By Francis de Sales
My soul, you are made for God, woe be to you if you stop short in anything short of Him!
Blessed indeed are the obedient, for God will never permit them to go astray.
God will not suffer our hearts to find any rest, like the dove going forth from Noah’s ark, until it returns to God, whence it came.
But the world sees nothing of that inward, heartfelt devotion which makes all these actions pleasant and easy.
Make your little efforts sweetly, peacefully, and amiably to please this Sovereign Goodness, and do not be astonished at difficulties.
A different exercise of devotion is required of each—the noble, the artisan, the servant, the prince, the maiden and the wife; and furthermore such practice must be modified according to the strength, the calling, and the duties of each individual.
Our victory does not consist in being insensible to them, but in not consenting to them.
The Evil One delights in sadness and melancholy, because they are his own characteristics.
Do you then, my daughter, choose the best virtues, not those which are most highly esteemed; the most excellent, not the most visible; the truest, not the most conspicuous.
Drink freely of the sacred wine of love, and it will cure you of the evil tempers which lead you to these perverse judgments.
The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame.
Cast your heart gently, not violently, into the wounds of our Saviour; have an unlimited confidence in his mercy and goodness.
To my mind all other friendship is but as a shadow with respect to this, its links mere fragile glass compared to the golden bond of true devotion.
One single day of devotion is worth more than a thousand years of worldly life.
The great good of our souls is to live for God, and the greatest good to live for God alone.
The humble man is all the braver that he knows his own helplessness, and his courage waxes in proportion to his low opinion of himself, because all his trust is in God.
A really patient servant of God is as ready to bear inglorious troubles as those which are honourable.
If love is the milk of life, devotion is the cream thereof.
Read the Lives of the Saints too, which are as a mirror to you of Christian life, and try to imitate their actions according to your circumstances.
In a word, such a friendship should be strong and sweet; altogether holy, sacred, divine and spiritual.
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