"Fly from bad companions as from the bite of a poisonous snake. If you keep good companions, I can assure you that you will one day rejoice with the blessed in Heaven; whereas if you keep with those who are bad, you will become bad yourself, and you will be in danger of losing your soul."

-- St. John Bosco

"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip."

-- Will Rogers

"A man's good work is effected by doing what he does; a woman's by being what she is."

-- G.K. Chesterton

"Those who tell the Truth love you. Those who tell you what you want to hear love themselves."

-- Mother Angelica

"Do not be quick to speak. Say much by a modest and judicious silence."

-- St. Francis de Sales

"Things turn out best for those that make the best of the way things turn out."

-- Art Linkletter

"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to sustain ourselves, according by the Ten Commandments of God."

-- James Madison

"I have often been sorry for having spoken, but never for holding my tongue."

-- St. Arsenius

"Live as you will have wished to have lived when you are dying."

-- Christian Furchtegott Gellert

"Our actions have a tongue of their own; they have an eloquence of their own, even when the tongue is silent. For deeds prove the lover more than words."

-- St. Cyril of Jerusalem

"Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society."

-- St. Francis of Assisi

"If you wish to go to extremes, let it be in sweetness, patience, humility and charity."

-- St. Philip Neri

"See how tiny the spark is that sets a huge forest ablaze! The tongue is such a flame. It exists among our members as a whole universe of malice. The tongue defiles the entire body. Its flames encircle our course from birth, and its fire is kindled by hell."

-- James 3:5-6

"We need not despair of any man, so long as he lives. For God deemed it better to bring good out of evil than not to permit evil at all."

-- St. Augustine

"It's not enough to be good if you have the ability to be better."

-- Alberta Lee Cox

"In speaking of Christian charity St. Paul lists its main features:
"Love is patient and kind [...]. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things"
1 Corinthians 13:4, 5, 7

Therefore, "Never think badly of anyone, not even if the words or conduct of the person in question give you good grounds for doing so."

-- Bl. Josemaria Escriva

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

-- Leo Tolstoy

"That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong."

-- William J. H. Boetcker

"I can see, thanks to the light of the sun; but if I close my eyes, I cannot see: this is no fault of the sun, it is my own fault, because by closing my eyes, I prevent the sunlight from reaching me."

-- St. Thomas Aquinas

"If on any particular day we do nothing more than give a little joy to a neighbor ,that day will not be wasted. For we have succeeded in giving comfort to an immortal soul."

-- Blessed Contardo Ferrini

"Avoid idleness, and fill up all the spaces of thy time with severe and useful employment: for lust easily creeps in at those emptinesses where the soul is unemployed and the body is at ease; no easy, healthful, idle person was ever chaste if he could be tempted; but of all employments, bodily labour is the most useful, and of the greatest benefit for driving away the Devil."

-- Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667)

"So long as we are full of self, we are shocked at the faults of others. Let us think often of our own sin, and we shall be lenient to the sins of others."

-- Francois Fenelon (1651-1715)

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

-- William Arthur Ward

"Many great things depend -- don't forget -- on whether you and I live our lives as God wants."

-- Blessed Josemaria Escriva

"We can do no great things; only small things with great love."

-- Mother Theresa

"Perfect is the enemy of good."

-- Unknown

"To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice."

-- Confucious

"He does not believe, that does not live according to his belief."

-- Thomas Fuller (1608-1661)

"I never will understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish."

-- Mother Teresa

"I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! [16] So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth."

-- Revelation 3:15-16

"Respect for life, even with regard to the great problem of the birth rate, must find here in your assembly its highest affirmation and its most reasoned defense. You must strive to multiply bread so that it suffices for the tables of mankind, and not rather favor an artificial control of birth, which would be irrational, in order to diminish the number of guests at the banquet of life"

-- Paul VI pleading with the General Assembly of the United Nations
("Address to the UN", 4 October 1965).

"Get used to lifting your heart to God, in acts of thanksgiving, many times a day. Because He gives you this and that. Because you have been despised. Because you haven't what you need or because you have.

"Because He made His Mother so beautiful, His Mother who is also your Mother. Because He created the sun and the moon and this animal and that plant. Because He made that man eloquent and you He left tongue-tied....

"Thank Him for everything, because everything is good"

Blessed J. Escriva, The Way, 268.

"Kindness and honesty can be expected only from the strong."

-- Unknown

"He who loveth God with all his heart feareth not death, nor punishment, nor judgment, nor hell, because perfect love giveth sure access to God. But he who still delighteth in sin, no marvel if he is afraid of death and judgment"

-- Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471)

"The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it."

