

God prefers your health, and your obedience, to your penance.

Let nothing disturb you, / Nothing dismay you; / All things are passing: / God never changes.

Let nothing disturb thee; Let nothing dismay thee; All things pass; God never changes. Patience attains All that it strives for.

Those who in fact risk all for God will find that they have both lost all and gained all.

How friendly we should all be with one another if nobody were interested in money and honor.

Suffering is a great favor. Remember that everything soon comes to an end . . . and take courage. Think of how our gain is eternal.

Everything seems to me to pass so quickly that we must concentrate on how to die rather than on how to live. How sweet it is to die if one has lived on the Cross with Christ.

I thought of the soul as resembling a castle, formed of a single diamond or a very transparent crystal, and containing many rooms, just as in Heaven there are many mansions.

The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives more fruit.

Trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

How often I failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer.