A ship should not be held by a single anchor; neither should life depend upon a single hope.

Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee.

If a person had delivered up your body to some passer-by, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in delivering up your own mind to any reviler, to be disconcerted and confounded?

Renew every day your conversation with God: Do this even in preference to eating. Think more often of God than you breathe.

When you let go of your attention for a little while, do not think you may recover it whenever you please.

Wherever any one is against his will, that is to him a prison.

No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.