QUOTATION: Death

Nothing is more certain that death, nothing is more uncertain that its hour.

--St. Anselm, Meditations, 7.

QUOTATION: Idleness

Idleness is the enemy of the soul.

--St. Anselm of Canterbury

QUOTATION: The Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Remember that we sometimes obtain help by invoking the name of the Virgin Mother sooner than if we had invoked the Name of the Lord Jesus, her only Son, and this not because she is greater or more powerful than He, nor because He is great and powerful through her, but she is so through Him. How is it then that we obtain assistance sooner by invoking her than by invoking her Son? I say that I think this is so, and my reason is that her Son is the Lord and Judge of all, and is able to discern the merits of each.

Consequently when His Name is invoked by any one, He may justly turn a deaf ear to the entreaty, but if the name of His Mother is invoked, even supposing that the merits of the supplicant do not entitle him to be heard, still the merits of the Mother of God are such that her Son cannot refuse to listen to her prayer.

--St. Anselm of Canterbury.

QUOTATION: Dealing with Bad Thoughts

Do not argue with perverse thoughts or evil desires, but when they attack you, occupy your mind vigorously with some profitable meditation and plan until they vanish away. No thought or intention is ever expelled from the heart except by some other thought or intention incompatible with it.

--St. Anselm of Canterbury

QUOTATION: Mary's Motherhood

From the moment of her fiat Mary began to carry all of us in her womb.

--St. Anselm

QUOTATION: Be the Elect

If you want to be certain of being in the number of the Elect, strive to be one of the few, not one of the many. And if you would be quite sure of your salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few; that is to say, do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or night, so that they may attain everlasting blessedness.

--St. Anselm