If you cast away one cross, you will certainly find another, and perhaps a heavier.

I have often heard, that it is safer to hear and to take counsel, than to give it.

Wherever you go, you will always bear yourself about with you, and so you will always find yourself.

Therefore, a man ought to root himself so firmly in God that he will not need the consolations of men.

The better you understand yourself the less cause you will find to love yourself.

Remain tranquil and prepare to bear still greater trials. All is not lost even though you be troubled oftener or tempted more grievously. You are a man, not God. You are flesh, not an angel. How can you possibly expect to remain always in the same state of virtue when the angels in heaven and the first man in paradise failed to do so? I am He who rescues the afflicted and brings to My divinity those who know their own weakness.

A disciple once complained, "You tell us stories, but you never reveal their meaning to us." The master replied, "How would you like it if someone offered you fruit and then chewed it up for you before giving it to you?" If your heart is straight with God, then every creature will be to you a mirror of life and a book of holy doctrine.