“To have left undone what thou shouldst have done: to have lost the faithfulness, the reverence, the modesty that is in thee!”

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”

“Thy possessions have made thee a hollow image; they have ruined thee and left thee.”

“Though I have usually posed as a Catholic, I have not done my duty for 15 years, and have not the slightest tincture of faith left…”

“I thought to myself, saying: Thou hast now great busy-ness to keep thee in the Faith for that thou shouldst not be taken of the Enemy: wouldst thou now from this time evermore be so busy to keep thee from sin, this were a good and sovereign occupation! For I thought in sooth were I safe from sin, I were full safe from all the fiends of hell and enemies of my soul.”

“I that have loved thee thus before thou fadest,
My faith shall wax, when thou art in thy waning.
The world shall find this miracle in me,
That fire can burn when all the matter's spent.”

“I too, having lost faith
in language, have placed my faith in language.”

“I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.”

“Character is what you have left when you've lost everything you can lose.”

“Mark this also, if God send thee to the sea, and promise to go with thee, and to bring thee safe to land, he will raise up a tempest against thee, to prove whether thou wilt abide by his word, and that thou mayest feel thy faith, and perceive his goodness. For if it were always fair weather, and thou never brought into such jeopardy, whence his mercy only delivered thee, thy faith should be but a presumption, and thou shouldest be ever unthankful to God and merciless unto thy neighbor.”