If we are cold, haughty, violent or domineering, the souls around us retreat into their thick shells

"Why are children so powerful? You might say that children have no power at all, that they are weak. Well, this is exactly why they succeed where the powerful fail. They succeed because they are spontaneous, full of life, natural, and because they inspire love. Suppose several people approach a man with a request: they talk, explain, insist and demand, but all in vain. Then the man's child arrives, and he caresses his father, smiles at him, gives him a kiss, and gets everything he asks for. It is children who break through the armor, the barriers, and open our hearts. And observe what the sun does: it shines, it emanates warmth, and it achieves what neither storm, wind, nor hail, despite their force, manage to do: it makes human beings take off their heavy clothing.

The conclusion to be drawn from these examples is that if we are cold, haughty, violent or domineering, the souls around us retreat into their thick shells. We knock, but no one answers. If, on the other hand, we warm them with rays of love, they shake off their armor and open up to us. It is in warmth that flowers blossom, not in the cold"