"There never did and never will exist anything permanently noble and excellent in a character which was a stranger to the exercise of resolute self -denial" - Sir Walter Scott.
Father Von Doss, S.J., says: "There are characters so wavering that one is scarcely able to describe or portray them. Now joyous, now sad; sometimes disposed to good; again inclined to evil; at one time impetuous, at another hesitating, in constant agitation, in eternal waves of commotion - their hearts remain even to themselves inexplicable riddles. Such men are tossed on the ocean of life, like ships without rudder or helm.
"Do you not know -that it is said of the fool that he is changed as the moon (Ecclus. xxvii. 12), and of the just man that he is an everlasting foundation? (Prov. x. 25).
"Alas I for those soft, unstable characters which are capable of being molded at will!
"Who shall discover in such a youth the man of the future? He is full of inconsistencies. In his changeable nature timidity sometimes yields to a spirit of enterprise; coldness, to that of enthusiasm. He is given to violent and easily formed attachments! Although susceptible to virtue, yet evil impressions leave behind in his heart far deeper traces.
"This inconstancy takes such a hold on some, that even their exterior - their looks, carriage, gait, speech, and gestures - bear testimony to it.
"God grant that a young man of that sort
