Category: ANGER

  • If one says a word to you, you could accept the word calmly, or you could think about it deeply: Why did he say this? What did he mean? Did he mean to belittle me? I cannot keep quiet. Here you have allowed the word to affect you profoundly, and so it became deeply-rooted in you. Therefore, do not ponder daily events in depth; overlook them and allow them to pass by calmly. Only those thoughts which take root in your mind and heart will bother you.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Monastic Treasures for All of Us

  • Humble yourself before God; that is, like the wise thief say from your whole heart: “I have received as I deserve according to my deeds. Remember me, O Lord, when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom.” Do not be like the other thief who railed at everyone, cursed, blamed others for his sufferings, and in this way only made his situation worse and perished.

    —Abbot Nikon Vorobiev, Abbot Nikon Letters to Spiritual Children p.174

  • Sometimes our failure in dealing with certain people is due more to our ignorance of how to treat them, than to their personal faults.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Characteristics of the Spiritual Path

  • “People will love you, people will hate you, and none of it will have anything to do with you.”

    — Abraham Hicks

  • “If I’m mad at somebody, I’m probably just mad at myself.”

    —Dave Chappelle, Equanimity & The Bird Revelation

  • It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.

    —St Teresa of Calcutta

  • A bad word makes even good people bad, but a good word turns even bad people into good.
    —Saint Macarius the Elder

    Our words have so much power, yet it’s so easy to say them without thinking.

    Have you ever chosen to say something nice when you didn’t feel like it? What happened?

    Like an oasis in the desert, a kind word can bring forth beauty.

    Choose to say something good today and see what comes of it!

    Edna King, One Good Thought: A Good Word is an Oasis

  • “It is impossible for muddy water to grow clear if it is constantly stirred up.”

    —St. Nilus of Ancyra

  • Zooey: In the first place, you’re way off when you start railing at things and people instead of at yourself.

    —Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger

  • Remember that it is not he who reviles you or strikes you, who insults you, but it is your opinion about these things as being insulting. When then a man irritates you, you must know that it is your own opinion which has irritated you. Therefore especially try not to be carried away by the appearance. For if you once gain time and delay, you will more easily master yourself.

    —Epictetus, Enchiridion