There are only two things that pierce the human heart. One is beauty. The other is affliction.
The beauty of the world is Christ's tender smile for us coming through matter.
One does not play Bach without having done scales. But neither does one play a scale merely for the sake of the scale.
One cannot imagine St. Francis of Assisi talking about rights.
Love of God is pure when joy and suffering inspire an equal degree of gratitude.
Evil is license, and that is why it is monotonous: everything has to be drawn from ourselves. One is condemned to false infinity. That is hell itself.