« [The Jesuit] joins together things which in appearance are contrary, such as learning and humility, youth and chastity, diversity of nations, and a perfect charity… In our life we must mingle a deep love of heavenly things with scientific studies and other natural occupations. Now, it is very easy to rush to one extreme or the other. One may have too great a passion for the sciences and neglect prayer and spiritual things. Or, if one aspires to become a spiritual man, one may neglect to cultivate, as one should, such natural talents as doctrinal knowledge, eloquence, and prudence. »

« The excellence of the Jesuit spirit consists in this, “that it honours and imitates the manner in which the divine was united with all was human in Jesus Christ, with the faculties of his soul, with the members of his body, with his blood, and it deified all… But this alliance is difficult. That is why those among us who do not realize the perfection of our spirit, tend to cling to natural and human advantages, being destitute of the supernatural and the divine.” The Jesuit who fails to live up to the spirit of the Society turns into the Jesuit of popular imagination, and not infrequently of historical fact – wordly, intriguing, ambitious. “The man who fails to apply himself wholeheartedly to the inner life falls inevitably into these defects; for the poverty-stricken and starving soul must needs cling to something in the hope of satisfying its hunger.” »