"Well, there's not going to be any robbery. I will not let you commit a sin. I'll give you some money of my own will. You won't be taking it from me, is that clear? I'm giving it to you.’ She went to her purse and took out all the money for the rest of the week. ‘That's all I have. We're quite poor, as you see. Come into the and kitchen, now, I’ll set the kettle to boil” (32).

"Clarisa pointed out that he was taking too great a risk, that he might not only be arrested but he was putting his immortal soul in danger- although in truth she doubted that God would punish him with hell, the worst might be a while in purgatory, as long, of course, as he repented and did not do it again" (32).

"Her children's abnormality never affected clarisa's unalterable optimism. She considered them pure souls immune to evil, and all her relations with them were named by affection. Her greatest concem was to save them from earthly suffering, and she often asked herself who would look after them when she was gone "(31).

“She instilled in the two younger children her principles of good humor and generosity with such splendid results that in the following years they were always beside her caring for their older siblings" (34).

"Clarisa gave everything she owned to the needy. As a rule she had only the clothes on her back and toward the end of her life it was difficult to find a person any poorer than she” (29).

"He had been a judge in a remote province... And like a mole he had taken refuge in the malodorous cave of his room. He emerged only rarely, a scurrying shadow, and opened the door only to hand out his chamber pot and to collect the food his wife left for him every day" (29).

"The father, in contrast, never spoke of them, and used the pretext of his retarded children to wallow in s he hame, abandon his career, his friends, and even fresh air, and entomb himself in his room... Meanwhile, his wife spent the last cent of her dowry, and her inheritance, and took on all kinds of jobs to support the family. In her own poverty, she never turned her back to the poverty of others, and even in the most difficult periods of her life she continued her works of mercy" (31).

"Somehow Clarisa managed to support the four children without any help from her husband and without injuring her family pride by accepting charity for herself" (34).

"If you refuse your husband your body, and he falls into the temptation of seeking solace with another woman, you bear that moral responsibility... 'I mean, if you had had another man, would your husband share the blame?' 'Wherever did you get an idea like that, child!" (38).

"but they say she helps a person through a hangover, or problems with the draft, or a siege of loneliness. Her wonders are humble and improbably, but as necessary as the spectacular marvels worked by cathedral saints" (27-28).

"She had the hands of a healer, and people who could not pay a doctor, or were disillusioned with traditional science, waited in line for her to relieve their pain or console them in their bad fortune" (28).

"Over the course of a long lifetime she had come to be considered a saint, and after she died many people placed her photograph on the family altar along with other venerable images to ask her aid in minor difficulties, even though her reputation for being a miracle worker is not recognized by the Vatican and undoubtedly never will be" (27).