In the light of eternity we shall see that what we desired would have been fatal to us, and that what we would have avoided was essential to our well-being.

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.

There is no real elevation of mind in a contempt of little things; it is, on the contrary, from too narrow views that we consider those things of little importance which have in fact such extensive consequences.

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

If the crowns of all the kingdoms of the empire were laid down at my feet in exchange for my books and my love of reading I would spurn them all.

The greater our dread of crosses, the more necessary they are for us.

If we were faultless, we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate. If we were to acknowledge honestly that we have not virtue enough to bear patiently with our neighbor's weaknesses, we should show our own imperfection, and this alarms our vanity.