There are many who say to the Lord, "I give myself wholly to Thee, without any reserve," but there are few who embrace the practice of this abandonment, which consists in receiving with a certain indifference every sort of event, as it happens in conformity with Divine Providence, as well afflictions as consolations, contempt and reproaches as honor and glory.
Saint Francis de SalesMarital intercourse is certainly holy, lawful and praiseworthy in itself and profitable to society, yet in certain circumstances it can prove dangerous, as when through excess the soul is made sick with venial sin, or through the violation and perversion of its primary end, killed by mortal sin; such perversion, detestable in proportion to its departure from the true order, being always mortal sin, for it is never lawful to exclude the primary end of marriage which is the procreation of children.
Saint Francis de SalesWork hard every day at increasing your purity of heart, which consists in appraising things and weighing them in the balance of God's will.
Saint Francis de SalesConsider all the past as nothing, and say, like David: Now I begin to love my God.
Saint Francis de SalesThe test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying, not "What a lovely sermon!" but "I will do something."
Saint Francis de SalesRepresent to yourself a dark city all burning and stinking with fire and brimstone. The damned are in the depth of hell within this woful city, where they suffer unspeakable torments in all their senses and members. Consider above all the eternity of their pains, which above all things makes hell intolerable.
Saint Francis de Sales