We have to endure the discordance between imagination and fact. It is better to say, “I am suffering,” than to say, “This landscape is ugly.

We do not obtain the most precious gifts by going in search of them but by waiting for them.

The sea is not less beautiful in our eyes because we know that sometimes ships are wrecked by it.

Punishment is a vital need of the human soul.

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

When an apprentice gets hurt, or complains of being tired, the workmen and peasants have this fine expression: "It is the trade entering his body." Each time that we have some pain to go through, we can say to ourselves quite truly that it is the universe, the order and beauty of the world, and the obedience of God that are entering our body.

The only great spirit of our time.