Success Quote by Saint Francis de Sales

Courage is an unexpected word to pair with self-critique, and that is exactly the point. Saint Francis de Sales isn’t offering a soft-focus reassurance that imperfections don’t matter; he’s warning that looking straight at them can become its own kind of spiritual hazard. The line assumes a familiar trap: the moment self-examination turns into self-disgust, the moral project collapses. You stop trying, not because you’ve failed, but because you’ve decided failure is your identity.

As a Counter-Reformation cleric working in a Europe obsessed with the bookkeeping of the soul, de Sales is pushing against a punitive style of piety that could tip into scrupulosity: the anxious, compulsive fear of sin and inadequacy. His intent is pastoral and tactical. If you are trying to cultivate virtue, you need the stamina to keep seeing what’s wrong without turning that sight into despair. Despair, in this framework, isn’t just sadness; it’s a theological dead end, a refusal to believe change is possible because grace is real.

The subtext is almost managerial: treat your flaws as data, not a verdict. “Considering” matters, too. He’s endorsing reflection, but he’s policing its emotional temperature. Notice the discipline: don’t lose courage, don’t lose traction. Imperfection is expected; paralysis is the danger.

Read in modern terms, it’s an argument against both self-help narcissism and self-cancellation. Improvement requires a steadier fuel than shame. De Sales is prescribing resilience not as a personality trait, but as a moral obligation.