Daily quotes on developing virtue from Saints, Popes and others.
"It is when I possess least that I have the fewest worries and the Lord knows that, as far as I can tell, I am more afflicted when there is excess of anything than when there is lack of it." Source: Saint Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection, Dover Thrift Editions, 2012. [...]
"Virtue is a plant from Calvary, which Our Lord confides to us that we may cultivate it with blood and tears. Its strength is in its root, which strikes into the soil of the soul. If through frivolity you leave that root uncovered, the shrub will die." Source: St. Peter Julian Eymard, The Divine [...]
"Love of neighbor, grounded in the love of God, is first and foremost a responsibility for each individual member of the faithful, but it is also a responsibility for the entire ecclesial community at every level: from the local community to the particular Church and to the Church universal in her entirety. As a community, [...]
"The only pleasure in gambling is to win, and this cannot be a satisfactory pleasure, since it can only be enjoyed at the expense of your antagonist." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, Inc., 2002.
"Love does not consist in words or feelings but in deeds. It is an act of the will; it is a gift; that is to say, a giving. The reason, the will, the heart – these three faculties must be exercised during prayer. I will rise from the dead in Jesus, but first I must [...]
"Control your appetites before they control you, and shame will greatly help you to maintain such mastery… So let us restrain our appetites with the thought of the fire to come… For the truth is, as one will discover, that the belly is the cause of all human shipwreck." Source: St. John Climacus, The [...]
"As society is made by man, so man, in his turn is made by his thoughts, his decisions and his choices. Nothing ever happens to the world which did not first happen inside the mind of some man: the material of the skyscraper merely completes the architect’s dream." Source: Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, Way [...]
"Sin is the spiritual death of the soul. Hence man is preserved from future sin in the same way as the body is preserved from future death of the body: and this happens in two ways. First of all, in so far as man's nature is strengthened inwardly against inner decay, and so by means [...]
"Praise adds nothing to your holiness, nor does blame take anything from it. You are what you are, and you cannot be said to be better than you are in God’s sight. If you consider well what you are within, you will not care what men say about you." Source: Thomas a’ Kempis, The [...]
"The grace of the virtues is infused, but their practice is acquired by subsequent labor and attention. They must be cultivated." Source: St. Peter Julian Eymard, The Divine Eucharist St. Peter Julian Eymard was a priest and the founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. This religious order is "a Catholic religious congregation [...]