"Grant me, O Lord," said a humble soul, "that I may pass unnoticed through the world."

This should be the wish, or rather the aim, of all true devotion.

Small virtues require the praise of man to sustain them, just as little children require encouragement to walk or stand alone.

But true virtue goes quietly through [pg 027] the world, scattering good around, and performing noble deeds, without even the knowledge that what it does is heroic.