Daily quotes on developing virtue from Saints, Popes and others.
"This is the great wisdom – to seek the kingdom of heaven through contempt of the world. It is vanity, therefore, to seek and trust in riches that perish. It is vanity also to court honor and to be puffed up with pride. It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to [...]
"It is very certain that the love of God supplies for everything, suffices for everything. But when it does not purify from sin, it is not true, or not yet very strong. The first effect of love is to purify. For this reason, we must go on examining sin, its fatal consequences, to awaken horror [...]
"Now self-love is a restless, anxious, overeager love, and so the work done on its behalf is troubled, vexatious, and unsatisfactory; whereas the Love of God is calm, peaceful, and tranquil, and so the work done for its sake, even in worldly things, is gentle, trustful, and quiet." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction [...]
"The principal cause of discontent is egotism, or selfishness, which sets the self up as a primary plant around which everyone else must revolve. The second cause of discontent is envy, which makes us regard the possessions and the talents of others as if they were stolen from us. The third cause is covetousness, [...]
"The safe and true way to heaven is made by humility, which lifts up the heart to the Lord, not against Him." Source: St. Augustine, City of God
"Charity does not exclude knowledge, but rather requires, promotes, and animates it from within." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, CARITAS IN VERITATE (Charity in Truth), 6/29/2009
"Freedom from anger is an endless wish for dishonor, whereas among the vainglorious there is a limitless thirst for praise. Freedom from anger is a triumph over one’s nature. It is the ability to be impervious to insults, and comes by hard work and the sweat of one’s brow." Source: St. John Climacus, The [...]
“A soul arms itself by prayer for all kinds of combat. In whatever state the soul may be, it ought to pray. A soul which is pure and beautiful must pray, or else it will never attain it; a soul which is newly converted must pray, or else it will fall again; a sinful soul, [...]
"One of the greatest mistakes is to think that contentment comes from something outside us rather than from a quality of the soul. Trying to make a discontented person happy is like trying to fill a sieve with water. However much you pour into it, it runs out too rapidly for you to catch up." [...]
"I myself spent over fourteen years without ever being able to meditate except while reading." Source: Saint Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection, Dover Thrift Editions, 2012.