"The secret of joy in work is contained in one word: excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it."

1. Wealth without work 2. Pleasure without conscience 3. Knowledge without character 4. Commerce without morality 5. Science without humanity 6. Worship without sacrifice 7. Politics without principle

"Let this be our principle: in the use of gifts of Providence, refer them to the end for which their Author destined them...If we consider for what end He created food, we shall find He consulted not only our necessity but also our enjoyment...(so with) colors, gold, silver, ivory, marble. Has God not given many things value without any necessary use? Have done then with that inhuman philosophy (asceticism) which...cannot be realized without depriving man of all his sense."

Nothing really good can be accomplished without genuine suffering. The higher the achievement, the higher the price. There is no greater thing than sanctity, and therefore one must be ready to pay the highest price. To suppose that God would admit to His close friendship pleasure-loving people who want to be free from all trials is ridiculous.

Bath, wine, and sex corrupt our bodies - but they make life.

Humans seek two distinct psychological states. One originates in sensation; the other in a cognitive judgment. The attainment of either permits a brief bout of joy, followed by hours, days, weeks, or months during which one tries to re-experience the lovely moment. Although a small proportion spend many hours of each day trying to capture the pleasures that originate in sensation, a much larger number spend the same amount of time gathering evidence that permits the judgment that self has matched its features to an ideal.