"A Christian should be an Alleluia from head to foot."

"A man may lose the good things of this life against his will; but if he loses the eternal blessings, he does so with his own consent."

"A person can do other things against his will, but belief is possible only in one who is willing."

“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, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the waves obey him.””

"Always add, always walk, always proceed; neither stand still, nor go back, nor deviate; he that standeth still proceedeth not; he goeth back that continueth not; he deviateth that revolteth; he goeth better that creepeth in his way than he that moveth out of his way."

"An unjust law is no law at all."

"… and even now we labor in our residual gloom, until in your only Son we become your righteousness; for that righteousness is like God's high and holy mountains, while your judgments, which were all the being we then had, are like the deep."

"Anger is a weed; hate is the tree."

"Anyone who does not love Him Who made man has not learned to love man aright."

“Bad company is like a nail driven into a post, which after the first or second blow may be drawn out with little difficulty; but being once driven up to the head, the pincers cannot take hold to draw it out, but which can only be done by the destruction of the wood.”

“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.”

"Belatedly I loved thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new, belatedly I loved thee. For see, thou wast within and I was without, and I sought thee out there. Unlovely, I rushed heedlessly among the lovely things thou hast made. Thou wast with me, but I was not with thee. These things kept me far from thee; even though they were not at all unless they were in thee. Thou didst call and cry aloud, and didst force open my deafness. Thou didst gleam and shine, and didst chase away my blindness. Thou didst breathe fragrant odors and I drew in my breath; and now I pant for thee. I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst. Thou didst touch me, and I burned for thy peace."

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

“Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.”

"But I admit that those who think the works of men are gods have sunk lower than those who deify the works of God."

"By means of corporal and temporal things we may comprehend the eternal and the spiritual."

“Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.”

"Charity is the root of all good works."

"Christ is not valued at all unless He is valued above all."

"Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation."

“Conquer yourself and the world lies at your feet.”

"Conscience and reputation are two things. Conscience is due to yourself, reputation to your neighbor."

“Despise not yourselves, ye women; the Son of God was born of a woman”

“Do not believe yourself healthy. Immortality is health; this life is a long sickness.”
“For, were it not good that evil things should also exist, the omnipotent God would almost certainly not allow evil to be, since beyond doubt it is just as easy for Him not to allow what He does not will, as for Him to do what He will.”

“Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.”

"Give me yourself, O my God, give yourself back to me. Lo, I love you, but if my love is too mean, let me love more passionately. I cannot gauge my love, nor know how far it fails, how much more love I need for my life to set its course straight into your arms, never swerving until hidden in the covert of your face. This alone I know, that without you all to me is misery, woe outside myself and woe within, and all wealth but penury, if it is not my God."

“Give, O Lord, what Thou commandest, and then command what Thou wilt.”

“Go forth on your path, as it exists only through your walking.”

“God does not give heed to the ambitiousness of our prayers, because he is always ready to give to us his light, not a visible light but an intellectual and spiritual one; but we are not always ready to receive it when we turn aside and down to other.”

"God gives where he finds empty hands."

"God grants us not always what we ask so as to bestow something preferable."

“God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.”

"God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination."

“God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them."

“God is more truly imagined than expressed, and He exists more truly than He is imagined.”

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

"God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist."

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

“God provides the wind, but man must raise the sails.”

“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 and senseless.”

“Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity.”

“He cannot have God for his Father who will not have the Church for his mother.”

"He loves You too little, who loves anything together with You, which he loves not for Your sake."

“He that is jealous is not in love.”

“He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.”

“He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.”

"He who created you without you will not justify you without you."

“He who is filled with love is filled with God himself.”

"He who loves the coming of the Lord is not he who affirms that it is far off, nor is it he who says it is near, but rather he who, whether it be far off or near, awaits it with sincere faith, steadfast hope, and fervent love."

"He who sings prays twice."

"Hear the other side."

