“But, careful! Jesus does not say, Go off and do things on your own. No! That is not what he is saying. Jesus says, Go, for I am with you! This is what is so beautiful for us; it is what guides us. If we go out to bring his Gospel with love, with a true apostolic spirit, with parrhesia, he walks with us, he goes ahead of us, and he gets there first. As we say in Spanish, nos primerea. By now you know what I mean by this. It is the same thing that the Bible tells us. In the Bible, the Lord says: I am like the flower of the almond. Why? Because that is the first flower to blossom in the spring. He is always the first! This is fundamental for us: God is always ahead of us! When we think about going far away, to an extreme outskirt, we may be a bit afraid, but in fact God is already there. Jesus is waiting for us in the hearts of our brothers and sisters, in their wounded bodies, in their hardships, in their lack of faith.” 

“Crowned heads, wealth and privilege may well tremble should ever again the Black and Red unite!"

-after the split between Anarchists and Marxists in 1872” 

“the main thing is to make history not to write it” 

“The statesman's task is to hear God's footsteps marching through history, and to try and catch on to His coattails as He marches past. ” 

“Politics ruins the character” 

“People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war, or before an election.” 

“I have a burden on my soul. During my long life, I did not make anyone happy, neither my friends, nor my family, nor even myself. I have done many evil things...I was the cause of the beginning of three big wars. About 800,000 people were killed because of me on the battlefields., and their mothers, brothers, and widows cried for them. And now this stands between me and God.” 

“Never believe anything in politics until it has been offically denied.” 

“Not by speeches and votes of the majority, are the great questions of the time decided — that was the error of 1848 and 1849 — but by iron and blood.” 

“If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans.” 

“Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.” 

“Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best” 

“Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.” 

“One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans (1888).” 

“People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt.” 

“God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.” 

“Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.” 

“When you want to fool the world, tell the truth. ” 

“Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.” 

“Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made.” 

“The fragility of our era is this, too: we don’t believe that there is a chance for redemption; for a hand to raise you up; for an embrace to save you, forgive you, pick you up, flood you with infinite, patient, indulgent love; to put you back on your feet. We need mercy.” 

“Let the risen Jesus enter your life—welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life! If up till now you have kept him at a distance, step forward. He will receive you with open arms. If you have been indifferent, take a risk; you won’t be disappointed. If following him seems difficult, don’t be afraid. Trust him, be confident that he is close to you, he is with you, and he will give you the peace you are looking for and the strength to live as he would have you do.” 

“People are looking for someone to listen to them. Someone willing to grant them time, to listen to their dramas and difficulties. This is what I call the “apostolate of the ear,” and it is important. Very important. I feel compelled to say to confessors: talk, listen with patience, and above all tell people that God loves them.” 

“The corrupt man is the one who sins but does not repent, who sins and pretends to be Christian, and it is this double life that is scandalous. The corrupt man does not know humility, he does not consider himself in need of help, he leads a double life.” 

“Do you allow yourselves to be gazed upon by the Lord? But how do you do this? You look at the tabernacle and you let yourselves be looked at . . . it is simple! “It is a bit boring; I fall asleep.” Fall asleep then, sleep! He is still looking at you. But know for sure that he is looking at you!” 

“I think this is truly the most wonderful experience we can have: to belong to a people walking, journeying through history together with our Lord, who walks among us! We are not alone; we do not walk alone. We are part of the one flock of Christ that walks together.” 

“We need to let ourselves be evangelized by the poor. They have much to teach us.” 

“We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.” 

“We can get angry: it's even healthy to get angry from time to time.” 

“Sin is more than a stain. Sin is a wound; it needs to be treated, healed. The place where my encounter with the mercy of Jesus takes place is my sin.” 

“Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.” 

“It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong.” 

“Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war” 

“Faust complained about having two souls in his breast, but I harbor a whole crowd of them and they quarrel. It is like being in a republic.” 

“man cannot control the current of events. he can only float with them and steer” 

“The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.” 

“Politics are not a science based on logic; they are the capacity of always choosing at each instant, in constantly changing situations, the least harmful, the most useful.” 

“The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood” 

“Fools say that they learn by experience. I prefer to profit by others experience.” 

“Hounds follow those who feed them.” 

“We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family.” 

“Most people nowadays would not consider love as related in any way to truth. Love is seen as an experience associated with the world of fleeting emotions, no longer with truth.

“Truth, according to the Christian faith, is God's love for us in Jesus Christ. Therefore, truth is a relationship.” 

“The Church must be a place of mercy freely given, where everyone can feel welcomed, loved, forgiven, and encouraged to live the good life of the Gospel.” 

“You could say to me, “But the Church is made up of sinners; we see them every day.” And this is true: we are a Church of sinners. And we sinners are called to let ourselves be transformed, renewed, sanctified by God.” 

“Truth is a relationship. As such, each one of us receives the truth and expresses it from within, that is to say, according to one's own circumstances, culture, and situation in life.” 

“The language of the Spirit, the language of the Gospel, is the language of communion that invites us to get the better of closedness and indifference, division and antagonism.” 

“We have only one heart, and the same wretchedness which leads us to mistreat an animal will not be long in showing itself in our relationships with other people.” 

“always know in your heart that God is by your side; he never abandons you! Let us never lose hope! Let us never allow it to die in our hearts!”