St. Francis de Sales - Born in 1567, Château de Sales, France; died in 1622, Lyon, France. -      It should be our principal business to conquer ourselves and, from day to day, to go on increasing in strength and perfection. Above all, however, it is necessary for us to strive to conquer our little temptations, such as fits of anger, suspicions, jealousies, envy, deceitfulness, vanity, attachments, and evil thoughts. For in this way we shall acquire strength to subdue greater ones.************** We accuse our neighbor for so little, and we excuse ourselves for so much.***********The Prayer of the sick person is his patience and his acceptance of his sickness for the love of Jesus Christ. Make sickness itself a prayer, for there is none more powerful, save martyrdom!************* Oh what remorse we shall feel at the end of our lives, when we look back upon the great number of instructions and examples afforded by God and the Saints for our perfection, and so carelessly received by us! If this end were to come to you today, how would you be pleased with the life you have led this year?**********Man is the perfection of the Universe. The spirit is the perfection of man. Love is the perfection of the spirit, and charity that of love. Therefore, the love of God is the end, the perfection of the Universe.**********He who truly desires Love, seeks it truly. And he who truly seeks it, surely finds it. And he who finds it has found the Fountain of Life.*******The state of marriage is one that requires more virtue and constancy than any other: it is a perpetual exercise of mortification.********** It must be obvious that devotion ought to be practiced differently by the gentleman, the artist, the employee, the prince, the widow, the celibate, the spouse.*********** Be certain of this: it is an error, even heresy, to want to banish the devout life from the company of soldiers, the shops of artisans, the courts of princes and the homes of married people.************* When God's will is shown clearly to us through divine ordinances and commandments, there is nothing further to deliberate on for we must simply do what has been ordained. But for all other things it is in our liberty to choose what seems good according to our preferences.**********We ought not to become overly disturbed with ourselves because of our imperfections.********** We correct ourselves better by a calm and lasting repentance than by one that is bitter and angry.***********  We must not be astonished to see ourselves imperfect, since we must never see ourselves otherwise in this life.************ From time to time one must recreate and relax in mind and body.************ Perfection does not lie in avoiding the world, but in not clinging to it.**********  Riches can prick us with a thousand troubles in getting them, as many cares in preserving them, more anxieties in spending them, and with grief in losing them.***********