Nothing is more false and more indiscreet than always to want to choose what mortifies us in everything. By this rule a person would soon ruin his health, his business, his reputation, his relations with his relatives and friends, in fact every good work which Providence gives him.

Discouragement is simply the despair of wounded self-love.

All earthly delights are sweeter in expectation than in enjoyment; but all spiritual pleasures more in fruition than in expectation.

It is better to die than to tell a lie

If we were faultless we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate.

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.

Let us often think of our own infirmities, and we shall become indulgent toward those of others.