The Spiritual Maxims of St. Francis De Sales

"All is gentle to the gentle, and all is holy to the holy.
We accuse our neighbor for little, and we excuse ourselves in much.

Those who run best in the race do not think of the crowd which is looking at them."

During his life, Francis De Sales had a gift for giving spiritual direction to lay people living ordinary lives in the world. Firmly believing that everyone could grow in holiness, no matter what their occupation, St. Francis wrote books upon books, and even more letters, that all remain beloved to this day. What is the secret of their longstanding value? It is the intimacy and at the same time practicality of the saint’s direction — for he speaks to us person to person. We recognize ourselves in what is said because he speaks of those things that each of us has experienced. This collection of maxims and sayings gathered from his many pages of spiritual counsel are words of advice that every friend of St. Francis has always been fond of repeating — words that serve as means of encouragement, points for meditation, counsels, exhortations, reminders. St. Francis speaks as clearly to our twenty-first century condition as he did to that of his own spiritual family.