Contemplative prayer [oración mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.

Souls who do not practice prayer are like people whose limbs are paralyzed.

Discontent with this world gives such a painful longing to quit it that, if the heart finds comfort, it is solely from the thought that God wishes it to remain here in banishment.

Settle yourself in solitude, and you will come upon God in yourself.

Lord, how you afflict your lovers! But everything is small in comparison to what you give them afterwards.

Do not think you have gained a virtue unless you have first been tried by its opposite.

Half-instructed confessors have done my soul great harm; for I could not always have such learned ones as I would have desired. They certainly did not wish to deceive me, but the fact was that they knew no better. Of something which was a venial sin, they said it was no sin, and out of a very grave mortal sin they made a venial sin. This has done me such harm, that my speaking here of so great an evil, as a warning to others, will be readily understood.