SO GOOD QUOTES

Category: AVARICE & ALMSGIVING & MINIMALISM

  • Previously, David’s life was different. He was pursued by Saul, escaping from one desert to the other. He lived in caves, fought by himself, and slept on the ground; he did not sin at that time. Later, however, he lived in luxury, in palaces with servants, attendants and slaves. He sent the army to fight, while he stayed in his house on his bed. He stood on the roof and looked at the people. He lacked the desire to be with his fighting army.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Repentance and Purity

  • Do you practise this abstinence from food and drink? And do you reach a stage of hunger and you endure it?

    …

    When you become hungry, you feel your weakness so you do not show off your strength but rely on God’s strength to support you. And when you become hungry and endure hunger, you acquire the virtue of endurance and self-control. Therefore do not eat whenever you feel hungry during fasting but persevere and endure. Take the blessing of feeling hungry, persevering and enduring it. Also when you experience hunger, you will feel the pain of the poor who have nothing to eat, so you will be sympathetic towards them and give unto them… This is what is meant by abstaining for a period of time during fasting.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Spiritual Means

  • A man decides to build a house. He digs down into the earth until he reaches solid rock, and then lays the foundations. He collects great lumps of stone, hews them into regular shapes, and puts them one on top of the other to make walls. He goes into the forest to chop down trees, which he saws into rafters for the roof. At last his work is complete. He stands back and admires his achievement. “Nothing can destroy such a strong building,” he says to himself; “my house will last forever.” Certainly such a man is skilled with his hands; but he is totally unskilled with his soul. Even if his house were to last forever, it is utterly irrelevant to him.  He may be struck down by an accident or a disease within a few days. He may survive his full span, but as the breath leaves his body, his house will count for nothing. He might just as well have built himself a shelter from sticks and mud and used the time saved to concentrate on the salvation of his own soul.

    On Living Simply
    St. John Chrysostom

  • If you give gladly, even if it is only a small thing, it will seem like a fortune. If you give resentfully, even if it is substantial, it will seem like a pittance.

    On Living Simply
    St. John Chrysostom

  • Should we look to kings and princes to put right the inequalities between rich and poor? Should we require soldiers to come and seize the rich person’s gold and distribute it among his destitute neighbors? Should we beg the emperor to impose a tax on the rich so great that it reduces them to the level of the poor and then to share the proceeds of that tax among everyone? Equality imposed by force would achieve nothing, and do much harm.

    Those who combined both cruel hearts and sharp minds would soon find ways of making themselves rich again. Worse still, the rich whose gold was taken away would feel bitter and resentful; while the poor who received the gold from the hands of soldiers would feel no gratitude, because no generosity would have prompted the gift. Far from bringing moral benefit to society, it would actually do moral harm. Material justice cannot be accomplished by compulsion, a change of heart will not follow. The only way to achieve true justice is to change people’s hearts first — and then they will joyfully share their wealth.

    On Living Simply
    St. John Chrysostom

  • Why then are you sad? Why do you mourn in your soul, hearing “Sell your possessions”? Even if your belongings could follow you to the future life, they would not be particularly desirable there, since they would be overshadowed by truly precious things. If, on the other hand, they must remain here, why not sell them now and obtain the profit? You are not disappointed when you must spend gold in order to purchase a horse. But when you have the opportunity to exchange corruptible things for the Kingdom of Heaven, you shed tears, spurning the one who asks of you and refusing to give anything, while contriving a million excuses for your own expenditures.

    —St. Basil the Great, On Social Justice

  • For just as a little wine becomes an opportunity for the drunkard to drink some more, so also the newly rich, after they have acquired much, desire even more.

    —St. Basil the Great, On Social Justice

  • When wealth is scattered in the manner which our Lord directed, it naturally returns, but when it is gathered, it naturally disperses. If you try to keep it, you will not have it; if you scatter it, you will not lose it.

    —St. Basil the Great, On Social Justice

  • When will you use the things you already have?  When will you ever be able to enjoy them, since you suffer constantly from the pains of acquisition?

    —St. Basil the Great, On Social Justice

  • Wells become more productive if they are drained completely, while they silt up if they are left standing. Thus wealth left idle is of no use to anyone, but put to use and exchanged it becomes fruitful and beneficial for the public.

    —St. Basil the Great, On Social Justice