List of points

Give the polite excuse which christian charity and social convention demand. And then… on your way again! With holy shamelessness, without stopping until you have finally scaled the heights of duty.

You lack strength of character: what insistence on having a hand in everything! You are bent on being the salt of every dish. And — you won't be annoyed if I speak clearly — you have little aptitude for being salt: in particular, you lack its capacity to dissolve and pass unnoticed.

You have too little spirit of sacrifice and too great a spirit of curiosity and ostentation.

The spotless purity of John's whole life makes him strong before the Cross. The other apostles fly from Golgotha: he, with the Mother of Christ, remains.

Don't forget that purity strengthens and invigorates the character.

Tender, soft, flabby…: that's not the way I want you. It's about time you got rid of that peculiar pity you feel for yourself

I will tell you which are man's treasures on earth so that you will appreciate them: hunger, thirst, heat, cold, pain, dishonour, poverty, loneliness, betrayal, slander, prison…

If you are not master of yourself — though you may be powerful — your air of mastery moves me to pity and laughter.

Work! When you feel the responsibility of professional work, the life of your soul will improve: and you will become more of a man, for you will lose your habit of 'picking holes' in everything.

Temper your will, strengthen your will: with God's grace, let it be like a sword of steel.

Only by being strong-willed can you know how not to be so in order to obey.