Jacques-Benigne Bossuet Quotes

The worst derangement of the spirit is to believe things because we want them to be so, not because we have seen them for what they are.

Truth is a queen who has her eternal throne in heaven, and her seat of empire in the heart of God.

The heart has reasons that reason does not understand.

The greatest weakness of all weaknesses is to fear too much to appear weak.

Only great souls know the grandeur there is in charity.

To know one's self, one must go all the way to horror.

The greatest of all weaknesses is the fear of appearing weak.

Honor is like the eye, which cannot suffer the least impurity without damage. It is a precious stone, the price of which is lessened by a single flaw.

An Indian philosopher, being asked what were, according to his opinion, the two most beautiful things in the universe, answered: The starry heavens above our heads, and the feeling of duty in our hearts.

Well-meant ignorance is a grievous calamity in high places.

The spirit of the world encloses four kinds of spirits, diametrically opposed to charity--the spirit of resentment, spirit of aversion, spirit of jealousy and the spirit of indifference.

I love to thik of my little children whom God has called to himself as away at school-at the best school in the universe, under the best teachers, learning the best things, in the best possible manner. O death! We thank thee for the light that thou wilt shed upon our ignorance.

In the midst of the disguises and artifices that reign among men, it is only attention and vigilance that can save us from surprises.

Every error is truth abused.

The world itself makes us sick of the world.

Readiness for death is that of character, rather than of occupation. It is right living which prepares for safe or even joyous dying. - Jacques

The inexorable boredom that is at the core of life.

O death! We thank you for the light that you will shed upon our ignorance.