• “At a time of affliction, expect a provocation to sensual pleasure; for because it relieves the affliction it is readily welcomed.”

    —St. Mark the Ascetic

  • Vanity is so anchored in the heart of man that a soldier, a soldier’s servant, a cook, a porter brags, and wishes to have his admirers. Even philosophers wish for them. Those who write against it want to have the glory of having written well; and those who read it desire the glory of having read it. I who write this have perhaps this desire, and perhaps those who will read it.

    Pensées
    Blaise Pascal

  • We do not rest satisfied with the present. We anticipate the future as too slow in coming, as if in order to hasten its course; or we recall the past, to stop its too rapid flight. So imprudent are we that we wander in the times which are not ours, and do not think of the only one which belongs to us; and so idle are we that we dream of those times which are no more, and thoughtlessly overlook that which alone exists. For the present is generally painful to us. We conceal it from our sight, because it troubles us, we regret to see it pass away. We try to sustain it by the future, and think of arranging matters which are not in our power, for a time which we have no certainty of reaching.

    Let each one examine his thoughts, and he will find them all occupied with the past and the future. We scarcely ever think of the present; and if we think of it, it is only to take light from it to arrange the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means; the future alone is our end. So we never live but we hope to live; and, as we are always preparing to be happy, it is inevitable we should never be so.

    Pensées
    Blaise Pascal

  • “Although one can be supported, comforted, and helped throughout one’s life, the step of death itself, the moment of death, well that has to be taken all alone.”

    The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise
    Cardinal Robert Sarah

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

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

  • Men consider silence to be the mere absence of noise and speech, but the reality is much more complex.

    The silence of a couple who are dining alone can express the depth of a communion that no longer needs words; on the other hand, they may no longer be capable of speaking to each other. The first silence is a silence of communion, and the second—a silence of rupture. Each of these two opposite forms conveys a very strong message; the first says: I love you. The second: Our love is over.

    —Dom Dysmas De Lassus

    The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise
    Cardinal Robert Sarah, Nicolas Diat

  • Curiosity consists of trying to know everything without order, without aim, without distinguishing whether it is needful or not. It is only necessary that one should preserve a measure and order in exercising the senses, and direct them only to what is needful and to awareness of what is needful—then there will be no food for curiosity.

    —St. Theophan the Recluse, The Path to Salvation: A Manual of Spiritual Transformation

  • “When someone stops facing things in a worldly manner, he finds himself at ease.”

    —St. Paisios of Mount Athos, Spiritual Councils IV: Family Life 289

  • “He who establishes his argument by noise and command, shows that his reason is weak.”

    —Michel de Montaigne

  • 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