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

Even those who write against fame wish for the fame of having written well, and those who read their works desire the fame of having read them.

God only pours out his light into the mind after having subdued the rebellion of the will by an altogether heavenly gentleness which charms and wins it.

The imagination enlarges little objects so as to fill our souls with a fantastic estimate; and, with rash insolence, it belittles the great to its own measure, as when talking of God.

The captain of a ship is not chosen from those of the passengers who comes from the best family.

To deny, to believe, and to doubt well, are to a man what the race is to a horse.

God has given us evidence sufficiently clear to convince those with an open heart and mind.