• “Sometimes I will think of something to say and then I ask myself: is it worth it? And it just isn’t.”

    —Miranda July, No One Belongs Here More Than You

  • The best prayer is: “Lord! Thou knowest all things. Do with me as Thou willest!”

    —St. Theophan the Recluse

  • “It is not freedom when we say to people that everything is permitted. That is slavery.”

    —Saint Paisios the Athonite

    “Whatever you perceive as joy or freedom sometimes is slavery.”

    —Fr. Paula Balamon

  • Abba Agathon said: “Somebody who is dear to me, if he be excessively [dear] and I realize the he is dragging me into transgression, I cut him off from me.”

    Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers

  • “When you perceive in yourself something worthy of praise, and you feel a desire to tell others about it, try immediately to destroy this desire with the thought that you will not receive any benefit from relating it, but only harm.”

    — Metropolitan Gregory (Postnikov) of St. Petersburg, How to Live a Holy Life

  • Not every spiritual father is appropriate for everyone seeking to grow in their faith and in their spiritual knowledge, very few priests or bishops or monks are suitable guides to everyone. The spiritual exercise that brings salvation to one might create only pride or depression or nothing at all in another.

    …

    Salvation comes to those who seek and ask and knock.  There would be no seeking if the first door one knocked on opened right away.

    —Fr. Michael Gillis

  • “This is not optimal, but it is what works for me.”

    — Dr. Jason Fung

  • There was this that set him above many [others]: if he were asked about a phrase in Scripture or some spiritual matter, he did not answer immediately, but would say he did not know the answer.  And if he were pressed further, he would not give an answer.

    —Abba Pambo

    Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers

  • Flatterers are our greatest enemies. They blind our eyes, do not let us see our many defects, and thus hinder us upon the way to perfection, especially if we ourselves are self-loving and not far-seeing. This is why we must always stop those who natter us, or avoid them. Woe unto him who is surrounded by flatterers! Happy is he who is surrounded by simple-hearted people who do not hide the truth, although it may be unpleasant!

    —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ

  • The spiritual man does not say all that comes to his mind from words or ideas. He weighs each word before he utters it. His scale does not stop at the essence of the word, if it is right or wrong in itself… But his concern is also about the effect of the word on others, its reactions and the result of that.

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