St. Francis de Sales

“When any evil happens to you, apply whatever remedies you can and do this in a way agreeable to God, since to do otherwise is to tempt God. Having done this, wait with resignation for the results it may please God to send. If it is his will that the remedies overcome the evil, then humbly return him thanks. If it is his will that the evils overcome the remedies, then bless him with patience.”

“When human aid fails us, all is not wanting; for God takes over and takes care of us by His special Providence.”

“When all shall fail us, then God will take care of us, and then all will not fail us since we shall have God.”

“Let is walk ... joyously, dear souls, among the difficulties of this passing life ... These pains will have an end when our life ends, after which there will be only joy, only contentment, only eternal consolation.”

“The greatest defect we have in our prayers and in all that happens to us, particularly in that which concerns tribulations, is our lack of confidence ... Faith is great or little according to the measure of our confidence.”

“There will be nothing which the fullness of His love does not replenish.”

“See, this divine lover is at the gate. He does not merely knock, but He remains there knocking. He calls to the soul.”

“Truly, by the watering of our Savior's blood, made with the hyssop of the cross, we have been restored to a white incomparably better than that possessed by the snows of innocence.”

“Have Jesus always for your patron, His Cross for a mast on which you must spread your resolutions as a sail. Your anchor shall be a profound confidence in Him, and you shall sail prosperously.”

“God is merciful to those who want to love Him and who have placed their hopes in Him.”

“Never does our good God leave us save to hold us better; never does He let go of us save to keep us better; never does He wrestle with us save to give Himself up to us and to bless us.”

“If you have firm trust in God, the success that comes to you will always be that which is most useful for you whether it appears good or bad in your private judgment.”

“From the heights of heaven Jesus Christ mercifully looks down upon you and graciously invites you there.”

“He asks for your own heart. Give it such as it is ... Are we not aware that everything that is remitted into His divine hands is converted to good?”

“We must be very faithful, but without anxiety or eagerness; we must use the means that are given to us according to our vocation, and then remain in peace concerning all the rest. For God ... will always be attentive to provide us with whatever is necessary.”

“When we abandon all to Him, He takes a tender care of us, and His Providence for us is great or small according to the measure of our abandonment.”

“Grace is never wanting. God always gives sufficient grace to whoever is willing to receive it.”

“God takes pleasure to see you take your little steps; and like a good father who holds his child by the hand, He will accommodate His steps to yours and will be content to go no faster than you. Why do you worry?”

“Do not think that you will be able to succeed in your affairs by your own efforts, but only by the assistance of God; and on setting out, consign yourself to His care, believing that He will do that which will be best for you.”

“Stretch out your hand to Him like a little child to his father so that He may lead you on.”

“When we find that we have been aroused to anger we must call for God's help like the apostles when they were tossed about by the wind and storm on the waters. He will command your passions to cease and there will be a great calm.”

“If He is with me I care not where I go.”

“The world is passing away.”

“One single day of devotion is worth more than a thousand years of worldly life.”

“Our possessions are not ours- God has given them to us to cultivate, that we may make them fruitful and profitable in His Service, and so doing we shall please Him.”

“The whole world is not worth one soul.”

“Everybody finds themselves sometimes deficient in what they need, and put to inconvenience ... the richest people may easily be without something they want, and that is practically to suffer poverty. Accept such occurrences cheerfully, rejoice in them, bear them willingly.”

“Be patient, you are in good company. Our Lord Himself, our Lady, the apostles, and countless saints, both men and women, have been poor.”

“Frequently give up some of your property by giving it with a generous heart to the poor ... It is true that God will repay us not only in the next world but even in this.”

“Ought we not to love dearly the neighbor, who truly represents to us the sacred Person of our Master? And is this not one of the most powerful motives we could have for loving each other with an ardently burning love?”

“Examine your heart often to see if it is such toward your neighbor as you would like his to be toward you were you in his place. This is the touchstone of true reason.”

“Truly it is a blessed thing to love on earth as we hope to love in Heaven, and to begin that friendship here which is to endure for ever there.”

“The body is poisoned through the mouth, even so is the heart through the ear ... And even if we do mean no harm, the Evil One means a great deal, and he will use those idle words as a sharp weapon against some neighbor's heart.”

“It is wonderful how attractive a gentle, pleasant manner is, and how much it wins hearts.”

“I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was cold and you clothed me; come, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' He who is the the King of the poor and of kings will say this at His great judgment.”

“Certainly all virtues are very dear to God, but humility pleases Him above all the others, and it seems that He can refuse it nothing.”

“Humility consists in not esteeming ourselves above other men, and in not seeking to be esteemed above them.”

“Let us make our way through these low valleys of the humble and little virtues. We shall see in them the roses amid the thorns, charity that shows its beauty among interior and exterior afflictions, the lilies of purity.”

“A man who can own pearls does not bother about shells, and those who aspire to virtue do not trouble themselves over honors.”

“The King of Glory does not reward His servants according to the dignity of their office, but according to the humility and love with which they have exercised it.”

“If after all your efforts you cannot succeed, you could not please our Lord more than by sacrificing to Him your will, and remaining in tranquility, humility, and devotion, entirely conformed and submissive to His divine will and good pleasure.”

“Little deeds that proceed from charity please God and have their place among meritorious acts.”

“He would never exhort the faithful to persevere if he were not ready to give them the power to do so.”

“We must unceasingly ask for [perseverance] by making use of the means which God has taught us for obtaining it: prayer, fasting, almsgiving, frequenting the sacraments, association with good companions, and hearing and reading Holy Scripture.”

“Be patient and one day you will be in Heaven, where there will be only peace and joy ... You will possess an enduring tranquility and rest.”

“He enables [his children] to walk before him; he holds their hand in difficulties; he himself carries them along in hardships that he sees as being otherwise unbearable to them.”

“God's favor floats as it were over all this and finds joy in turning all those miseries to the greater profit of those who love Him. From toil He makes patience spring forth.”

“During the night we must wait for the light.”

“Oppose vigorously any tendency to sadness ... You must persevere. By means of sorrow the enemy tries to make us weary of good works, but if he sees that we don't give them up and that being done in spite of his opposition they have become very meritorious, he will stop troubling us.”

“If we walk steadily and faithfully...God will lift us up to greater things.”