The Family is the Country of the heart. There is an angel in the Family who, by the mysterious influence of grace, of sweetness, and of love, renders the fulfillment of duties less wearisome, sorrows less bitter. The only pure joys unmixed with sadness which it is given to man to taste upon earth are, thanks to this angel, the joys of the Family.

God has given you your country as cradle, and humanity as mother; you cannot rightly love your brethren of the cradle if you love not the common mother.

Sorrow is not evil, since it stimulates and purifies.

Preach in the name of God. The learned will smile; ask the learned what they have done for their country. The priests will excommunicate you . . .

The mother's first kiss teaches the child love; the first holy kiss of the woman he loves teaches man hope and faith in life; and love and faith create a desire for perfection and the power of reaching towards it step by step; create the future, in short, of which the living symbol is the child, link between us and the generations to come.

The obscurest sayings of the truly great are often those which contain the germ of the profoundest and most useful truths.

Music is the harmonious voice of creation; an echo of the invisible world.