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We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble.

I often consider my Christ, how pleasing and delightful Your eyes are to the one who loves You.

...for the love of the Lord, let us make a real effort: let us leave our reason and our fears in His hands and let us forget the weakness of our nature which is apt to cause us so much worry...our own task is only to journey with good speed so that we may see the Lord.

And take care about this: however sublime the contemplation, let your prayer always begin and end with self-knowledge.

It should be noted here that, when we desire anyone’s affection, we always seek it because of some interest, profit or pleasure of our own....When this truth is put to them, they laugh at the distress which had been assailing them in the past as to whether their affection was being returned or no. Of course, however pure our affection may be, it is quite natural for us to wish it to be returned. But, when we come to evaluate the return of affection, we realize that it is insubstantial, like a thing of straw, as light as air and easily carried away by the wind.

Beg our Lord to grant you perfect love of neighbor and leave the rest to Him.

One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer.

The soul must forget about understanding, and abandon itself into the arms of love, and His Majesty will teach it what to do next..

Mental prayer consists of what was explained: being aware and knowing that we are speaking, with whom we are speaking, and who we ourselves are who dare to speak so much with so great a Lord. To think about this and other similar things, of how little we have served Him and how much we are obliged to serve Him, is mental prayer. Don’t think it amounts to some other kind of gibberish, and don’t let the name frighten you.

After all, God gives no more than what can be endured; and His Majesty gives patience first.

Let them trust in the mercy of God and not at all in themselves, and they will see how His Majesty brings them from the dwelling places of one stage to these of another and settles them in a land where these wild animals cannot touch or tire them, but where they themselves will bring all these animals into subjection and scoff at them.

All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted.