To all proportioned terms he must dispense And make the sound a picture of the sense.

Feast of William Law, Priest, Mystic, 1761 Commemoration of William of Ockham, Franciscan Friar, Philosopher, Teacher, 1347 Commemoration of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Priest, Scientist, Visionary, 1955 There is no wrath that stands between God and us, but what is awakened in the dark fire of our own fallen nature; and to quench this wrath, and not His own, God gave His only begotten Son to be made man. God has no more wrath in Himself now than He had before the creation, when He had only Himself to love... And it was solely to quench this wrath, awakened in the human soul, that the blood of the Son of God was necessary; because nothing but a life and birth, derived from Him into the human soul, could change this darkened root of a self-tormenting fire into an amiable image of the Holy Trinity as it was at first created.

The giving of riches and honors to a wicked man is like giving strong wine to him that hath a fever.

A pessimist is a man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself.

Feast of Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387 Nothing could better illustrate this authentic spirit of Christian monasticism, stemming from Johannite monasticism, than one of its most recent examples, Father de Foucauld. If he went out to the Ahaggar plateau, it was not only to find but also to proclaim God, thereby teaching the gospel in a way which desert people could understand. After his death, the example set by this hermit was followed by others who, far from settling in the desert places of the Sahara, set out to mingle with the peopled deserts of the great cities, there to preach the gospel by their example and their very presence.

Only last night he felt deadly sick, and, after a great deal of pain, two black crows flew out of his mouth and took wing from the room.

History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren't there.

In the twentieth century, the secularists, still living off the spiritual capital of Christianity, often pretended to chide Christians for having invented the term "secularist," a term which, they said, was devoid of meaning. Their leaders knew very well, however, that secularism, like any other parasite, derives its sustenance from the object on which it feeds, and so they were rather pleased when milquetoast Christians timidly offered, as a definition of secularism, "living as though God did not exist." What Christians should have called it was, rather, "a contemptibly fraudulent way of living on the cheap, by reaping the maximum fruits of Christian effort, while contributing the minimum effort of your own." When secularists accused Christians of "living in the past," the Christians ought to have retaliated by pointing out that secularists were "living off the past." By the time they got around to doing so, however, the majority of secularists had become morally incapable of seeing the point.

Rose, what is become of thy delicate hue? And where is the violet's beautiful blue? Does aught of its sweetness the blossom beguile? That meadow, those daisies, why do they not smile?

'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own.

Firelight will not let you read fine stories but it's warm and you won't see the dust on the floor.

Great Spirit, help me never to judge another until I have walked in his moccasins for two weeks.

Gossip is the art of saying nothing in a way that leaves practically nothing unsaid.

Sleep is death without the consequence.

Who then is sane? He who is not a fool.

If the crow had been satisfied to eat his prey in silence, he would have had more meat and less quarreling and envy.

Where may the wearied eye repose, When gazing on the Great; Where neither guilty glory glows, Nor despicable state? Yes--one the first, the last, the best, The Cincinnatus of the West Whom envy dared not hate, Bequeathed the name of Washington To make man blush; there was but one.

Solitude is the nurse of enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is the true parent of genius. In all ages solitude has been called for--has been flown to.

There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.

Don't be afraid to take a big step when one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small steps.