"Heaven forbid that we should believe in such a way as not to accept or seek reasons, since we could not even believe if we did not possess rational souls."

"Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are."

"How can the past and future be, when the past no longer is, and the future is not yet? As for the present, if it were always present and never moved on to become the past, it would not be time, but eternity."

“How high a price we pay for the burden of habit! I am fitted for life here where I do not want to be, I want to live there but am unfit for it, and on both counts I am miserable."

“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.”

"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. "

"I don't care to inquire why they cannot believe an earthly body can be in heaven, while the whole earth is suspended on nothing."

“I found thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred in seeking thee without that wert within.”

“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.''

“I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him.”

"I was unhappy and so is every soul unhappy which is tied to its love for mortal things; when it loses them, it is torn in pieces, and it is then that it comes to realize the unhappiness which was there even before it lost them."

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

"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 friend."

“If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.”

“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.”

"If you understood him, it would not be God."

“If you were the only person on earth, Christ would have still suffered and died for you.”

"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity."

"In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me."

"In order to discover the character of people we have only to observe what they love."
"It is not that we keep His commandments first and that then He loves but that He loves us and then we keep His commandments. This is that grace which is revealed to the humble but hidden from the proud."

"It is the function of perfection to make one know one's imperfection."

“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”

“Let those who think I have said too little and those who think I have said too much, forgive me and let those who think I have said just enough thank God with me."

“Love all men, even your enemies; love them, not because they are your brothers, but that they may become your brothers. Thus you will ever burn with fraternal love, both for him who is already your brother and for your enemy, that he may by loving become your brother. ... Even he that does not as yet believe in Christ ... love him, and love him with fraternal love. He is not yet thy brother, but love him precisely that he may be thy brother.”

“Love, and do what you like.”

"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."

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.”

“Love is the beauty of the soul.”

"Love is ever new because it never grows old."

"Love the sinner and hate the sin."

“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.”

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

“My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contradictory throng of sensuous images, that it might find out what that light was wherein it was bathed... And thus, with the flash of one hurried glance, it attained to the vision of That Which Is.”

"Narrow is the mansion of my soul; enlarge Thou it, that Thou mayest enter in. It is ruinous; repair Thou it. It has that within which must offend Thine eyes; I confess and know it. But who shall cleanse it? or to whom should I cry, save Thee? Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults, and spare Thy servant from the power of the enemy. I believe, and therefore do I speak."

"No eulogy is due to him who simply does his duty and nothing more."

"Nobody should ever doubt that in the washing of rebirth (Titus 3:5) absolutely all sins, from the least to the greatest, are altogether forgiven."

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

"O Lord, make me pure and holy: but not yet."

"O Lord my God, tell me what you are to me. Say to my soul, I am your salvation. Say it so that I can hear it. My heart is listening, Lord; open the ears of my heart and say to my soul, I am your salvation. Let me run toward this voice and seize hold of you. Do not hide your face from me: let me die so that I may see it, for not to see it would be death to me indeed."

"Oh, God, to know you is life. To serve You is freedom. To praise you is the soul's joy and delight. Guard me with the power of Your grace here and in all places. Now and at all times, forever. Amen."

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

"Our bodies are shaped to bear children, and our lives are a working out of the processes of creation. All our ambitions and intelligence are beside that great elemental point."

"Our whole business therefore in this life is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God may be seen."

"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 do so if he could, he is no less guilty than if he was caught in the act."

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.”

“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience.”

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”

“Pray not for a lighter load, but for stronger shoulders.”

“Punishment is justice for the unjust.”

"Really great things, when discussed by little men, can usually make such men grow big."

“Renouncement: the heroism of mediocrity.”

"Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it."

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

"Sin is Energy in the wrong channel."

"Sin is looking for the right thing in the wrong place."

"Since God is the highest good, he would not allow any evil to exist in his works unless his omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil."

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

"Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you."

"Singing belongs to one who loves."

