A doctor who keeps a person from becoming ill deserves more merit than one who cures him.
Naturally, everyone is disheartened by sharp reprimands, and by the most amiable corrections as well, if they are frequent, immoderate, or given inappropriately.
We should take as a maxim never to be surprised at current difficulties, no more than at a passing breeze, because with a little patience we shall see them disappear. Time changes everything.
Nature makes trees put down deep roots before having them bear fruit, and even this is done gradually.
There is nothing good that does not meet with opposition, and it should not be valued any less because it encounters objections.
There are good, God-fearing persons who still fall into certain faults, and it is better to bear with them than to be hard on them.
[M]ost people offend God by passing judgment on the things others do, especially important people, not knowing the reasons why they are doing what they do; for when one does not know the primary cause of some matter, what conclusions can he draw from it?
Is it not better to fail after asking advice than to risk acting on our own?
Cast from your heart the bitterness.
Far from being a bad thing to seek advice, you must, on the contrary, do so when the matter is of any importance, or when we cannot come to a clear decision on our own.
If you say that a good reputation serves to benefit the neighbor more, I admit that. However, since it should be based on a good life, it is, therefore, preserved by the practice of virtue and not by human intrigue.
It is a maxim of ours to work in the service of the people, with the good pleasure of the pastors, and never to act contrary to their wishes. And, at the opening and closing of each mission, we get their blessing in a spirit of dependence.
Make an effort to serve good bread and good meat and not to sell the better wine so as to serve what is inferior.
Fear not; calm will follow the storm, and perhaps soon.
Use gentle methods to get whatever good you can from priests and monks who are slaves, as well as from merchants and captives. Resort to severe measures only in extreme cases, for fear lest the hardship they are already enduring in their state of captivity, joined to the strictness you might want to exercise in virtue of your authority, drive them to despair. . . . It is not light they need, but strength, and strength permeates through the external balm of words and good example.
[A] sick mind cannot be cured by the sheer force of persuasion.
The wisest persons, surprised by some passion, often say things they later regret.
If the Company takes my advice, it will always be preserved through this maxim, for if we are good, we will not lack any, and if we are not, we already have too many houses anyway, and can hardly fill the few we have.
...a great good is worth being long desired.
. . . [A]s a rule, the most learned persons do not produce the greatest results. We see that only too often.
Remember the maxim of the Romans which states that by union and counsel we can achieve anything.
I cannot think of the results of your labors without shame at the little we do.
Just as stinginess is blameworthy, so is facility in paying more for things than they are worth...
Scandal often does as much harm to the listeners as to those who devise it, even if it were to do no other harm than disturb the mind, as it does, and give rise to temptations to speak or write about it to others.
[R]est assured that, when you remain thus in the state in which obedience has placed you, the merit of this same obedience extends over everything you do, giving each action inestimable value, even when things do not turn out as you wish.
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