Despondency is not a state of humility; on the contrary, it is the vexation and despair of a cowardly pride – nothing is worse; whether we stumble or whether we fall, we must only think of rising again and going on in our course.
True piety hath in it nothing weak, nothing sad, nothing constrained. It enlarges the heart; it is simple, free, and attractive.
No human power can force the intrenchments of the human mind: compulsion never persuades; it only makes hypocrites.
The great point is to renounce your own wisdom by simplicity of walk, and to be ready to give up the favor, esteem, and approbation of every one, whenever the path in which God leads you passes that way.
When kings interfere in matters of religion, they enslave instead of protecting it.
We may as well tolerate all religions, since God Himself tolerates all.
Our piety must be weak and imperfect if it do not conquer our fear of death.
We must avoid fastidiousness; neatness, when it is moderate, is a virtue; but when it is carried to an extreme, it narrows the mind.
There are two principal points of attention necessary for the preservation of this constant spirit of prayer which unites us with God; we must continually seek to cherish it, and we must avoid everything that tends to make us lose it.
The passion of acquiring riches in order to support a vain expense corrupts the purest souls.
If we were faultless, we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate. If we were to acknowledge honestly that we have not virtue enough to bear patiently with our neighbor’s weaknesses, we should show our own imperfection, and this alarms our vanity.
The most essential point is lowliness.
God is so good that He only awaits our desire to overwhelm us with the gift of himself.
O Lord! take my heart, for I cannot give it; and when Thou hast it, O! keep it, for I cannot keep it for Thee; and save me in spite of myself, for Jesus Christ’s sake.
I believe that we are conforming to the divine order and the will of Providence when we are doing even indifferent things that belong to our condition.
Violent excitement exhausts the mind and leaves it withered and sterile.
Be content with doing calmly the little which depends upon yourself, and let all else be to you as if it were not.
The greatest defect of common education is, that we are in the habit of putting pleasure all on one side, and weariness on the other; all weariness in study, all pleasure in idleness.
I am not in the least surprised that your impression of death becomes more lively, in proportion as age and infirmity bring it nearer. God makes use of this rough trial to undeceive us in respect to our courage, to make us feel our weakness, and to keep us in all humility in His hands.
How does our will become sanctified? By conforming itself unreservedly to that of God.