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The idea of God is the idea of our own spiritual natures enlarged to infinity.
Where there is honey, there are bees.
When thou art gone forth wholly from the creature, and from that which is visible, and art become nothing to all that is nature and creature, then thou art in that Eternal One which is God himself. And then thou shalt perceive and feel in thy interior the highest virtue of love… Whosoever finds it, finds all things.
How can a soul which misunderstands itself have a sure idea of other creatures?
Nought’s had, all’s spent,
When our desire is got without content:
‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Such endless depths lie in the Divinity, and in the wisdom of God, that as he maketh one, so he maketh every one the end of the World, and the supernumerary persons being enrichers of his inheritance. Adam and the World are both mine. And the posterity of Adam enrich it infinitely. Souls are God’s jewels, every one of which is worth many worlds. They are his riches because his image, and mine for that reason. So that I alone am the end of the World, angels and men being all mine. And if others are so, they are made to enjoy it for my further advancement. God only being the Giver and I the Receiver. So that Seneca philosophized rightly when he said “Des me dedit solu toti Mundo, et totum mundum mihi soli.” (God gave me alone to all the world, and all the world to me alone.)
Carry religious principles into common life… Soon business, with all its cares and anxieties, the whole “unprofitable stir and fever of the world” will be to us a thing of the past.
Love is not an art like poetry, possible only to the few endowed for it, it is open and accessible to all.
Who is there who can make muddy waters clear? But if allowed to remain still, it will gradually clear itself.
I appeal to nothing but the state of your own hearts and consciences, to prove the necessity of your embracing this mystery of divine love.
He need not go away from home for instruction.
Gentleness in the gait is what simplicity is in the dress. Violent gestures or quick movements inspire involuntary disrespect.
Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!
The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
You must perform your spiritual exercises without prophesying the nature of your reward. If you have a preconceived notion of the reward, you may or may not get it, but the very desire for that reward blocks the higher reward, which is above all mental prophecy. As you actually receive a few higher rewards, and your cosmic confidence rises, you feel from yourself that this way, which was at first so strange and frightening, is the way of endless riches.
Why does no man confess his vices? Because he is still in them. It is for a waking man to tell of his dreams.
Life only demands from you the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible: not to have run away.
If we were faultless, we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate. If we were to acknowledge honestly that we have not virtue enough to bear patiently with our neighbor’s weaknesses, we should show our own imperfection, and this alarms our vanity.
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
