"Every expenditure of human strength which makes what is a means an end, which isolates living from the goal of living, is a busy idleness, a sad and mournful unreality." Source: Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, Way to Happiness, St. Pauls, 1998.
"Two things particularly further improvement – to withdraw oneself forcibly from those vices to which nature is viciously inclined, and to work fervently for those graces which are most needed." Source: Thomas a’ Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Dover Thrift Editions, 1940.
"Man is faced by two laws: the love of God and the love of self. These two loves are forever at war. One of the two must be obeyed. A choice must be made of one or the other. Neutrality is impossible. An habitually virtuous life does not end the combat. We are a balance. [...]
"The root of all good works is the hope of the Resurrection; for the expectation of the recompense nerves the soul to good works. For every labourer is ready to endure the toils, if he sees their reward in prospect; but when men weary themselves for nought, their heart soon sinks as well as their [...]
"Without doubt, one of the greatest risks for businesses is that they are almost exclusively answerable to their investors, thereby limiting their social value." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, CARITAS IN VERITATE (Charity in Truth), 6/29/2009
"You wish, or rather, have decided, to remove a splinter from someone? Very well, but do not go after it with a stick instead of a lancet for you will drive it deeper. Rough speech and harsh gestures are the stick, while even-tempered instruction and patient reprimand are the lancet." Source: St. John Climacus, [...]
"We cannot get a real satisfaction out of our work unless we pause, frequently, to ask ourselves why we are doing it, and whether its purpose is one our minds wholeheartedly approve. Perhaps one reason why so many of our economic and political projects miscarry is because they are in the hands of men with [...]
"Now, of all goods, spiritual or bodily, there is none at all to compare with virtue. For virtue makes a good use of both of itself and of all other goods in which lies man’s happiness; and where it is absent, no matter how many good things a man has, they are not for his [...]
"It is clear that without gratuitousness, there can be no justice in the first place… attitudes of gratuitousness cannot be established by law." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, CARITAS IN VERITATE (Charity in Truth), 6/29/2009
"Learn, then, to suffer little things now that you may not have to suffer greater ones in eternity. Prove here what you can bear hereafter. If you can suffer only a little now, how will you be able to endure eternal torment? If a little suffering makes you impatient now, what will hell fire do? [...]