The notion of obligations comes before that of rights, which is subordinate and relative to the former. A right is not effectual by itself, but only in relation to the obligation to which it corresponds.

Contradiction is the lever of transcendence.

Those who keep the masses of men in subjection by exercising force and cruelty deprive them at once of two vital foods, liberty and obedience; for it is no longer within the power of such masses to accord their inner consent to the authority to which they are subjected. Those who encourage a state of things in which the hope of gain is the principle motive take away from men their obedience, for consent which is its essence is not something which can be sold.

God is rich in mercy. I know this wealth of his with the certainty of experience, I have touched it.

prayer consists of attention. It is the orientation of all the attention of which the soul is capable towards God. The quality of the attention counts for much in the quality of the prayer. Warmth of heart cannot make up for it.

We are only geometricians of matter; the Greeks were, first of all, geometricians in the apprenticeship to virtue.

Love of God is pure when joy and suffering inspire an equal degree of gratitude.