SO GOOD QUOTES

  • “If a man should transgress moderation, the things which give the greatest delight would become the things which give the least.”

    — Epictetus, Enchiridion

  • “How can we guard our hearts when our mouths and stomachs are open?”

    — Abba Titheous

  • “Gluttony is hypocrisy of the stomach. When it’s filled, it complains about lack; when it’s stuffed to bursting it bemoans being hungry. Gluttony creates seasonings, and is the source of sweets. You cut it off in one place and it pops up in another. Stop that and a new one will open. Gluttony’s deceptive: it eats moderately but at the same time would happily devour everything.”

    —Saint John of the Ladder

  • There are three things I can’t do without: food, clothing and sleep.
    But I can cut down on them.

    —Abba Loannis Kolovos

  • “Those who force food into their stomach expand their intestines, whereas those who fight against it cause them to shrink. When they’ve shrunk, there’s no need for a lot of food and, in this way, we fast naturally.”

    —Saint John of the Ladder

  • “He who at dinner has many different foods eats much and with pleasure, whereas he who uses every day the same food not only eats it without pleasure but sometimes perhaps even feels repelled by it. So it is in our state. In psalmody and prayer do not bind yourself, but do as much as the Lord gives you. Do not abandon reading and interior prayer either. Some of one and some of the other and so you will spend the day pleasing God. Our perfect fathers did not have a fixed rule, but during the course of the whole day they carried out their rule.”

    —St. Barsanuphius the Great, On the Prayer of Jesus 56

  • “How prompt we are to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our bodies; how slow to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our souls!”

    —Henry David Thoreau, Familiar Letters of Henry David Thoreau, edited by F. B. Sanborn

  • “Okay, I’m thinking about food. Does this mean I need something else right now?”

    6 Powerful Steps to Stop Binge Eating for Good

  • “…many people have never experienced the pleasure of a light stomach.”

    —St. Paisios of Mount Athos, Spiritual Councils IV: Family Life p.201

  • By overloading the body with food you strangle the soul and render it less active. Accordingly, limit the flesh as much as possible, and allow free play to the spirit.

    —Seneca, Letters from a Stoic