We must make a rule that they may not, under any pretext whatsoever, eat what is intended for the poor (II:107).

Our Lord proclaims the idleness and sensuality of Magdalen to be more agreeable to Him than the less considerate zeal of Martha (II:85).

Zeal is the soul of the virtues (II:84).

It is easy to go from deficiency to excess of the virtues, from being just to becoming rigid, and from zealous to inconsiderate (II:84).

There is no act of charity that is not accompanied by justice or that permits us to do more than we reasonably can (II:68).

How little it takes to be very holy: to do the Will of God in all things (II:47).

Roses are not gathered except in the midst of thorns and heroic acts of virtue are accomplished only in weakness (II:22).

Was it not necessary for Christ to be humbled and brought low before man in order to get him to accept the gentle yoke of His dominion and His guidance? (II:7).

A priest should be more perfect than a religious as such, and a bishop even more so (II:5).

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 (I:597).