We make ourselves a ladder out of our vices if we trample the vices themselves underfoot.
Oh, beauty, ever ancient and ever new.
Every visible thing in this world is put in the charge of an angel.
Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider.
A temptation arises: it is the wind. It disturbs you: it is the surging of the seas. This is the time to awaken Christ and let Him remind you of these words.
There is a joy which is not given to the ungodly, but to those who love Thee for Thine own sake, whose joy Thou Thyself art. And this is the happy life, to rejoice to Thee, of Thee, for Thee; this it is, and there is no other.
God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.
The law detects, grace alone conquers sin.
Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt.
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.
Without the Spirit we can neither love God nor keep His commandments.
Humility must accompany all our actions, must be with us everywhere; for as soon as we glory in our good works they are of no further value to our advancement in virtue.
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.
Love, and do what you will. If you keep silence, do it out of love. If you cry out, do it out of love. If you refrain from punishing, do it out of love.
Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.
My love for you, Lord, is not an uncertain feeling, but a matter of concious certainty. With your word you pierced my heart, and I loved you. But heaven and earth and everything in them on all sides tell me to love you.
War should we waged without love of violence, cruelty, or enmity.
A Christian should be an Alleluia from head to foot.
Let no one flatter himself; of himself he is Satan. Let man take sin, which is his own, and leave righteousness with God.
It is easy to want things from the Lord and yet not want the Lord Himself, as though the gift could ever be preferable to the Giver.