Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good.

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1804

Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; "the prudent man looks where he is going." "Keep sane and sober for your prayers." Prudence is "right reason in action," writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle. It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure.

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1806

Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith "man freely commits his entire self to God." For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God's will. "The righteous shall live by faith." Living faith "work[s] through charity."

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1814

To go to Mass means to go to Calvary to meet Him, our Redeemer.

- St Pope John Paul II

If the angels could envy, they would envy us for Holy Communion.

- St Pius X

God sees stains even in the angels. What must he see in me!

- St Pio of Pietrelcina

The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: "All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks." Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: "So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven."

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1816

What need I fear? He who sustains the world is within me. The blood of God circulates within my veins. Have no fear, O my soul. The Lord of the universe has taken you into His arms and desires you to find rest in Him.

- Servant of God Louise M. Claret de la Touche

Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.

- Munificentissimus Deus by Pius XII

This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation . . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 969

During Jacinta’s interrogation,[Francisco] confided to me with boundless joy and peace: “If they kill us as they say, we’ll soon be in Heaven! How wonderful! Nothing else matters!” Then after a moment’s silence, he added: “God grant that Jacinta won’t be afraid. I’m going to say a Hail Mary for her!”

- about Saint Francisco Marto of Fatima in the words of Sister Lucia

Even if we never see our mothers again, let’s be patient! We can offer it for the conversion of sinners. The worst thing would be if Our Lady never came back again! That is what hurts me most. But I offer this as well for sinners.

- Saint Francisco Marto of Fatima while in prison (around age 10)

The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man;

it takes up the hopes that inspire men's activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven;

it keeps man from discouragement;

it sustains him during times of abandonment;

it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude.

Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1818

Sin is an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law (St. Augustine, Faust 22: PL 42, 418). It is an offense against God. It rises up against God in a disobedience contrary to the obedience of Christ.

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1871

Sin is an act contrary to reason. It wounds man's nature and injures human solidarity.

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1872

The Principle of Subsidiarity

A community of a higher order should not interfere with the life of a community of a lower order, taking over its functions,

but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society,

always in view of the common good.

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1883

Society ought to promote the exercise of virtue... There is no solution to the social question apart from the Gospel

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1895-1896

The duty of obedience requires all to give due honor to authority and to treat those who are charged to exercise it with respect, and, insofar as it is deserved, with gratitude and good-will...

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1900

... A human law has the character of law to the extent that it accords with right reason, and thus derives from the eternal law. Insofar as it falls short of right reason it is said to be an unjust law, and thus has not so much the nature of law as of a kind of violence.

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1902 quoting St Thomas Aquinas

Authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good of the group concerned and if it employs morally licit means to attain it.

If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures contrary to the moral order, such arrangements would not be binding in conscience.

In such a case, "authority breaks down completely and results in shameful abuse."

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1903

One commits a mortal sin when there is simultaneously present: grave matter, full knowledge, and deliberate consent.

This sin destroys charity in us, deprived us of sanctifying Grace, and, if unrepented, leads us to the eternal death of hell.

It can be forgiven in the ordinary way of the sacraments of Baptism and of Penance or Reconciliation.

- Compendium, Catechism of the Catholic Church 395