Category: Fulton Sheen

In silence, there is the humility of spirit or what might be called “wise passivity.” As such, the ear is more important than the tongue. God speaks, but not in cyclones–only in the zephyrs and gentle breezes.

We must leave the world to help the world. That life is most effectively lived which every now and then withdraws from the scene of action to contemplation, where one learns the terrible defeat and futility which comes from excessive absorption in detail and action.

Self-discipline brings back to us the excitement of our childhood, when our pleasures were rationed–when we got our dessert at the end of the meal and never at the start.

Pleasure is best enjoyed when it comes to us as a “treat,” in contrast to less pleasurable experiences. We made a great mistake trying to have all our night party nights. No one would enjoy Thanksgiving if every meal were a turkey dinner. New Year’s Event would not delight us if the whistles blew at midnight every night.

You want a perfect life, perfect truth, and perfect love. Nothing short of the Infinite satisfies you, and to ask you to be satisfied with less would destroy your nature. Why do you want Life, Truth, and love unless you were made for them? How could you enjoy the fractions unless there was a whole?

You can quickly become tired of pleasures, but you can never tire of joys.

It is easy to find the truth, but it is hard to face it and follow it.

Nothing is more destined to create deep-seated anxieties in people that the false assumption that life should be free from anxiety.

Before the sin, Satan assures us that it is of no consequence; after the sin, he persuades us that it is unforgivable.

Most commit the same mistake with God they do with their friends; they do all the talking.