I have been in the scholastic profession long enough to know that nobody enters it unless he has some very good reason that he is anxious to conceal.

It is no longer possible to accept the benefits of civilization and at the same time deny the supernatural basis upon which it is based.

There is something incomparably thrilling in first opening a brand new book.

I have a good mind not to take Aloysius to Venice. I don't want him to meet a lot of horrid Italian bears and pick up bad habits.

We are American at puberty. We die French.

No one could really hate a saint, could they? They can't really hate God either. When they want to Hate Him and His saints they have to find something like themselves and pretends it's God and hate that.

I don't believe that people would ever fall in love or want to be married if they hadn't been told about it. It's like abroad: no one would want to go there if they hadn't been told it existed.