We should spend as much time in thanking God for his benefits as we do in asking him for them.

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

You should not open your mouth except to express gratitude for benefits you have received, and never to mention your discontent.

If after so much effort and prayer, the matter is not successful, it will be a clear sign that God does not will it.

Scandal often does as much harm to the listeners as to those who devise it, even if it were to do no other harm than disturb the mind, as it does, and give rise to temptations to speak or write about it to others.

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.

. . . [Y]ou must understand that we have always considered the writing of books a hindrance to our work, and that for this reason the custom was not to be introduced into the Company. However, since no rule, however general, does not have some exception, we shall see whether it is advisable to have yours printed.