To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.

Whatever debases the intelligence degrades the entire human being.

Life does not need to mutilate itself in order to be pure.

The contemporary form of true greatness lies in a civilization founded on the spirituality of work.

A test of what is real is that it is hard and rough. Joys are found in it, not pleasure. What is pleasant belongs to dreams.

A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war.

A science which does not bring us nearer to God is worthless.

Imagination is always the fabric of social life and the dynamic of history. The influence of real needs and compulsions, of real interests and materials, is indirect because the crowd is never conscious of it.

In struggling against anguish one never produces serenity; the struggle against anguish only produces new forms of anguish.

In the Church, considered as a social organism, the mysteries inevitably degenerate into beliefs.

In the intellectual order, the virtue of humility is nothing more nor less than the power of attention.

It is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance.

An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God.

It is only the impossible that is possible for God. He has given over the possible to the mechanics of matter and the autonomy of his creatures.

As soon as men know that they can kill without fear of punishment or blame, they kill; or at least they encourage killers with approving smiles.