Great Throughts Treasury

"When we pray for any virtue, we should cultivate the virtue as well as pray for it; the form of your prayers should be the rule of your life; every petition to god is a precept to man."

"A religion without mystery must be a religion without God."

"Conscience in most men, is but the anticipation of the opinions of others. "

"Know that you are your greatest enemy, but also your greatest friend. "

"Secrecy is the chastity of friendship. "

"Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit. "

"To be proud of learning is the greatest ignorance. "

"This grace (purity of intention) is so excellent that it sanctifies the most common actions of our life and yet is so necessary that without it, the very best actions of our devotion are imperfect and vicious."

"Can any thing in this world be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth can come by chance, when all the skill of art is not able to make an oyster!"

"In self-examination, take no account of yourself by your thoughts and resolutions in the days of religion and solemnity; examine how it is with you in the days of ordinary conversation and in the circumstances of secular employment."