Reading seeks for the sweetness of a blessed life, meditation perceives it, prayer asks for it, contemplation tastes it. - Guigo II

O my God, so good and tender and kind, dear friend, wise counselor, powerful support, how heartless and rash is the man who rejects you, who casts from his heart so humble and gentle a guest!

Let him sit alone, the Scripture says; and indeed, unless he sits and rests, he will not be alone.

What is the use of spending one's time in continuous reading, turning the pages of the lives and sayings of holy men, unless we can extract nourishment from them by chewing and digesting this food so that its strength can pass into our inmost heart?