Muhammad established a religion by putting his enemies to death; Jesus Christ by commanding his followers to lay down their lives.

When I have occasionally set myself to consider the different distractions of men, the pains and perils to which they expose themselves I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.

The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter.

However vast a man's spiritual resources, he is capable of but one great passion.

Concupiscence and force are the source of all our actions; concupiscence causes voluntary actions, force involuntary ones.

It is good to be tired and wearied by the futile search after the true good, that we may stretch out our arms to the Redeemer.

When everyone is moving towards depravity, no one seems to be moving, but if someone stops he shows up the others who are rushing on, by acting as a fixed point.