Duty is the grandest of ideas, because it implies the idea of God, of the soul, of liberty, of responsibility, of immortality.
Jean-Baptiste Henri LacordaireAs to the lawful pleasures of the mind, the heart, or the senses, indulge in them with gratitude and moderation, drawing up sometimes in order to punish yourself, without waiting to be forced to do so by necessity.
Jean-Baptiste Henri LacordaireTurn your eyes whither you will, enter into whatever temple you please, you will find there on the very threshold Prophecy and Sacrament .... whoever despises these two things, infallibly bends towards earth, knowing nothing of God but his name, and holding with him no other relations than ingratitude and forgetfulness.
Jean-Baptiste Henri LacordaireWherever God is adored, he is adored in virtue of a supernatural doctrine; wherever he is despised, he is despised in the name of nature and reason.
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 Lacordaire