Remember, Monsieur, that Saint Augustine says that a person who does not obey the doctors is doing his best to kill himself.

[E]xcess in the practice of virtue is no less imperfect than the lack of it.

There is nothing good that does not meet with opposition, and it should not be valued any less because it encounters objections.

I thank God for having given the Company subjects who belong more to Him than to themselves, and who serve the neighbor at the risk of their lives! They are like unrefined gold, which becomes visible in fire and which would otherwise remain hidden under ordinary actions and sometimes under faults and failings.

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!

If the Company takes my advice, it will always be preserved through this maxim, for if we are good, we will not lack any, and if we are not, we already have too many houses anyway, and can hardly fill the few we have.

Experience has shown us that virtue puts down only shallow roots in those who are there for just a short time