There is some pleasure in being on board a ship battered by storms when one is certain of not perishing. The persecutions buffeting the Church are li… - Blaise Pascal

There is some pleasure in being on board a ship battered by storms when one is certain of not perishing.

Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride.
Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair.
Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because he shows us both God and our own wretchedness.

I do not admire the excess of a virtue as of valour, except I see at the same time the excess of the opposite virtue, as in Epaminondas, who had the greatest valour and the greatest kindness. For otherwise it is not to rise, it is to fall. We do not display greatness by going to one extreme, but in touching both at once, and filling all the intervening space.

Evil is never done so thoroughly or so well as when it is done with a good conscience.