Saint Francis de Sales
Obedience is a consecration of the heart, chastity of the body, and poverty of all worldly goods to the Love and Service of God. Blessed indeed are the obedient, for God will never permit them to go astray.Collection: Blessed
Hell is full of good intentions and wills.Collection: Good Intentions
Marital intercourse is certainly holy, lawful and praiseworthy in itself and profitable to society, yet in certain circumstances it can prove dangerous, as when through excess the soul is made sick with venial sin, or through the violation and perversion of its primary end, killed by mortal sin; such perversion, detestable in proportion to its departure from the true order, being always mortal sin, for it is never lawful to exclude the primary end of marriage which is the procreation of children.Collection: Sex
We are sometimes so busy being good angels that we neglect to be good men and women.Collection: Angel
True humility scarcely ever utters words of humility.Collection: Humility
Work hard every day at increasing your purity of heart, which consists in appraising things and weighing them in the balance of God's will.Collection: Hard Work
Naturally we all have an inclination to command, and a great aversion to obey; and yet it is certain that it is more for our good to obey than to command; hence perfect souls have always had a great affection for obedience, and have found all their joy and comfort in it.Collection: Perfect
Chastity is the lily of virtues, and makes men almost equal to Angels. Everything is beautiful in accordance with its purity. Now the purity of man is chastity, which is called honesty, and the observance of it, honor and also integrity; and its contrary is called corruption; in short, it has this peculiar excellence above the other virtues, that it preserves both soul and body fair and unspotted.Collection: Beautiful
Humility makes our lives acceptable to God, meekness makes us acceptable to men.Collection: Humility
Frequent not the company of immodest persons, especially if they be also impudent, as is generally the case; ...these corrupted souls and infected hearts scarcely speak to any, either of the same or a different sex, without causing them to fall in some degree from purity; they have poison in their eyes and in their breath, like basilisks. On the contrary, keep company with the chaste and virtuous; often meditate upon and read holy things; for the word of God is chaste, and makes those also chaste that delight in it.Collection: Sex
Mount Calvary is the academy of love.Collection: Saint
The highest point of humility consists in not merely acknowledging one's abjection, but in taking pleasure therein, not from any want of breadth or courage, but to give the more glory to God's Divine Majesty, and to esteem one's neighbour more highly than one's self.Collection: Humility
Souls do not wish to be bullied, but gently brought back; such is the nature of man.Collection: Men
Is it not a great temptation to be so valiant in imagination and so cowardly in execution?Collection: Imagination
If after all your efforts you cannot succeed, you could not please our Lord more than by sacrificing to Him your will, and remaining in tranquility, humility, and devotion, entirely conformed and submissive to His divine will and good pleasure.Collection: Humility
There are many who say to the Lord, "I give myself wholly to Thee, without any reserve," but there are few who embrace the practice of this abandonment, which consists in receiving with a certain indifference every sort of event, as it happens in conformity with Divine Providence, as well afflictions as consolations, contempt and reproaches as honor and glory.Collection: Practice
Trouble that is easily recognized is half-cured.Collection: Half
Every moment comes to us pregnant with a command from God, only to pass on and plunge into eternity, there to remain forever what we have made of it.Collection: Forever
The spirit cannot endure the body when overfed, but, if underfed, the body cannot endure the spirit.Collection: Food
To love our neighbor in charity is to love God in man.Collection: Love
O my child, bethink you that just as the bee, having gathered heaven's dew and earth's sweetest juices from amid the flowers, carries it to her hive; so the Priest, having taken the Saviour, God's Own Son, Who came down from Heaven, the Son of Mary, Who sprang up as earth's choicest flower, from the Altar, feeds you with that Bread of Sweetness and of all delight.Collection: Children
Better make penitents by gentleness than hypocrites by severity.Collection: Hypocrite
There is no artifice as good and desirable as simplicity.Collection: Writing
Since God often sends us inspirations by means of His angels, we should frequently return our aspirations to him by means of the same messengers.Collection: Inspiration
Those who commit these types of scandals are guility of the spiritual equivalent of murder, but I, here among you to prevent something far worst for you. While those who give scandal are guilty of the spiritual equivalent of murder, those who take scandal- who allow scandals to destroy faith- are guilty of spiritual suicide.Collection: Faith
