There is no distress so complete but that even in the most critical moments the inexplicable sunrise of hope is seen in its depths.

These are true felicities. No joy beyond these joys. Love is the only ecstasy, everything else weeps

To commit the least possible sin is the law for man. To live without sin is the dream of an angel. Everything terrestrial is subject to sin. Sin is a gravitation.

Love is the foolishness of men, and the wisdom of God.

If you look in the eyes of the young, you see flame. If you look in the eyes of the old, you see light.

No one can keep a secret better than a child.

Can human nature ever be wholly and radically transformed? Can the man whom God made good be made wicked by man? Can the soul be reshaped in its entirety by destiny and made evil because destiny is evil? Can the heart become misshapen and afflicted with ugly, incurable deformities under disproportionate misfortune, like a spinal column bent beneath a too low roof?