Aphorisms
Every value has its tumours. That of admiration is subjugation.
The absence of nuance in a thought is as sure a sign of its barrenness as the absence of colour in a garden.
The fear of losing one’s faith hinders access to a higher faith.
Voice only what you are sure of, and you will be swift to conclude.
To love people in proportion to how far they resemble us is to make love an accomplice of tyranny.
Theology is the realm of uncertainty in which one finds the most convinced people.
Whoever believes he is turning toward the divine, driven only by his resentment and his disdain for others, is turning only toward himself.
Wisdom is the geography of the soul: it shows the rightful place of things.
The path to God is a river without a ford: whoever crosses it must get wet.
Cows gaze at the passing train; men, at the passing chance to be.
The word “truth” is a sharp word that must be uttered with caution.
One must grow taller to reach certain fruits.
The number of those we love does not fragment love; it is love that widens the space in which it holds them.
Miserly is the love whose portions shrink as more people find room in your heart.
Rather than a vow of silence, take a vow of sincerity: you will speak little, but that little will be good.
The claim to possess a truth is far too serious not to be suspected.
It is my opinion that an opinion should not claim to be more than an opinion.
A pebble speaks more to the wise than a rhetorician to the heedless.
Spirituality is a good so freely given that people no longer dare believe in its worth.
What stands between cause and effect, if not that very thing which stands between past and future?
One of the most common forms of cowardice is finding good excuses to hate people.
Empty talk earns credit only once.
To make claims is to burden oneself with the expectations of others.
The savour of virtue is quickly lost in a heart too spiced with desires.
In converging love, competing loves dissolve.
The solitude of the wise is to decline the persistent invitations of falsehood.
I pray that the simplest piece of paperwork I ever face be my own death.
All that is loved is lovable, like it or not — even if every lover’s flaw is to be partial.