[W]isdom consists in following Providence step by step. And you can be sure of the truth of a maxim which seems paradoxical, namely, that he who is hasty falls back in the interests of God.

He is greatly honored by the time we take to weigh with mature deliberation matters having to do with his service, as are all those with which we deal.

Things arrange themselves with time. Only God can have everything to His liking; His servants should act as Our Lord did.

We must be firm but not rough in our guidance and avoid an insipid kind of meekness, which is ineffective.

We must hold as an irrefutable maxim that the difficulties we have with our neighbor arise more from our immortified moods than from anything else.

If you grant asylum to so many refugees, your house may be sacked sooner by the soldiers; I see that clearly. The question is, however, whether, because of this danger, you should refuse to practice such a beautiful virtue as charity.

We should take as a maxim never to be surprised at current difficulties, no more than at a passing breeze, because with a little patience we shall see them disappear. Time changes everything.