Only three things are necessary to make life happy: the blessing of God, books , and a friend.
Jean-Baptiste Henri LacordaireReal excellence and humility are not incompatible one with the other, on the contrary they are twin sisters.
Jean-Baptiste Henri LacordaireIt is not a slight thing, gentlemen, to force a man to say what he is, or what he believes himself to be; for that supreme word of man, that single expression which he utters of and upon himself is decisive. It lays down the basis upon which all judgment of him is to be formed. From that moment all the acts of his life must correspond to the answer given by him.
Jean-Baptiste Henri LacordaireOnly yesterday I was full of worldly fancies, although religion had already some share in my thoughts: glory was still my daydream. Today my hopes are higher, and I covet here below nothing but obscurity and peace.
Jean-Baptiste Henri LacordaireLike every man who appears at an epoch which is historical and rendered famous by his works, Jesus Christ has a history, a history which the church and the world possess, and which, surrounded by countless memorials, has at least the same authenticity as any other history formed in the same countries, amidst the same peoples and in the same times. As, then, if I would study the lives of Brutus and Cassius, I should calmly open Plutarch, I open the Gospel to study Jesus Christ, and I do so with the same composure.
Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire