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Lonely valleys are quiet, pleasant, cool, shady and flowing with fresh waters; in the variety of their groves and in the sweet song of the birds, they afford abundant recreation and delight...and in their solitude and silence they refresh and give rest.  These valleys are what my Beloved is to me.

...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.

Good works wrought in the season of spiritual dryness and hardness are like the freshness of the winter morning. What we then do for God in dryness of spirit is most precious in His eyes. It is then that we acquire abundant virtues and graces, and what we achieve with toil and labor is in general better, more perfect and lasting than what we acquire in spiritual sweetness.

I am the happiest creature. I don't desire anything more because my whole being is satiated by God who is Love.

"To watch in prayer"- this is to say the same thing that Elijah said with the words, "to stand before the face of God." Prayer is looking up into the face of the Eternal. We can do this only when the spirit is awake in its inmost depths, freed from all earthly occupations and pleasures that benumb it. Being awake in body does not guarantee this consciousness, nor does rest required by nature interfere.

Courage, my sister, the yoke of a Carmelite is necessarily very light or very heavy in proportion as one's courage bears it or one's cowardice drags it.

To obtain the granting of requests that we have at heart, there is no better means than that of directing the energy of our prayer to asking for what is most pleasing to God.

If I had been rich, I would have found it impossible to see a poor person going hungry without giving him my possessions. And in the same way, when I gain any spiritual treasures, feeling that at this very moment there are souls in danger of being lost and falling into hell, I give them what I possess, and I have not yet found a moment when I can say: Now I'm going to work for myself.

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

Death can hold no bitterness for the soul that loves.  It brings with it all the sweetness and delights of love.  There is no sadness in the remembrance of it when it opens the door to all joy.

To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul. It is Jesus alone who can give such value to our actions. Let us then love Him with all our heart.

The world's thy ship and not thy home.