“Others have told you that you have an ugly passion, but you did not believe it. Why didn’t you? Do you now know that the ugliness of our face is always seen by others before we see it ourselves. The eye sees everything except itself. Others see our lace without a mirror, but we see it only in a mirror. The mirror of our souls is Christ. Look at Christ – gaze upon Him for a while, as into a mirror, and think – would He do in secret that what you do? Obviously not. So, the mirror would give a negative answer, which is to say, it would show spiritual ugliness. A drunk man, even when he is completely drunk, still convinces the whole world that he is sober and that he knows what he is talking about.”

– ‘Missionary Letters Vol. 3’