“We serve God by climbing up to heaven from virtue to virtue; we serve Satan by descending into hell from vice to vice.”—S. Bonaventura.

He who reflects upon death has already cut short the evil habit of talkativeness; and he who has received the gift of inward and spiritual tears, shuns it as he would fire.—S. John Climacus.

Spiritual blessings attained by much prayer and labor are solid and durable.—Ibid.

The first degree of interior peace is to banish from us all the noise and commotion created by the passions, which disturb the profound tranquillity of the heart. The last and most excellent degree is to stand in no fear of this disturbance, and to be perfectly insensible to its excitement.—Ibid.

The heart of the meek is the throne on which the Lord reposes.—Ibid.

The day will belong to him who is first in possession.—Ibid.