There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else.

Chastity is the most unpopular of the Christian virtues.

It is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.

And all the time - such is the tragic comedy of our situation - we continue to clamor for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.

You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth of falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it?

Everything except God has some natural superior; everything except unformed matter has some natural inferior.

There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God, and counterclaimed by Satan.