Even to this day, grace remains hard to swallow. Religiosity and moralism go down easier than free forgiveness.

One real thing is closer to God than all the diagrams in the world

We were given appetites, not to consume the world and forget it, but to taste its goodness and hunger to make it great.

What is good is difficult, and what is difficult is rare.

That, you know, is why the world exists at all. It remains outside the cosmic garbage can of nothingness, not because it is such a solemn necessity that nobody can get rid of it, but because it is the orange peel hung on God's chandelier, the wishbone in His kitchen closet. He likes it; therefore, it stays. The whole marvelous collection of stones, skins, feathers, and string exists because at least one lover has never quite taken His eye off it, because the Dominus vivificans has his delight with the sons of men.

... the proper self-knowledge and self-love of every created thing is ipso facto a participation in the knowledge and love of God. The entire universe moves by desire for the Highest Good simply because every part of it loves what God loves - namely, its own being.

Older women are like aging strudels - the crust may not be so lovely, but the filling has come at last into its own.