It is not children only that one feeds with fairy tales.

My God, grant that my bounty may be a clear and transparent river, flowing from pure charity, and uncontaminated by self-love, ambition, or interest. Thanks are due not to me, but Thee, from whom all I possess is derived. And what are the paltry gifts for which my neighbor forgets to thank me, compared with the immense blessings for which I have so often forgotten to be grateful to Thee!

The gift of prayer is not always at our command.

With a clear sky, a bright sun, and a gentle breeze, you will have friends in plenty; but let fortune frown, and the firmament be overcast, and then your friends will prove like the strings of the lute, of which you will tighten ten before you find one that will bear the stretch and keep the pitch.

Pure truth is for God alone.

The superstition in which we were brought up never loses its power over us, even after we understand it.

How can such deep-imprinted images sleep in us at times, till a word, a sound, awake them?