For Young Men

Look upward, not downward; forward, not backward; and press on to the goal.

We sleep and dream that life is beauty; we awake and find that it is also duty.

Not all who go to church are good, but the best people in every community are churchgoers.

We are weak enough with religion; what should we be without it?

The best recommendation you can give of your religion is your own life.

Your faith is more precious than all the riches of earth, more glorious than all its honors, for it leads to riches that corrupt not, and to glories that fade not.

The Church does not create new doctrines; she is the custodian and expositor of Christ’s doctrines.

A moment’s prayerful attention each morning to offer the works of the day to God will make the whole day a pleasing prayer.

Be generous, but not at the expense of others’ time or property.

Be grateful, because gratitude for favors received is a potent means of securing still greater favors; ingratitude dries up favors at their source.

An ungrateful son is rightly detested by God and man.

Son, support the old age of thy father, and grieve him not in his life. And if his understanding fail, have patience with him, and despise him not when thou art in thy strength, for the relieving of the father will not be forgotten.

Kind words are the music of the world, and politeness its polish.

All pleasures are deadly which are not in harmony with God’s commandments.

He who walks in the presence of God makes steady progress on his journey, and never stumbles.

He who gives to the poor gives to Christ.

The man who receives the Sacraments but once a year is shielded by thin armor.

No one is good for everything; everyone is good for something. Do your bit, and do it well.

If you want to be somebody, do something. Don’t be one of those who could do something if they wanted to.

If we waited for perfection before starting, little would be accomplished.

Yesterday is past, tomorrow is uncertain, today is short; if you have anything to do, do it now. Procrastination is the thief of time.

The resourceful man is one who, when he cannot do a thing one way, does it another.

A true man will not fail to acknowledge when he is wrong, nor to express regret when he occasions hurt to others.

What a noble weapon is silence! It turns aside the tempest of anger; before it hatred and malice are abashed, if not defeated; slander and detraction are hushed in its presence; idle gossip soon grows tired in the face of its rebuke. If we could but keep silence, the world would be rid of half its evils.

Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself.

Avoid bad shows, bad reading, bad company; for he that loves danger shall perish in it.

Be not led away by the crowd, for many follow the broad way that leads to destruction.

To neglect prayer, assistance at Holy Mass, and the frequentation of the Sacraments, is to be a bad Catholic and a bad citizen.

If you pray, you will certainly save your soul; if you do not, you will certainly lose it.

Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart be in that which is good in the days of thy youth; and know that for all these, God will bring thee to judgment.

Beware of those who set one standard of morals for men and another for women. The girl you marry has a right to expect the same innocence and purity in you that you require of her.

Self-restraint is a sign of the man; self-indulgence signifies the brute.

Courtship is not a time for mere sociability, much less for dissipation, but a pleasant period in which to study the character of the one you hope to marry. In choosing a wife, remember that beauty is only skin deep; whereas character and a good disposition are of long life.

Never keep regular company with a girl whom you have no intention of marrying; it is an injustice to her and a danger to yourself.

Never think of marrying a girl who does not inspire you with reverence and incite you to virtue.

Do not marry until you are able to support a wife, and then marry a girl who is satisfied to live on your income.

The girl who invites familiarities and is loose during courtship will hardly be faithful as a wife. Shun her.

There will be difficulties enough in married life if you start right; therefore choose a girl of your own faith.

Since love is blind, it will pay you to pray for guidance and to seek good advice before assuming the burdens of married life.

The passions in man are like the forces of nature; they are useful as obedient servants, but merciless tyrants as masters.

Believe me, the mortification of the senses,—of the sight, the hearing, the tongue,—is more beneficial than to wear a chain of iron and the hairshirt.

God has entrusted to your care a human body which must be returned to Him. See that you are not found wanting in your stewardship.

It is shameful to commit sin, but never a shame to confess sin to one’s confessor.

Young men should not hesitate to consult their confessors in or out of the confessional about their vocation. That is part of a priest’s duty.

When in doubt, pray for guidance, for it is written, “Ask and you shall receive; knock and it shall be opened to you.”

For Married Men

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it.

A husband should strive to continue after marriage the manly chivalry, strength, generosity and tenderness that made him so attractive in the days of his courtship.

If you cannot find peace and happiness in the family circle, where will you find them? Certainly not outside in the world, for the world cares nothing for you.

Reverence is the product of the home, and what is learned in the home is never forgotten.

The unselfish husband will never be unmindful of the great burdens and sacrifices which wifehood and motherhood lay upon a woman.

The chief blessings to be sought in married life are congenial companionship and spiritual helpfulness.

If a husband does not find his chief interest and pleasure in his home, there is something wrong with him, or with his wife, or with both.

After marriage your wife should come first in your affections, but this does not mean that you are to neglect your mother or father, whom you can never repay for all they have done for you.

If husband and wife are properly mated, co-operation takes the place of “bossing.”

The Church is opposed to every kind of birth control that does not result from self-control, for the reason that such practice is contrary to the laws of nature.

Parents may advise, but should never force upon their children any particular career in life.

A Catholic education is a far better legacy to children than money and worldly advantages.

Jealousy is a vice so mean that its possessor is always ashamed to acknowledge it.

