Many of the insights of the saint stem from his experience as a sinner.
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
It is a perplexing and unpleasant truth that when men already have 'something worth fighting for' they do not feel like fighting.
If the Communists win Europe and a large part of the world, it will not be because they know how to stir up discontent or how to infect people with hatred, but because they know how to preach hope.
In the alchemy of man's soul almost all noble attributes--courage, honor, love, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, etc.--can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous...
The poor on the borderline of starvation live purposeful lives. To be engaged in a desperate struggle for food and shelter is to be wholly free from a sense of futility.
Treasure the memories of past misfortunes they constitute our bank of fortitude.
Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and turns into a racket.
When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth, we are likely to be indifferent to common everyday truths.
Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy - the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation.
Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains.
To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance.
Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves.
The game of history is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of the majority in the middle.
A preoccupation with the future not only prevents us from seeing the present as it is but often prompts us to rearrange the past.
Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain whether of our worth or worthlessness we are almost impervious to fear. Thus a feeling of utter unworthiness can be a source of courage.
Faith is primarily a process of identification the process by which the individual ceases to be himself and becomes part of something eternal.
It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities.
The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.
We are least open to precise knowledge concerning the things we are most vehement about.