Naturally, everyone is disheartened by sharp reprimands, and by the most amiable corrections as well, if they are frequent, immoderate, or given inappropriately.
Vincent de PaulYou can give me no greater consolation nor render greater service to your neighbor than to place yourself in a condition to serve him for a long time
Vincent de PaulNaturally, everyone loves his freedom, but we must beware of this as of a broad road that leads to perdition.
Vincent de PaulWe must be firm but not rough in our guidance and avoid an insipid kind of meekness, which is ineffective.
Vincent de PaulWe should spend as much time in thanking God for his benefits as we do in asking him for them.
Vincent de PaulUltimately, Monsieur, we must go to God per infamiam et bonam famam [whether spoken of well or ill], and His Divine Goodness is merciful to us when it pleases Him to allow us to encounter blame and public contempt. I am sure you have borne patiently the embarrassment you experienced because of what has happened. If the glory of the world is nothing but smoke, the contrary is a solid good, when it is accepted in the right way. I hope that great good will come to us from this humiliation.
Vincent de Paul