If you would fall into any extreme, let it be on the side of gentleness. The human mind is so constructed that it resists rigor, and yields to softness.
Humility makes our lives acceptable to God, meekness makes us acceptable to men.
A spoon full of honey gets more flies than a barrel full of vinegar.
In everything, love simplicity.
The damned are in the abyss of Hell, as within a woeful city, where they suffer unspeakable torments, in all their senses and members, because as they have employed all their senses and their members in sinning, so shall they suffer in each of them the punishment due to sin.
I recommend to you holy simplicity.
Those who love to be feared fear to be loved, and they themselves are more afraid than anyone, for whereas other men fear only them, they fear everyone.
The merit of the cross does not consist in its heaviness, but in the manner in which we carry it. I would even say that it is sometimes more virtuous to carry a cross of straw than a heavy cross because we have to be more attentive for fear of losing it.
Obedience is a consecration of the heart, chastity of the body, and poverty of all worldly goods to the Love and Service of God. Blessed indeed are the obedient, for God will never permit them to go astray.
I have the same opinion of dances that physicians have of mushrooms: the best of them are good for nothing.
He who complains, sins.
Nothing appeases an enraged elephant so much as the sight of a little lamb.
Naturally we all have an inclination to command, and a great aversion to obey; and yet it is certain that it is more for our good to obey than to command; hence perfect souls have always had a great affection for obedience, and have found all their joy and comfort in it.
The Devil doesn’t fear austerity but holy obedience.
Hell is full of good intentions and wills.
You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.
Don’t get upset with your imperfections. Surrender to the Power of God’s Love, which is greater than our weakness.
Professions of humility are the very cream, the very essence of pride; the really humble person wishes to be, and not to appear so. Humility is timorous, and starts at her shadow; and so delicate that if she hears her name pronounced it endangers her existence.
In no other action can our Savior be considered more tender or more loving than in this, in which He, as it were, annihilates Himself and reduces Himself to food, that He may penetrate our souls and unite Himself to the hearts of His faithful.
Make sickness itself a prayer.
Obedience is a virtue of so excellent a nature, that Our Lord was pleased to mark its observance upon the whole course of His life; thus He often says, He did not come to do His Own will, but that of His Heavenly Father.