"Some things are to be enjoyed, others to be used, and there are others to be enjoyed and used."

“Temperance is love surrendering itself wholly to Him who is its object; courage is love bearing all things gladly for the sake of Him who is its object; justice is love serving only Him who is its object, and therefore rightly ruling; prudence is love making wise distinction between what hinders and what helps itself.”

“The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.”

“The desire for fame tempts even noble minds.”

“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.”

“The dove loves when it quarrels; the wolf hates when it flatters.”

“The good Christian should beware the mathematician and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of hell."

"The good man, though a slave, is free; the wicked, though he reigns, is a slave, and not the slave of a single man, but — what is worse — the slave of as many masters as he has vices."

"The Heavenly City outshines Rome beyond comparison. There, instead of victory, is truth; instead of high rank, holiness; instead of peace, felicity; instead of life, eternity,"

“The measure of love is to love without measure.”

"The mind commands the body and is instantly obeyed. The mind commands itself and meets resistance."

"The peace of the celestial city is the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God, and of one another in God."

“The people who remained victorious were less like conquerors than conquered.”

“The purpose of all wars, is peace.”

“The spiritual virtue of a sacrament is like light, — although it passes among the impure, it is not polluted.”

“The true servants of God are not solicitous that He should order them to do what they desire to do, but that they may desire to do what He orders them to do.”

"The violence which assails good men to test them, to cleanse and purify them, effects in the wicked their condemnation, ruin, and annihilation."

“The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.”

“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

“The world is a great book; he who never stirs from home reads only a page."

"There are wolves within, and there are sheep without."

"There can only be two basic loves... the love of God unto the forgetfulness of self, or the love of self unto the forgetfulness and denial of God."

“There is no possible source of evil except good.”

"There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart."

“This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.”

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

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

"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men."

"Though there are very many nations all over the earth, ...there are no more than two kinds of human society, which we may justly call two cities, ...one consisting of those who live according to man, the other of those who live according to God ....To the City of Man belong the enemies of God, ...so inflamed with hatred against the City of God."

"Thus, in this universal catastrophe, the sufferings of Christians have tended to their moral improvement, because they viewed them with eyes of faith."

"To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it."

"To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement."

“To seek the highest good is to live well.”

“To wisdom belongs the intellectual apprehension of things eternal; to knowledge, the rational apprehension of things temporal.”

“Understanding is the reward of faith.”

"Watch, O Lord,
with those who wake,
or watch or weep tonight,
and give your angels charge
over those who sleep.

Tend your sick ones,
O Lord Jesus Christ;
rest your weary ones;
bless your dying ones;
soothe your suffering ones;
pity your afflicted ones;
shield your joyous ones;
and all for your love's sake.
Amen."

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

“We cannot pass our guardian angel's bounds, resigned or sullen, he will hear our sighs.”

"We made bad use of immortality, and so ended up dying; Christ made good use of mortality, so that we might end up living."

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

"We speak, but it is God who teaches."

"What you are must always displease you, if you would attain to that which you are not."

"What do I love when I love my God?"

"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 to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like."

“What I needed most was to love and to be loved, eager to be caught. Happily I wrapped those painful bonds around me; and sure enough, I would be lashed with the red-hot pokers or jealousy, by suspicions and fear, by burst of anger and quarrels.”

"What is going on in our minds, then, that we should be more highly delighted at finding cherished objects, or having them restored to us, than if we had always kept them safe?"

"What matters it to me if someone does not understand this? Let him too rejoice and say, “What is this?” Let him rejoice even at this, and let him love to find you while not finding it out, rather than, while finding it out, not to find you."

"When large numbers of people share their joy in common, the happiness of each is greater because each adds fuel to the other's flame."

"Where your pleasure is, there is your treasure: where your treasure, there your heart; where your heart, there your happiness."

“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.”

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

"Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods."

"Yet we must say something when those who say the most are saying nothing."