-- Moliere "This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can."

George Bernard Shaw

"Yes, our only occupation here on earth is that of loving God--that is, to start doing what we will be doing for all eternity. Why must we love God? Well, because our happiness consists in love of God; it can consist in nothing else. So, if we do not love God, we will always be unhappy; and if we wish to enjoy any consolation and relief in our pains, we will attain it only by recourse to love of God. If you want to be convinced of this, go and find the happiest man according to the world; if he does not love God, you will find that in fact he is an unhappy man. And, on the contrary, if you discover the man most unhappy in the eyes of the world, you will see that because he loves God he is happy in every way. Oh my God!, open the eyes of our souls, and we will seek our happiness where we truly can find it."

-- St. John Mary Vianney, "Selected Sermons", Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost

ON WORKING TOWARDS SAINTHOOD

"Fly from bad companions as from the bite of a poisonous snake. If you keep good companions, I can assure you that you will one day rejoice with the blessed in Heaven; whereas if you keep with those who are bad, you will become bad yourself, and you will be in danger of losing your soul."

-- St. John Bosco

"One day I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end without realizing it. At the end of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And their number was so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness, and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings."

-- St. Faustina The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina : Divine Mercy in My Soul

"He prays well who is so absorbed with God that he does not know he is praying."

-- St. Francis deSales

"It's God's part to confer grace, but yours to accept and guard it."

-- St.Cyril of Jerusalem

"God bestows more consideration on the purity of the intention with which our actions are performed than on the actions themselves."

-- St.Augustine

"Conversion is something momentary; sanctification is the work of a lifetime."

-- Josemaria Escriva

"The Lord measures our perfection neither by the multitude nor the magnitude of our deeds, but by the manner in which we perform them."

-- St. John of the Cross

"Faith is not only a commitment to the promises of Christ; faith is also a commitment to the demands of Christ."

-- William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter

"Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to."

-- Fred Gailey, "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947)

"The Kingdom of Heaven does not belong to those who sleep and who indulge all their desires, but to those who fight against themselves."

-- Clement of Alexandria

"A Christian has a union with Jesus Christ more noble, more intimate and more perfect than the members of a human body have with their head."

-- St. John Eudes

"Do you want our Lord to give you many graces? Visit him often. Do you want him to give you few graces? Visit him seldom. Visits to the Blessed Sacrament are powerful and indispensable means of overcoming the attacks of the devil. Make frequent visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and the devil will be powerless against you."

-- St. John Bosco

"God is pleased with the little deeds we do in secret with no desire to be seen by others. He takes more pleasure in these than a multitude of grand works that we may do out of the desire to be seen by others."

-- St. John of the Cross

"Christians should always remember that the value of their good works is not based on the number and excellence. Their value is based on the love for God which prompts them to do the works."

-- St. John of the Cross

"The greatness of our God must be tested by the desire we have for suffering for His sake ... Bear the cross and do not make the cross bear you."

-- St. Philip Neri

What delights we will find in forgetting self and seeking God! The Saints renounced themselves in order to seek God and to look for Him alone . It is in this that we attain heaven.

-- St. John Vianney

"Never forget that it is at the beginning of each day that God has the necessary grace for the day ready for us. He knows exactly what opportunities we shall have to sin ... and will give us everything we need if we ask him then. This is why the Devil does all he can to prevent us from saying our Morning Prayers or to make us say them badly."

-- St. John Vianney

"The measure of our holiness is not the perfection of our personality or the avoidance of all faults but the extent of our love."

-- St. Thomas Aquinas

"My television is the tabernacle."

-- Mother Teresa

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."

-- St. Jerome

"Do not desire crosses, unless you have borne well those laid on you; it is an abuse to long after martyrdom while unable to bear an insult patiently."

-- Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

"It is not enough to discover Christ--you must bring Him to others! The world today is one great mission land, even in countries of long-standing Christian tradition."

-- Pope John Paul II

"Persevere in prayer. Persevere even when your efforts seem barren. Prayer is always fruitful."

J. Escriva, "The Way", 101

"Yours is only a small love if you are not zealous for the salvation of souls. Yours is only a poor love if you are not eager to inflame other apostles with your madness."

-- Blessed Josemaria Escriva

"We receive the grace of God in vain, when we receive it at the gate of our heart, and do not let it enter our heart. We receive it without receiving it, that is, we receive it without fruit, since there is no advantage in feeling the inspiration if we do not accept it."