A loving soul illumines and warms the house better than a blazing hearth and a lighted lamp.

The married who live in harmony and mutual love can defy the world; without this unity, all the world cannot make them happy.

If children are not all they should be, it is usually the fault of the parents.

The true way to win the respect and obedience of your children is to show them good example.

A father who neglects prayer, Mass and the Sacraments, must never wonder when his sons do likewise.

The father should be the head, the mother the heart of the home.

Mutual consideration and forbearance are sure to make married life happy.

Marriage is not a permit to violate the laws of God and of nature.

Inordinate indulgence and race suicide are sure to wreck the happiness of married life.

You cannot have the respect of your children if you disrespect their mother.

Children bring blessings to every good home, and they are one of the surest guarantees of the unity and fidelity of the husband and the wife.

When parents make their homes unpleasant and disagreeable, the children will naturally go elsewhere for their recreation.

If any man have not care of his own, and especially of those of his house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.

And at all times remember your contract:

I, N. N., take thee, N. N., for my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

For Unmarried Men

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

No man can serve two masters. . . . He that is not with Me is against Me.

You can work for God and religion, no matter what your other occupation.

Good works without grace are like a body without a soul.

How can any Catholic man expect to be able to understand, to defend, and to appreciate his religion, when all his reading is from non-Catholic books and newspapers?

If we would impress others with the importance of religion and faith, we should let them see the fruits of these virtues in our own lives.

Without trouble much good would be absent from the world. Fortitude, self-sacrifice, mercy, and the like presuppose the existence of evils that call them forth.

Selfishness is one of the most blinding of sins; it closes the eyes of its victim to everyone except himself.

It is not what we do, or where we are, but what we are that counts.

It does not take brains to find fault. Try to get the other man’s viewpoint.

To refuse to change your mind is no proof that you are right.

To resist moods and do the very opposite of what they suggest is a healthy form of self-conquest and hurts no one.

He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall withhold aid from him, how doth the charity of God abide in him?

Most men eat and drink too much; few work or pray too much.

Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.

Fear not them that kill the body and are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him that can destroy both body and soul in hell.

No one can love Our Lord who does not know about Him, and no one can be truly loyal to the Church who does not care to know her.

The fact that a man is free from the duties of family life, does not exempt him from duties to others, especially the poor and needy.

Drunkenness and impurity go together.

I say to the unmarried: it is good for them if they so continue even as I. But if they do not contain themselves, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to be burnt.

What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?

In all thy works remember thy last end and thou shalt never sin.

Not everyone that saith to Me: Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

For Older Men

Speak thou the things that become sound doctrine: that the aged men be sober, chaste, prudent, sound in faith, in love, in patience.

Faith is a prop to the mind and a stay of the soul in all adversity.

Mercy and charity to the poor are a means of repaying Christ for what He has done for us throughout life.

If you are entrusted with wealth or authority, remember that you should but act as stewards in behalf of the poor and weak.

Pericles, the great Athenian ruler, when dying said that his greatest glory was that he had never caused one of his fellow-citizens to put on mourning.

We may appeal against the sentence of a judge, but no man can appeal against the sentence of his own conscience.

A peaceful mind is like a continual feast.

Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, Thou shalt fill me with the joys of Thy countenance. At Thy right hand are delights for evermore.

Behold I command thee: Take courage and be strong. Fear not and be not dismayed, because the Lord Thy God is with thee in all things.

Always be willing to learn. Saints like Anthony, Cyprian and Augustine admitted that they profited much by studying the good they saw in others.

A kind and encouraging word has saved many a one from wreck.

The glory of this world passes away; but the happiness of heaven abides forever.

Contentment surpasses riches.

As the crucible reveals true gold, so does affliction manifest the true friend of God.

Be not concerned that you are not known, but seek only to be worthy to be known.

Virtue is the finest ornament of knowledge, and knowledge is the finest ornament of virtue.

The saints regulated their lives according to the perfections of God, and did penance; we judge our conduct according to the standards of the world, and are satisfied. And yet it is the divine holiness by which we shall be judged.

A kind deed is worth more than a volume of empty words.

By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and thy neighbor as thyself.

A well-trained soul knows how to suffer and rejoice, without giving itself up too much either to grief or to delight.

The patient man is better than the valiant, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh cities.

If we wish to reform the world, the Church, or our neighbor, let us begin with ourselves.

Old people often become very selfish and arbitrary, thus rendering themselves odious and disagreeable to everyone around them.

We are soon forgotten after death. Let us, therefore, surround ourselves with good works while we may.

The number of man’s days at most are a hundred years. As a drop of water of the sea are they esteemed, and as a pebble of the sands, so are a few years compared to eternity.

In all things look to the end, and how thou shalt be able to stand before a severe Judge, to Whom nothing is hidden, Who takes no bribes, nor receives excuses, but will judge that which is just.

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the proper things of the body, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil.

Why dost thou not prepare thyself for the day of judgment when no man shall be excused nor defended by another, but everyone shall have enough to do to answer for himself?

In My Father’s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you, because I go to prepare a place for you.

Thus saith the Lord: Let thy voice cease from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, for there is a reward for thy work.

The redeemed of the Lord shall come into Sion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.