“I realize this fits into the way I've always seen myself, which is: art, attempted, though often spoiled by the demands of another's taste.”

“There is no sin so great as ignorance. Remember this.”

“Life isn't given to be deserved. It's given to be lived. If you can find one thing that makes it worth seeing another day, then you've done all you're meant to do.”

“Take my camel, dear,' said my aunt Dot, climbing down from that animal on her return from high Mass.”

“The idea that everyone is strong enough to bear immediate contact with God is false, and conceivable only by an age that has forgotten what it means to stand in the direct ray of divine power, that substitutes sentimental religious ‘experience’ for the overwhelming reality of God’s presence. To claim that everyone could and should be exposed to that reality is sacrilegious.”

“Be grateful for holiness when you find it among churchmen, but do not expect it. As Flannery O’Connor wrote, “All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful. Priests resist it as well as others.”

“Trials come. Tribulation comes. Fires of refinement come. The purpose of refinement is to bring to light the things hidden in darkness and then remove them”

“Optimism. One of the most important qualities of a good leader is optimism, a pragmatic enthusiasm for what can be achieved. Even in the face of difficult choices and less than ideal outcomes, an optimistic leader does not yield to pessimism. Simply put, people are not motivated or energized by pessimists.”