I am the only wretch who keeps on heaping new iniquities and abominations on myself. O Monsieur, how merciful God is to put up with me with so much patience and forbearance, and how weak and miserable I am to abuse his mercies so greatly!

A doctor who keeps a person from becoming ill deserves more merit than one who cures him.

[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.

All beginnings are somewhat strange; but we must have patience, and little by little, we shall find things, which at first were obscure, becoming clearer.

Practice humility and patience.

Peace is worth more than all worldly possessions; in addition, God rewards it even in this life.

. . . [T]hose persons who console you today may humiliate you tomorrow.