He who interrupts the course of his spiritual exercises and prayer is like a man who allows a bird to escape from his hand; he can hardly catch it again.

Strive always to confess your sins with a deep knowledge of your own wretchedness and with clarity and purity.

Never listen to accounts of the frailty of others; and if anyone should complain to you of another, humbly ask him not to speak about him at all.

Have a great love for those who contradict and fail to love you, for in this way love is begotten in a heart that has no love.

Never relax, for you will not attain to the possession of true spiritual delights if first you do not learn to deny your every desire.

Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved. The soul that is attached to anything, however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of Divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for until the cord be broken, the bird cannot fly.

God passes through the thicket of the world, and wherever His glance falls He turns all things to beauty.