SO GOOD QUOTES

Category: BEST OF

  • “You must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important—do what’s important first.”

    —Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

  • “Welcome words of truth and to never reject criticism uncritically.”

    —St. Mark the Ascetic

    “Are you listening to what I’m saying, or are you just being offended?”

    —Fr. Anthony Messeh

    “Do not excuse yourself or refuse to be corrected by all; listen to every reproof with a serene countenance; think that God utters it.”

    —St. John of the Cross

    If it hurts to hear it, look for the truth in it.

    —@naval

    But if any one’s conscience attacks him, he himself is responsible for it, not my words.

    Saint John Chrysostom, On the Vanity of Riches
    HOMILY TWO
    After Eutropios, having been found outside the church, was taken captive

  • If there are some men you hate and some you neither love nor hate, and others you love strongly and others again you love but moderately, recognize from this inequality that you are far from perfect love. For perfect love presupposes that you love all men equally.

    —St. Maximus the Confessor

  • Far from feasting copiously, Epicurus was content with bread and water, which prevented him from starving and so abated any pain. He was not opposed to the occasional indulgence, at one point writing in correspondence, “Send me a little pot of cheese, that, when I like, I may fare sumptuously,” but once he’d sated his hunger, he thought no greater pleasure would come from actively seeking more elaborate dining.

    Hedonism holds the secret to a happier life, but not for the reasons you think

  • Can you really think that the inner peace you are seeking depends on the locality you finally choose to live in? Surely, inner peace is acquired only by humbly living in accordance with the commandments: Learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Matt. 11.29).

    Where you do it is beside the question….

    Letters of Elder Macarius of Optina

  • And if you feel like you don’t do very much, and you feel like there’s no way God loves you. There are some people, they’re shocked, when I hear the struggles that they have in their life, the crosses that they bear, and I tell them, “If you only knew…” like they’re waiting for me to tell them that their problem is going to go away, and I tell them “No, your crown is going to be glorious in heaven.” And you say “I’m just a normal person, Abouna, I don’t do what all these other people do, I don’t do all these great things.” You’re comparing yourself to others.

    —Fr. Paul Girguis

  • Let all carnal sweetness be as bitterness to you; carnal loss, as gain.

    —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ

  • “If you’re willing to take the blame when you deserve it, people will give you the responsibility.”

    —Gretchen Rubin

  • “Lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth.”

    —Fyodor Dostoyevsky

  • I decided quite a long time ago that when I write, I will only write that which is meaningful to me personally. If it happens to be meaningful to someone else, this is encouraging and provides the reason for continuing to maintain this blog.

    —Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov, Putting My Mouth Where My Writing Is