The one condition for spiritual progress is that we remain sincere and humble.

For, to my mind, this is a certain principle, that nothing is here treated of but the visible form of the world. He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. (on commenting the text of Genesis 1:6)

We are not to reflect on the wickedness of men but to look to the image of God in them, an image which, covering and obliterating their faults, an image which, by its beauty and dignity, should allure us to love and embrace them.

Yet consider now, whether women are not quite past sense and reason, when they want to rule over men.

The evil in our desires typically does not lie in what we want, but that we want it too much.

We are not to look to what men in themselves deserve but to attend to the image of God which exists in all and to which we owe all honor and love.

The word "hope" I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith.