SO GOOD QUOTES

Author: SO GOOD QUOTES

  • Now, let’s delve into how harming others ultimately harms ourselves. Consider a person who wrongs, insults, or deceives another; whom do they harm first? It’s undeniably themselves. While the immediate damage might be financial, the deeper consequences affect the soul, leading to destruction and punishment. Envy is another example. When someone harbors envy, they injure themselves first. Injustice inherently causes immeasurable harm to its perpetrator. Yes, they may harm others, but the harm to themselves outweighs it.

    Let’s examine in our own lives the consequences of certain actions, particularly when parts or functions within us overstep their proper bounds and assume the roles of others. Consider if the spleen, for instance, were to abandon its designated place and seize on the functions of another organ—wouldn’t this be considered a disease? Similarly, if the moisture within us were to fill every possible space, wouldn’t it result in conditions like dropsy and gout, ultimately harming itself and other parts? Likewise, if bile seeks an extensive area and blood is dispersed throughout the body without restraint, it disrupts the natural order.Applying this analogy to the soul, think about what happens when emotions like anger and lust exceed their proper measure. Just as excess is detrimental to the body, if the eye attempts to take in more than it should or receives an excessive amount of light, it faces ruin. In the soul, if we indulge in an excessive pursuit of food, the consequences can be severe.

    —St. John Chrysostom

  • The havoc caused by angry and wrathful passions is undeniable. What adds to the grievance is that once we’ve separated, the power to reconcile is lost. We wait for others to take the initiative. Each is ashamed, reluctant to return and mend the broken ties. It’s like not hesitating to sever a limb but feeling ashamed to reattach it.

    If you’ve committed wrongs and caused the quarrel, you should be the first to seek reconciliation. If the other person is at fault, you should still initiate reconciliation. Anger and false pride are like illnesses, and you, being in good health, should act as the physician to the sick. Physicians don’t refrain from visiting the sick; instead, they go when the patient can’t come to them.

    Let’s not consider ill designs against us as grievous. As long as we avoid ill designs against ourselves, no one will have the power to harm us. People may plot against us, but they won’t harm us; in fact, they may benefit us greatly. Ultimately, it’s within our control whether we suffer harm or not. I boldly declare that a Christian, on this earth, is impervious to harm from any human being. Not even the Evil Spirit, the tyrant, the Devil, can harm a Christian unless the individual harms themselves. Whatever anyone attempts against a Christian is in vain. Just as no human could harm an angel on earth, one human cannot harm another.

    —St. John Chrysostom

  • Why hurt yourself by retaliating? Avoid succumbing to anger; keep yourself unharmed. You might ask, how is it possible to bear insults and abuse? I counter, why wouldn’t it be possible? Do words cause physical wounds, or inflict bruises on our bodies? Where is the harm to us? If we choose, we can endure it. Let’s establish a rule for ourselves not to be distressed, and we’ll manage.

    Handle anger like fire—don’t let it scatter everywhere in your thoughts. Keep it in a deep recess of the mind, so the wind from opposing words won’t easily reach it. Let the wind that stirs it come from yourself, managing it with moderation and safety. If the wind comes from outside, it knows no limits and can set everything on fire.

    Use [anger] like torches against those who wrong others or against the devil. [Anger is] necessary only when we must soften, mollify, and convict the soul, subduing obduracy when needed.

    —St. John Chrysostom

  • People can make a statement [of anger] and lose the rest of their life.

    —Fr. Mina Dimitri

  • Some people walk around all day with unexplained sadness, unreasonable anger, unreasonable hatred, unreasonable jealousy, envy—what is all this garbage from? Some walk around all day in the word of God, in the spiritual life, in the thoughts of the heavenly, in the desires of eternity, in fulfilling the commandments, in seeing light, in rejoicing always.

    —Fr. Mina Dimitri

  • We cannot withdraw love without damaging ourselves. I have been badly hurt again but I see this morning that it does not really matter because I perceive the truth. Rage is the deprived infant in me but there is also a compassionate mother in me and she will come back with her healing powers in time.

    ― May Sarton, Recovering: A Journal

  • The reasons for anger were often childish or irrelevant and the anger left us always dismayed by our failure toward each other, but the fact is that neither of us could command the necessary tolerance.

    —May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude

  • Last night was not easy, with the cold moon-glare outside and my harsh thoughts toward my anger. The full horror of these storms is, of course, the harm they do to those one loves. For days afterward I am forced to try to come to terms with myself and to face the destroyer and breaker in me. I do not feel remorse so much as shame.

    —May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude

  • These angers are crippling, like a fit when they happen, and then, when they are over, haunting me with remorse. Those who know me well and love me have come to accept them as part of me; yet I know they are unacceptable.

    —May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude

  • We complain that we require solitude, as if we should find the virtue of patience there where nobody provokes us. We say that the reason of our disturbance does not spring from our own impatience, but from the fault of our brethren. And while we lay the blame of our fault on others, we shall never be able to reach the goal of patience and perfection.

    —St. John Cassian