"If the rule of poverty is truly kept, both chastity and all the other virtues are fortified much better than by the most sumptuous edifices." Source: Saint Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection, Dover Thrift Editions, 2012.
"When the soul is purged of the evil humors of sin, it experiences a ravenous hunger for spiritual things, and sets to work as one famished at all manner of spiritual exercises: mortification, penitence, humility, charity, prayer. Doubtless such an appetite is a good sign, but it behooves you to reflect whether you are able [...]
"You must be thirsty, then, and you must gather together, as he said, either two or three or more. Why did he say 'two or three'? Because there are not two without three nor three without two… Those who are wrapped up in selfish love of themselves are alone, mere nothings, because they are cut [...]
"We often wonder why there is little peace on the inside of our hearts. The real answer is that there is no peace on the inside because we are not at war with ourselves; we are not at war with ourselves because we deny that there is an enemy within to be conquered." Source: [...]
"If men used as much care in uprooting vices and implanting virtues as they do in discussing problems, there would not be so much evil and scandal in the world, or such laxity in religious organizations. On the day of judgment, surely, we shall not be asked what we have read but what we had [...]
"Charity took possession of my heart, making me forget myself, and I have been happy ever since." Source: St. Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, Saint Benedict Press, 2010.
"'Be ye perfect -as your Heavenly Father is perfect.' Here in a few words is the whole Gospel. Here is the end of Jesus Christ’s coming, the aim of the whole Christian life. All the rest of the Gospel merely points out the way and the means to attain that end. To be perfect as [...]
"People do not like the examen. It is the most difficult and the most repugnant act of piety. Because no one likes to behold himself always guilty and always humiliated. It also costs much to reflect on one's thoughts, to analyze and discuss them. One would often prefer some great exterior mortification to some minutes [...]
"We ought not to desire ways of serving God which He does not open to us, but rather desire to use what we have rightly." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, Inc., 2002.
"Our happiness consists in fulfilling the purpose of our being. Every man knows, from his own unfulfilled hunger for them, that he was built with a capacity for three things of which he never has enough. He wants life – not for the next few minutes, but for always, and with no aging or disease [...]