...Though we chisel away as best we can at the mysterious block from which our life is made, the black vein of destiny continually reappears.

What matters deafness of the ear, when the mind hears? The one true deafness, the incurable deafness, is that of the mind.

A tempest ceases, a cyclone passes over, a wind dies down, a broken mast can be replaced, a leak can be stopped, a fire extinguished, but what will become of this enormous brute of bronze?

The soul has illusions as the bird has wings: it is supported by them.

Earnestness is the salt of eloquence.

There is a determined though unseen bravery that defends itself foot by foot in the darkness against the fatal invasions of necessity and dishonesty. Noble and mysterious triumphs that no eye sees, and no fame rewards, and no flourish of triumph salutes. Life, misfortunes, isolation, abandonment, poverty, are battlefields that have their heroes; obscure heroes, sometimes greater than the illustrious heroes.

The first proof of charity in a priest, and especially a bishop, is poverty.