The love of our private friends is the only preparatory exercise for the love of all men.

Prayer is to the spiritual life what the beating of the pulse and the drawing of the breath are to the life of the body.

We must make up our minds to be ignorant of much, if we would know anything.

Reason is God's gift, but so are the passions. Reason is as guilty as passion.

It is not God's way that great blessings should descend without the sacrifice first of great sufferings. If the truth is to be spread to any wide extent among the people, how can we dream, how can we hope, that trial and trouble shall not accompany its going forth.

To discover and to teach are distinct functions; they are also distinct gifts, and are not commonly found united in the same person.

How can we understand forgiveness if we haven't recognized the depth of our sin?