“Advent creates people, new people.”

God loves human beings. God loves the world. Not an ideal human, but human beings as they are; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find repulsive in their opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, namely, real human beings, the real world, this is for God the ground of unfathomable love.

There is a wrong way of staying in the world and a wrong way of fleeing from it. In both cases we are fashioning ourselves according to the world.

In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.

Any honours that come our way are only stolen from him to whom alone they really belong, the Lord who sent us.

If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all. How can I possibly serve another person in unfeigned humility if I seriously regard his sinfulness as worse than my own?

Jesus himself did not try to convert the two thieves on the cross; he waited until one of them turned to him.

There is meaning in every journey that is unknown to the traveler.

Being free means being free for the other, because the other has bound me to him. Only in relationship with the other am I free.

The truth of the matter is that the whole world has already been turned upside down by the work of Jesus Christ.

Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued.

Things do exist that are worth standing up for without compromise. To me it seems that peace and social justice are such things, as is Christ himself.

Not until one person desires to keep his own bread for himself does hunger ensue.

We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.

Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.

If my sinfulness appears to me in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all.

May God in his mercy lead us through these times; but above all, may he lead us to himself.

Let your life be the creation of art.

I’ve been getting my makeup done professionally since I was 12, I’ve never found a brand that could create that glowing look and flawless finish we all want from beauty products with ingredients that were effective and safe. So I had to create it.

You really have to work hard to create a three-dimensional character. You have to rehearse and explore and take your time. You can’t just memorize your lines and do it on the fly.

That’s what art is for me. It helps you maintain hope by giving you the ability to either create outside your reality, or to describe your reality.

Art is a corner of creation seen through a temperament.

I’m sure drugs and alcohol perhaps would inspire new thoughts, but it’s certainly not something that I use as a tool or a mechanism to create.

If anybody knows how to make action movies it’s Sly.

A woman must be a genius to create a good husband.