Everything seems to me to pass so quickly that we must concentrate on how to die rather than on how to live. How sweet it is to die if one has lived on the Cross with Christ.

-- St. Teresa of Avila

Until we have acquired genuine prayer, we are like people teaching children to begin to walk.

-- St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

A Christian is not his own master, since all his time belongs to God.

The air which we breathe, the bread which we eat, the heart which throbs in our bosoms, are not more necessary for man that he may live as a human being, than is prayer for the Christian that he may live as a Christian.

-- St. John Eudes

The soul cannot live without love. Its eternity depends on  providing it with a worthy object.

-- St. Francis de Sales

Remember that Jesus Christ, referring to the humility of the publican, said that his prayer was heard. If this was said of a man whose life was evil, what may we not hope for if we are really humble?

-- St. Vincent de Paul

When you have pity on the poor, you lend to God; and whoever gives to the least, gives to God a sweet smelling spiritual sacrifice to Him.

-- St. Cyprian of Carthage

There are three distinct comings of the Lord of which I know: His coming to men, His coming into men, and His coming against men.

-- St. Bernard of Clairvaux

No man [truly] making a profession of faith sinneth; nor does he that possesses love hate any one. The tree is made manifest by its fruit; so those that profess themselves to be Christians shall be recognized by their conduct. For there is not now a demand for mere profession, but that a man be found continuing in the power of faith to the end.

-- St. Ignatius

The mysterious route of faith and love that led Peter and Paul from their native land to Jerusalem, then to other parts of the world, and finally to Rome, is a model of the journey that every Christian is called to accomplish to witness to Christ in the world.

-- Pope John Paul II

The man who has come to know himself with the full awareness of his soul has sown in good ground. However, anyone who has not sown in this way cannot expect humility to flower within him. And anyone who has acquired knowledge of self has come to understand the fear [total respect and awe] of the Lord, and walking with the help of this fear, he has arrived at the doorway of love. For humility is the door to the kingdom, opening up to those who come near.

-- St. John Cliamcus

No idle word should be uttered. I understand a word to be idle when it serves no good purpose, either for myself or for another, and was not intended to do so.

-- St. Ignatius of Loyola

The highest degree of meekness consists in seeing, serving, honoring, and treating amiably, on occasion, those who are not to our taste, and who show themselves unfriendly, ungrateful, and troublesome to us.

-- St. Francis de Sales

I believe, in order to understand; and I understand, the better to believe

-- St. Augustine

Whoever will proudly dispute and contradict will always stand outside the door. Christ, the master of humility, manifests His truth only to the humble and hides himself from the proud and the obstinate.

-- St. Vincent Ferrer

But now, my poor son, the hurricane has come, and you feel you are being shaken by a force that could uproot century-old trees. But you must remain confident, for your Faith and your love cannot be uprooted, nor can you be blown from your way, if you remain in unity with the "Head"

-- St. Josemaria Escriva

If Hope goes it alone, it ought to be called presumption, which is the highway to ruin.

-- St. Jerome