"For my part, I want only this privilege from the Lord: not to have any privilege from any human being, except to show reverence to all, and, by the obedience of the holy Rule, to convert everyone more by example than by word."

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Blessed Francis used to say: "Nothing should displease a servant of God except sin. And no matter how another person may sin, if a servant of God becomes disturbed and angry because of this and not because of charity, he is storing up guilt for himself.

"That servant of God who does not become angry or disturbed at anyone lives correctly without anything of his own. And blessed is the one for whom nothing remains except for him to return to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.

"Blessed is the servant who, when he speaks, does not disclose everything about himself under the guise of some reward and is not quick to speak, ^{Prv 29:20} but who is wisely cautious about what he says and how he responds.

"Woe to that religious who does not hold in his heart the good things the Lord reveals to him and does not reveal them by his behavior, but, under the guise of a reward, wishes instead to reveal them with his words. He receives his reward and his listeners carry away little fruit."

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⁸Ego pro me volo hoc privilegium a Deo, nullum scilicet ab homine habere privilegium, nisi omnibus reverentiam facere et per obedientiam sancte regule, exemplo plus quam verbo, convertere universos ».

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¹Dicebat beatus Franciscus: « Servo Dei nulla res displicere debet preter peccatum; ²et quocumque modo aliqua persona peccaret, et propter hoc servus Dei, non ex caritate, turbaretur et irasceretur, thesaurizat sibi culpam.

³Ille servus Dei, qui non irascitur neque conturbat se pro aliquo, recte vivit sine proprio. ⁴Et beatus est, qui non retinet sibi aliquid reddens, que sunt Cesaris Cesari et que sunt Dei Deo.

⁵Beatus servus, qui quando loquitur, sub specie mercedis omnia sua non manifestat et non est velox ad loquendum, sed sapienter providet, que debet loqui et respondere.

⁶Ve illi religioso, qui bona, que sibi Dominus ostendit, non retinet in corde suo et aliis non ostendit per operationem, sed sub specie mercedis magis hominibus [verbiis] cupit ostendere. ⁷Ipse recipit mercedem suam, et audientes parum fructum reportant ».