-- St. Francis de Sales

"He who loveth God with all his heart feareth not death, nor punishment, nor judgment, nor hell, because perfect love giveth sure access to God. But he who still delighteth in sin, no marvel if he is afraid of death and judgment"

-- Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471)

"Conversion is something momentary; sanctification is the work of a lifetime."

-- Josemaria Escriva

"Read the divine Scriptures very often, or, to put it better, never let sacred reading matter out of your hands. Learn what it has to teach, keep a firm hold on the word of faith which accords with doctrine, so as to be able to exhort others with sound doctrine and win over your opponents"

-- St. Jerome -- "Ad Nepoitanum"

St. Francis of Assissi was once asked what he would do if he were told that the world would end tomorrow. His answer was quick: "I would finish weeding my garden."

"There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I've always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic."

-- Mother Teresa

"...once the Catholic accepts the eternal truths of Christ, he is free to accept all the nonessential beliefs he pleases. He can be a monarchist or a republican; he can live solitary and alone on a pillar like Simon, or he can busy himself on the streets of Paris like a Vincent de Paul; he can accept Einstein or reject him; he can believe in the gold standard or the silver standard; he can play cards and dance, or he can abstain from them; he can drink moderately or be a prohibitionist. He is like a man living on a great island in the sea on which he may roam and exercise his freedom in a thousand and one games, but only one condition that he obey the law posted there: Do not jump over the walls."

-- Archbishop Fulton Sheen

SUFFERING

"There is never any peace for those who resist God."

-- Francois Fenelon (1651-1715)

"A child of God treats the Lord as his Father. He is not obsequious and servile; he is not merely formal and well-mannered: he is completely sincere and trusting. God is not shocked by what we do. Our infidelities do not wear him out. our Father in heaven pardons any offense when his child returns to him, when he repents and asks for pardon. The Lord is such a good father that he anticipates our desire to be pardoned and comes forward to us, opening his arms laden with grace."

-- Josemaria Escriva

"The everlasting God has in His wisdom forseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost Heart. This cross He now sends you, He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His Divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with loving arms and weighed with His own hands to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His holy Name, annointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God."

-- St. Francis de Sales

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us"

-- Helen Keller

"Next time you feel down because you didn't get what you want, just sit tight and be happy because God is thinking of something better to give you."

-- unknown

"We have no right to ask, when sorrow comes, "Why did this happen to me?" unless we ask the same question for every joy that comes our way."

-- Philip S. Bernstein

"He who loveth God with all his heart feareth not death, nor punishment, nor judgment, nor hell, because perfect love giveth sure access to God. But he who still delighteth in sin, no marvel if he is afraid of death and judgment."

-- Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471)

"The Lord doesn't give us more than we can handle, but sometimes, I wish He wouldn't trust me so much."

-- Mother Teresa

MARRIAGE

"Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards."

-- Benjamin Franklin

"The best way to get most husbands to do something is to suggest that perhaps they're too old to do it."

-- Anne Bancroft

"The crown of marriage, then, is the chastity of procreation and faithfulness in rendering the carnal debt."

-- Saint Augustine

"Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution yet."

-- Mae West

"When you go forth to find a wife, leave your eyes at home but take both ears with you."

-- Seumas MacManus

"When a couple marries they become one. The problems don't start until they try to decide which one."

-- Ron Dentinger

PARENTING

"If evolution is true, how come mothers still have only two hands?"

-- unknown

"With all your heart honor your father, and do not forget the birth pangs of your mother.?Remember that through your parents you were born; and what can you give back to them that equals their gift to you?"

Sirach 7:27, 18

"Cleaning the house while the children are growing is like shoveling the driveway while it's still snowing."

-- Unknown

"Anger is only one letter short of danger."

-- unknown

"Religion, of its nature, must be passed on in its entirety to children with the same fidelity as it has been received by the parents themselves; we have no right to take religion and do with it what we will; rather, it is we who must follow religion wherever it leads us."

St. Vincent of Lerins, "Commonitorium", 5

WORK

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble."

-- Helen Keller

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."

-- Winston Churchill

"Work is one of the highest human values and a way in which men contribute to the progress of society. But even more, it is a way to holiness".

-- Josemaria Escriva

"It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't."

-- Martin Van Buren

"God made the world rich enough to feed and clothe all human beings."

-- Mother Teresa

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

-- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

"I'm a great believer in luck. I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."

-- Stephen Leacock (Canadian humorist and economist; 1869-1944)

OPINIONATED!

