A man's foes, to be called foes, are in his own house: they are in his own heart.

Let our enemies attend to their own peace and happiness, and our self-love will do all, and more than all, that they would fain do.

At the most, they and their ill-will can only give occasion to our self-love; but it is our self-love that seizes upon the occasion, and through it rends and distorts our own hearts.

And were our hearts only pure of self-love, were our hearts only clothed with meekness and humility, we could laugh at all the ill-will of our enemies as leviathan laughs at the shaking of a spear.

'Know thou,' says A Kempis to his son, 'that the love of thyself doth do thee more hurt than anything in the whole world.' Yes; but we shall never know that by merely reading _The Imitation_.