SO GOOD QUOTES

Category: HUMILITY

  • “The more we look at ourselves, the less we see.”

    —Fr. Michael Gillis
    Praying In The Rain, What is Worth Living For? A Response

  • Once again, be silent! Let no one notice what you are about. You are working for the Invisible One; let your work be invisible.

    Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth
    Tito Colliander

  • “If you do good, you must do it only for God. For this reason you must pay no attention to the ingratitude of people. Expect a reward not here, but from the Lord in heaven. If you expect it here — it will be in vain and you will endure deprivation.”

    —St. Ambrose of Optina

  • In writing down my thought, it sometimes escapes me; but this makes me remember my weakness, that I constantly forget. This is as instructive to me as my forgotten thought; for I strive only to know my nothingness.

    —Blaise Pascal, Pensées

  • “The older you grow, the more quiet you become. Life humbles you gradually as you age.”

    —Marc Chernoff

  • If a man has reported to you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make any defense to what has been told you, but reply, “The man did not know the rest of my faults, for he would not have mentioned these only.”

    —Epictetus, Enchiridion

  • “Believe that others are better than you in the depths of their soul, although outwardly you may appear better than they.”

    —St. Augustine

  • “Through humility the saint makes himself almost unobserved, but he appears when there is need for consolation, for encouragement or help. For him no difficulty is insurmountable, because he believes firmly in the help of God sought through prayer. He is the most human and humble of beings, yet at the same time of an appearance that is unusual and amazing and gives rise in others to the sense of discovering in him, and in themselves too, what is truly human. He is a presence simultaneously most dear, and unintentionally, most impressing, the one who draws the most attention. For you he becomes the most intimate one of all and the most understanding; you never feel more at ease than near him, yet at the same time he forces you into a corner and makes you see your moral inadequacies and failings.”

    —Dumitru Staniloae, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology: The Experience of God, Vol. 1: Revelation and Knowledge of the Triune God

  • Things happen in our lives—moments happen—we’re saved from certain things. God touches our hearts in certain ways, and yet there is no change. …Why?  Because change means I need to change. Something in my life has to change. …It might mean that I have to change certain things about myself—certain behaviors, certain relationships. …It might mean I need to have a real hard think about the way I’m living my life. …It might mean I might have to look like a fool socially.  …it may mean that I have to look at that thing in my life which I know is not appropriate, but it gives me joy and it gives me pleasure, and so I keep it there. Change is required.

    We Need Change
    Sunday Homilies, 4 Feb 18
    February 4, 2018 • Fr. Daniel Fanous

  • “Very few people can resist saying malicious things about their acquaintances, and even on occasion about their friends; yet when people hear that anything has been said against themselves, they are filled with indignant amazement.”

    —Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness