The council now beginning rises in the Church like the daybreak, a forerunner of most splendid light.

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.

It is now for the Catholic Church to bend herself to her work with calmness and generosity. It is for you to observe her with renewed and friendly attention.

Men are like wine - some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age.

Justice comes before charity.

There is a common belief that under modern conditions peace cannot be assured except on the basis of an equal balance of armaments...[but] true and lasting peace among nations cannot consist in the possession of an equal supply of armaments but only in mutual trust.

Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfullfilled potential.