“The moral life presents itself as the response due to the many gratuitous initiatives taken by God out of love for man.”

— Pope John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor (1993)

About Pope John Paul II

1920 – 2005

Polish-born pope who led the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005.

“Remember the past with gratitude, live the present with enthusiasm and look forward to the future with confidence.”

“A person's rightful due is to be treated as an object of love, not as an object for use.”

“Only the chaste man and the chaste woman are capable of true love.”

“A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything.”

“Love is like the measles; we can't have it bad but once, and the later in life we have it the tougher it goes with us.”

“If our love were but more simple, We should take Him at His word; And our lives would be all sunshine In the sweetness of the Lord.”

“Love is a great force in private life; it is indeed the greatest of all things; but love in public affairs does not work.”

“All we have, it seems to me, is the beauty of art and nature and life, and the love which that beauty inspires.”

“Love, passionate young Love, how sweet it is / To have the bosom made a Paradise / By thee—life lighted by thy rainbow smile!”