“Let us be kind to one another after the pattern of the tender mercy and goodness of our Creator.” St. Clement of Rome (1st century)

“The Lord does not say that the proof of His disciples’ faithfulness will be the working of wondrous miracles…What does He tell them? ‘You shall be known as my disciples if you love one another.” St. Basil the Great (4th century, Doctor of the Church)

“To harbor no envy, no anger, no resentment against an offender is still not to have charity for them. It is possible, without any charity, to avoid rendering evil for evil, because it is the law. But to render, spontaneously, good for evil – such is the disposition to do good to those who hate us belongs to perfect spiritual love.” St. Maximus the Confessor (6th-7th centuries)

“We can never tell how patient or humble a person is when everything is going well with him. But when those who should cooperate with him do the exact opposite, then we can tell. A man has as much patience and humility as he has then, and no more.” St. Francis of Assisi (12th-13th centuries)

“So long as we are in this place of pilgrimage, so long as men’s hearts are warped and prone to sin, lazy and weak in virtue, we need to be encouraged and stirred up, so that brother may be helped by brother, and the eagerness of heavenly love rekindle the flame in our spirit which our daily carelessness and lukewarmness tend to put out.” St. Jordan of Saxony (12th-13th centuries)

“It is easy enough to feel drawn to good, healthy people who have pleasant manners, but that is only natural and not charity. A mother does not love her sick, deformed child because he is lovable, but because she is his mother, and we must pray the Holy Ghost to put into our hearts that selfless devotion which nature has put in hers.” St. Robert Bellarmine (16th-17th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“Resist your impatience faithfully, practicing, not only with reason, but even against reason, holy courtesy and sweetness to all, but especially to those who weary you most.” St. Francis de Sales (16th-17th centuries, Doctor of the Church

“One must see God in everyone.” St. Catherine Laboure (19th century)

“If our love of God is genuine, then we would quite naturally love our neighbor as ourselves.” Bl. Solanus Casey (19th-20th centuries)

“Courtesy is love in action; not the love that seeks to be loved in return, but the love that puts affection in others, and finds them lovable.” Ven. Fulton Sheen (19th-20th centuries)

“Now there’s a difference between [liking and loving]. Liking is in the emotions, in the feelings. Loving is in the will. Because liking is in the emotions, the emotions can change, grow dull. But loving is in the will, and is therefore subject to command. Hence our Lord said: ‘A new commandment I give to you’ – a commandment – ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ This is the difference between the two.” Ven. Fulton Sheen

“Do not imagine that love to be true must be extraordinary…See how a lamp burns, by the continual consumption of the little drops of oil. If there are no more of these drops in the lamp, there will be no light…What are these drops of oil in our lamps? They are the little things of everyday life: fidelity, punctuality, little words of kindness, just a little thought for others; those little acts of silence, of look, and of thought, of word, and of deed. These are the very drops of love that make our life burn with so much light.” St. Teresa of Calcutta (20th century)

“I believe in person-to-person. Every person is Christ for me and since there is only one Jesus, that person is the only one person in the world for me at that moment.” St. Teresa of Calcutta