Despair is the absolute extreme of self-love. It is reached when a person deliberately turns his back on all help from anyone else in order to taste the rotten luxury of knowing himself to be lost

Humility is a virtue, not a neurosis.

Reason is in fact the path to faith, and faith takes over when reason can say no more.

Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say.

It is in deep solitude and silence that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brother and sister.

You will never be able to have perfect interior peace and recollection unless you are detached even from the desire of peace and recollection. You will never be able to pray perfectly until you are detached from the pleasures of prayer.

If you write for God you will reach many men and bring them joy. If you write for men--you may make some money and you may give someone a little joy and you may make a noise in the world, for a little while. If you write for yourself, you can read what you yourself have written and after ten minutes you will be so disgusted that you will wish that you were dead.