SO GOOD QUOTES

“When thou hast eaten and art full, beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God,” (Deut. viii. 10, 11.) Thus does luxury lead to forgetfulness. Then do thou also, beloved, when thou sittest at table, remember that after the meal thou shouldst pray: and so moderately refresh thyself that thou mayest not through fullness be unable to bend the knee and call upon God. Do you not see beasts of burden, how after feeding, they commence the journey, they bear loads, they fulfill all the service that falls to their lot? But thou when thou risest from table, art unfit for any work. thou art become useless. How wilt thou avoid being thought less worthy of honour than the very beasts? Wherefore? Because it is then the proper time to be sober and to watch. For the time after meals is the time for thanksgiving; and he who gives thanks should not indulge in excess, but be sober and vigilant. Let us not turn from the table to the couch, but to prayer, that we become not more irrational than the beasts.

—St. John Chrysostom, On Wealth and Poverty