The elephant, not only the largest but the most intelligent of animals, provides us with an excellent example. It is faithful and tenderly loving to the female of its choice, mating only every third year and then for no more than five days, and so secretly as never to be seen, until, on the sixth day, it appears and goes at once to wash its whole body in the river, unwilling to return to the herd until thus purified. Such good and modest habits are an example to husband and wife.Collection: Husband
Nothing appeases an enraged elephant so much as the sight of a little lamb.Collection: Sight
A dance is the devil's procession, and he that entereth into a dance, entereth into his possession.Collection: Dance
I see crosses at every turn. My flesh shudders over it, but my heart adores them. Yes, I hail you, crosses little and great, I hail you, and kiss your feet, unworthy of the honor of your shadow.Collection: Heart
Every vocation becomes more agreeable when united with devotion.Collection: Devotion
Consider all the past as nothing, and say, like David: Now I begin to love my God.Collection: Past
If I want only pure water, what does it matter to me whether it be brought in a vase of gold or of glass? What is it to me whether the will of God be presented to me in tribulation or consolation, since I desire and seek only the Divine will?Collection: Glasses
Do not scrutinize so closely whether you are doing much or little, ill or well, so long as what you do is not sinful and that you are heartily seeking to do everything for God. Try as far as you can to do everything well, but when it is done, do not think about it. Try, rather, to think of what is to be done next. Go on simply in the Lord's way, and do not torment yourself. We ought to hate our faults, but with a quiet, calm hatred; not pettishly and anxiously.Collection: Hate
A spoon full of honey gets more flies than a barrel full of vinegar.Collection: Spoons
If we say a little it is easy to add, but having said too much it is hard to withdraw and never can it be done so quickly as to hinder the harm of our success.Collection: Add
Obedience is a virtue of so excellent a nature, that Our Lord was pleased to mark its observance upon the whole course of His life; thus He often says, He did not come to do His Own will, but that of His Heavenly Father.Collection: Father
Make sickness itself a prayer.Collection: Prayer
Be neat, Philothea; let nothing be negligent about you. It is a kind of contempt of those with whom we converse, to frequent their company in uncomely apparel; but, at the same time, avoid all affectation, vanity, curiosity, or levity in your dress. Keep yourself always, as much as possible, on the side of plainness and modesty, which, without doubt, is the greatest ornament of beauty, and the best excuse for the want of it.Collection: Vanity
What son would not bring his mother back to life and would not bring her into paradise after her death if he could?Collection: Mother
I have the same opinion of dances that physicians have of mushrooms: the best of them are good for nothing.Collection: Dance
Many would be willing to have afflictions provided that they not be inconvenienced by them.Collection: Suffering
How are you to meet the swarm of foolish attachments, triflings, and undesirable inclinations which beset you? By turning sharply away, and thoroughly renouncing such vanities, flying to the Saviour's Cross, and clasping His Crown of thorns to your heart, so that these little foxes may not spoil your vines. Beware of entering into any manner of treaty with the Enemy; do not delude yourself by listening to him while intending to reject him.Collection: Heart
Never be hurried in anything. Do all things calmly and in a spirit of repose. Do not lose your inward peace even if everything seems to be going wrong. What is anything in life compared to peace of soul?Collection: Soul
God takes pleasure to see you take your little steps; and like a good father who holds his child by the hand, He will accommodate His steps to yours and will be content to go no faster than you. Why do you worry?Collection: Children
Let us think only of spending the present day well. Then when tomorrow shall have come, it will be called today, and then we will think about it.Collection: Thinking
Every morning prepare your soul for a tranquil day.Collection: Morning
There are many who want me to tell them of secret ways of becoming perfect and I can only tell them that the sole secret is a hearty love of God, and the only way of attaining that love is by loving. You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. Begin as a mere apprentice and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art.Collection: Running
Whatever happens, abide steadfast in a determination to cling simply to God.Collection: Determination
A judicious silence is always better than truth spoken without charity.Collection: Silence