"Abortion concerns not just the unborn child, it concerns every one of us. . . We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life - the unborn - without diminishing the value of all human life."

-- President Ronald Reagan

"Grace is getting something you don't deserve. Mercy is not getting something you do deserve."

-- baseball manager Sparky Anderson

"A cosmic philosophy is not constructed to fit a man; a cosmic philosophy is constructed to fit a cosmos. A man can no more possess a private religion than he can possess a private sun and moon."

-- G.K. Chesterton

BLESSINGS

"God is strong and He has a good mother"

-- Irish Wisdom

"May the Lord keep you in His hand, and never close His fist too tight."

-- Irish Blessing

"The God of our faith is not a distant Being who contemplates indifferently the fate of men--their desires, their struggles, their sufferings. He is a Father who loves His children so much that He sends the Word, the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, so that by taking on the nature of man He may die to redeem us. He is the loving Father who now leads us gently to Himself, through the action of the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts"

J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", p. 84

"DRY" QUOTES

"If God doesn't destroy Hollywood Boulevard, he owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology."

-- Jay Leno

"Photons have mass? I didn't even know they were Catholic!"

-- unknown

"The word "politics" is derived from the word "poly", meaning "many", and the word "ticks", meaning "blood sucking parasites."

-- Larry Hardiman

"The best way to get most husbands to do something is to suggest that perhaps they're too old to do it."

-- Anne Bancroft

"History will be kind to me. For I intend to write it.

-- Winston Churchill

"When we talk to God it's called prayer. When God talks back it's called schizophrenia."

-- unknown

"Life is like a hot bath. It feels good while you're in it, but the longer you stay, the more wrinkled you get."

-- Garfield

"The Phantom Menace made $102 million [the week it opened.] Actually, they said it could have made $204 million if the guys in line had had dates."

-- Jay Leno on the Tonight Show

"When you are young, you want to be the master of your fate and the captain of your soul. When you're older, you'll settle for being the master of your weight and the captain of your bowling team."

-- unknown

"I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in fourteen days I had lost exactly two weeks."

-- Joe E. Lewis

"Remember that as a teenager you are in the last stage of your life in which you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you."

-- Fran Lebowitz

"Red meat is NOT bad for you. Now, blue-green meat, that's REALLY BAD for you."

-- Tommy Smothers

"Television - a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well-done."

-- Ernie Kovaks

"Theory of relativity: the more relatives are visiting you, the slower the time passes."

-- unknown

"The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people."

-- G.K. Chesterton

"Before you criticize people, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes."

-- Jack Handy

"Health: The slowest possible way to die."

-- unknown

"People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy -- and I keep it in a jar on my desk.

-- Stephen King

"The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies -- probably because they are generally the same people."

-- G.K. Chesterton

As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.

-- M. Cartmill

"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend."

-- William Blake

"Anyone who calls a rose by any other name was no doubt pruning them without a good pair of gloves."

-- Unknown

"Winfield goes back to the wall. He hits his head on the wall and it rolls off! It's rolling all the way back to second base! This is a terrible thing for the Padres!"

-- Jerry Coleman, Padres radio announcer

"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid."

-- Benjamin Franklin

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."

-- Groucho Marx

"Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend, and inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

-- Groucho Marx

"If this is coffee, please bring me tea.
If this is tea, please bring me coffee."

-- Abraham Lincoln

"Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense."

-- Steve Landesberg

Nominated for Time quote of the year is the statement made by Representative Dick Armey, who when asked if he were in the President's place, would he resign, responded:

"If I were in the President's place I would not get a chance to resign.?I would be lying in a pool of my own blood hearing Mrs. Armey standing over me saying, 'How do I reload this damn thing?'"

"Generally, the theories we believe we call facts, and the facts we disbelieve we call theories."

-- Felix Cohen

"Coincidinces are spiritual puns.

-- G.K. Chesterson

"A converted cannibal is one who, on Friday, eats only fishermen."

-- Emily Lotney

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

"Why yes -- a bulletproof vest."

-- James Rodges, his final request before the firing squad

"Go away...I'm alright."

-- H. G. Wells

"Now comes the mystery."

-- Henry Ward Beecher

"Friends applaud, the comedy is over."

-- Ludwig von Beethoven

"Drink to me."

-- Pablo Picasso

"And now, I am?dying beyond my means."

-- Oscar Wilde, sipping champagne on his deathbed

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist---"

-- General John B. Sedgwick's, 1864