The greatness of contemplation can be given to none but those who love.

Whatsoever one would understand what he hears must hasten to put into practice what he has heard.

To do penance is to bewail the evil we have done, and to do no evil to bewail.

Obedience is the only virtue that plants the other virtues in the heart and preserves them after they have been planted.

Now if the wearing of fine and precious robes were not a fault, word of God would never have so carefully expressed this. For no one seeks costly garments except for vainglory, that he may seem more honorable than others; for no one wishes to be clothed with such, where he cannot be seen by others.

The more the wicked abound, so much the more must we suffer with them in patience; for on the threshing floor few are the grains carried into the barns, but high are the piles of chaff burned with fire.

As long as the vice of gluttony has a hold on a man, all that he has done valiantly is forfeited by him: and as long as the belly is unrestrained, all virtue comes to naught.