The human heart is not unchanging (nay, changes almost out of recognition in the twinkling of an eye).

Every good book should be entertaining. A good book will be more; it must not be less. Entertainment…is like a qualifying examination. If a fiction can’t provide that, we may be excused from inquiring into its higher qualities.

Joy is the serious business of heaven. Our merriment must be between people who take each other seriously.

Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.

Shut your mouth; open your eyes and ears.

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

We do not see into men’s hearts. We cannot judge, and are indeed forbidden to judge.