“What I want is many works of patient and courageous endurance and of the other virtues I have described to you – interior virtues that are all active in bearing the fruit grace.” –St. Catherine of Siena relaying the words God spoke to her in a vision. Source: St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, [...]
“I told you also the teaching and principal foundation you should give to those who come to you for counsel because they want to leave behind the darkness of deadly sin and follow the path of virtue. I told you to give them… an affectionate love for virtue through knowledge of themselves and of my [...]
"Technologically advanced societies must not confuse their own technological development with a presumed cultural superiority, but they must rather rediscover within themselves the oft-forgotten virtues which made it possible for them to flourish throughout their history." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, CARITAS IN VERITATE (Charity in Truth), 6/29/2009
"That many do not advance in the Christian progress because they stick in penances, and particular exercises, while they neglect the love of God, which is the end. That this appeared plainly by their works, and was the reason why we see so little solid virtue." Source: Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence [...]
"Meekness is not, then, a natural virtue, and one attains it not by his own strength, nor by merely saying. 'I want to be meek.' It is a virtue proper to Jesus Christ, entirely supernatural. For us to practise it, His grace, a powerful grace, is necessary. It is the question of simply vanquishing one's [...]
"Let us foster all our virtues, my daughter, because they are pleasing to God, the Chief Aim of all we do." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, Inc., 2002.
"When God-Yahweh says, 'It is not good that the man should be alone' (Gen 2:18), he affirms that, 'alone,' the man does not completely realize his essence. He realizes it only by existing 'with someone' – and, put even more deeply and completely, by existing 'for someone.'" Pope John Paul II, Man and Woman [...]
"Habit forms things and follows them. And it is particularly true that virtue depends on habit, and here God is the great collaborator." Source: St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
"Meekness, like humility, is one of Jesus Christ's characteristic virtues. It is, consequently, one of the fundamental virtues of evangelical perfection. Sanctity that is not meek is not true. Our Lord set down meekness and humility as the dominant virtues of His Heart." Source: St. Peter Julian Eymard, The Divine Eucharist [...]
"Again, there are abject and honorable virtues; for the world generally despises patience, gentleness, simplicity, and even humility itself, while, on the contrary, it highly esteems prudence, valor, and liberality." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, Inc., 2002.