The youth who, like a woman, loves to adorn his person, has renounced all claim to wisdom and to glory; glory is due to those only who dare to associate with pain, and have trampled pleasure under their feet.

The history of the world suggests that without love of God there is little likelihood of a love for man that does not become corrupt.

Genuine good taste consists in saying much in few words, in choosing among our thoughts, in having order and arrangement in what we say, and in speaking with composure.

Prayer is so necessary, and the source of so many blessings, that he who has discovered the treasure cannot be prevented from having recourse to it, whenever he has an opportunity.

When kings interfere in matters of religion, they enslave instead of protecting it.

The smallest things become great when God requires them of us; they are small only in themselves; they are always great when they are done for God.

Nothing will make us so charitable and tender to the faults of others, as, by self-examination, thoroughly to know our own.