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

If we are, in fact, now occupied in good deeds, we should not attribute the strength with which we are doing them to ourselves. We must not count on ourselves, because even if we know what kind of person we are today, we do not know what we will be tomorrow.

If the intention is unclean, the deed that follows from it will also be evil, even if it seems good.

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

There are in truth three states of the converted: the beginning, the middle, and the perfection. In the beginning they experience the charms of sweetness; in the middle the contests of temptation; and in the end the fullness of perfection.

The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.

The Bible is a stream of running water, where alike the elephant may swim, and the lamb walk without losing its feet.