Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

We make ourselves a ladder out of our vices if we trample the vices themselves underfoot.

Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the...

God will not suffer man to have a knowledge of things to come; for if he had prescience of his prosperity, he would be careless; and if understanding of his adversity, he would be despairing...

He that is jealous is not in love.

Women should not be enlightened or educated in any way. They should, in fact, be segregated as they are the cause of hideous and involuntary erections in holy men.

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.

Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked.

Love is the beauty of the soul.

People travel to marvel at the mountains, seas, rivers and stars; and they pass right by themselves without astonishment.

Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.

The purpose of all wars…is peace.

Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.

Don’t you believe that there is in man a deep so profound as to be hidden even to him in whom it is?

There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart.

You aspire to great things? Begin with little ones.

Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.

The danger already exists that mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine man in the bonds of Hell

O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.

By faithfulness we are collected and wound up into unity within ourselves, whereas we had been scattered abroad in multiplicity.

If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don’t accept, because you will lose one friend; on the other hand, if two strangers come with the same request, accept because you will gain one...

I would not believe in the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so

It seems to me that an unjust law is no law at all.

God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand you have failed.

O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet.

A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.

Order your soul; reduce your wants; live in charity; associate in Christian community; obey the laws; trust in Providence.

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.

We make a ladder of our vices, if we trample those same vices underfoot.

Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.

Thou must be emptied of that wherewith thou art full, that thou mayest be filled with that whereof thou art empty.

Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee.

And behold you were within me,and I out of myself, and there I searched for you.

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

We are certainly in a common class with the beasts; every action of animal life is concerned with seeking bodily pleasure and avoiding pain.

Men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, and pass themselves by.

In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?

To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.

I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.

Lord, Make me chaste, but not yet

Patience is the companion of wisdom.

Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.

Love, and do what you like

Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider.

Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity.

Passion is the evil in adultery. If a man has no opportunity of living with another man’s wife, but if it is obvious for some reason that he would like to do so, and would...

Better to have fewer wants than greater riches to supply increasing wants.

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears...