Purity is not imposed upon us as though it were a kind of punishment, it is one of those mysterious but obvious conditions of that supernatural knowledge of ourselves in the Divine, which we speak of as faith. Impurity does not destroy this knowledge, it slays our need for it.

It is the perpetual dread of fear, the fear of fear, that shapes the face of a brave man.

...the most dangerous shortsightedness consists in underestimating the mediocre.

You owe it to everyone you love to find pockets of tranquility in your busy world.

The modern state no longer has anything but rights; it does not recognize duties any more.

Civilization exists precisely so that there may be no masses but rather men alert enough never to constitute masses.

Optimism approves of everything, submits to everything, believes everything; it is the virtue above all of the taxpayer.