Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The Church limits her sacramental services to the faithful. Christ gave Himself upon the cross a ransom for all.
We never live, but we hope to live; and as we are always arranging to be happy, it must be that we never are so.
He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God's providence to lead him aright.
Happiness can be found neither in ourselves nor in external things, but in God and in ourselves as united to him.
The greatness of man is great in that he knows himself to be wretched. A tree does not know itself to be wretched.
Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which are everything in this world.
We implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave us at peace in our vices, but that He may deliver us from them.
Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.
Tout notre raisonnement se re duit a' ce der au sentiment. All our reasoning comes down to surrendering to feeling.
When we see a natural style, we are astonished and charmed; for we expected to see an author, and we find a person.
How shall one who is so weak in his childhood become really strong when he grows older? We only change our fancies.
To make a man a saint, it must indeed be by grace; and whoever doubts this does not know what a saint is, or a man.
The more intelligence one has, the more people one finds original. Commonplace people see no difference between men.
If our condition were truly happy, we would not need diversion from thinking of it in order to make ourselves happy.
We are usually convinced more easily by reasons we have found ourselves than by those which have occurred to others.
Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.
The imagination disposes of everything. It creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which are the whole of the world.
Instead of complaining that God had hidden himself, you will give Him thanks for having revealed so much of Himself.
Two similar faces, neither of which alone causes laughter, use laughter when they are together, by their resemblance.
Nothing fortifies scepticism more than that there are some who are not sceptics; if all were so, they would be wrong.
If we regulate our conduct according to our own convictions, we may safely disregard the praise or censure of others.
The greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in men. Ordinary persons find no difference between men.
Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.
Nature has some perfections to show that she is the image of God, and some defects to show that she is only His image.
There is enough light for those who only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition
Who knows if this other half of life where we think we're awake is not another sleep a little different from the first.
Man's true nature being lost, everything becomes his nature; as, his true good being lost, everything becomes his good.
Extremes are for us as if they were not, and as if we were not in regard to them; they escape from us, or we from them.
Le silence e ternel de ces espaces infinis m'effraie. The eternal silence of these infinite spaces fills me with dread.
There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.
How vain painting is-we admire the realistic depiction of objects which in their original state we don't admire at all.
The past and present are only our means; the future is always our end. Thus we never really live, but only hope to live.
Equality of possessions is no doubt right, but, as men could not make might obey right, they have made right obey might.
Vanity is so secure in the heart of man that everyone wants to be admired: even I who write this, and you who read this.
Notre nature est dans le mouvement; le repos entier est la mort. Our nature consists in movement; absolute rest is death.
The greatest single distinguishing feature of the omnipotence of God is that our imagination gets lost thinking about it.
The statements of atheists ought to be perfectly clear of doubt. Now it is not perfectly clear that the soul is material.
People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.
The mind has its arrangement; it proceeds from principles to demonstrations. The heart has a different mode of proceeding.
Concupiscence and force are the source of all our actions; concupiscence causes voluntary actions, force involuntary ones.
Desire and force between them are responsible for all our actions; desire causes our voluntary acts, force our involuntary.
Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.
Man is obviously made for thinking. Therein lies all his dignity and his merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought.
We must kill them in war, just because they live beyond the river. If they lived on this side, we would be called murderers.
What part of us feels pleasure? Is it our hand, our arm, our flesh, or our blood? It must obviously be something immaterial.
Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the scholars. I will not forget thy word. Amen.
That which makes us go so far for love is that we never think that we might have need of anything besides that which we love.
It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason.
There should be in eloquence that which is pleasing and that which is real; but that which is pleasing should itself be real.
Nothing fortifies scepticism more than the fact that there are some who are not sceptics; if all were so, they would be wrong.