“Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.”

“It does seem to me, that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong individual vitality, and the rare virtue of thick walls, and the rare virtue of interior spaciousness. Oh, man! admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter's, and like the great whale, retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own.”

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.”

“Great necessities call out great virtues.”

“Liberation from the tyranny of the body contributes to greatness, but just as much to greatness in sin as to greatness in virtue.”

“Men who do not forgive women their little faults will never enjoy their great virtues.”