SO GOOD QUOTES

  • When parents grieve over their children, they will not live a healthy life. They’re not going to enjoy their life, they won’t do well in life. It physically and spiritually and emotionally impacts them.

    —Fr. Mina Dimitri

  • But rather than this let us suppose a happier case. The danger of childbirth is past; a child is born to them, the very image of its parents’ beauty. Are the occasions for grief at all lessened thereby? Rather they are increased; for the parents retain all their former fears, and feel in addition those on behalf of the child, lest anything should happen to it in its bringing up; for instance a bad accident, or by some turn of misfortunes a sickness, a fever, any dangerous disease. Both parents share alike in these; but who could recount the special anxieties of the wife? We omit the most obvious, which all can understand, the weariness of pregnancy, the danger in childbirth, the cares of nursing, the tearing of her heart in two for her offspring, and, if she is the mother of many, the dividing of her soul into as many parts as she has children; the tenderness with which she herself feels all that is happening to them. That is well understood by every one. But the oracle of God tells us that she is not her own mistress, but finds her resources only in him whom wedlock has made her lord; and so, if she be for ever so short a time left alone, she feels as if she were separated from her head, and can ill bear it; she even takes this short absence of her husband to be the prelude to her widowhood; her fear makes her at once give up all hope; accordingly her eyes, filled with terrified suspense, are always fixed upon the door; her ears are always busied with what others are whispering; her heart, stung with her fears, is nearly bursting even before any bad news has arrived; a noise in the doorway, whether fancied or real, acts as a messenger of ill, and on a sudden shakes her very soul; most likely all outside is well, and there is no cause to fear at all; but her fainting spirit is quicker than any message, and turns her fancy from good tidings to despair.

    —St. Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity, Chap. 3

  • “The heightened knowledge of fragility and mortality produced by death can terrify, embitter and separate. It can also awaken. It can remind those who grieve not to take the people who love them for granted.”

    —Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

  • Poor are those who limit their thoughts to the past with all its troubles, mistakes and its sweet dreams. There would not be any time or strength left for them to do something for the future.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, WORDS OF SPIRITUAL BENEFIT VOL III

  • Do not remember from the past except what could make your present better and gives you a push forward in repentance or in growth.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, WORDS OF SPIRITUAL BENEFIT VOL III

  • Many people do not feel the value of something until after they have lost it!
    …
    The son who neglects to honour his parents mistreats them and only feels their value after he has lost them, whether it is through their death or by losing their approval or blessing…

    In general, a person is not aware of the value of life and the importance of eternity until after he has lost that life and eternity both together…

    How nice it is if a person wakes up to himself and perceives the value of his situation before he loses it, especially something which cannot be retrieved once it has been lost!!

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Experiences in Life

  • Fear makes a person always complain, and makes the person have doubts about the love of God and His care. For this reason we often find that fear is responsible for the person remaining inactive and not contributing positively in life.

    Fear paralyzes the person, making him incapable of advancing forward. Fear makes the person think that they will not be able to fulfill their dreams and wishes, and it makes the person remain silent, and not say the truth.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Overcome Fear, The Effect of Fear on the Human Being

  • The person has to do their part fully, to triumph over fear. If a person has a fear of an exam, for example, they have to study well, and this will help them overcome the fear. We have to fulfill what we are required to do, and God will give us peace which surpasses all understanding and will take away from us anxiety, trouble and fear.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Overcome Fear, How Do We Face Fear?

  • Fear sneaks into the heart of the person who is idle; the devil begins sowing the seeds of doubt and fear. But the person who is occupied, especially with serving God, fear will not sneak into his heart, but he will receive power unto power.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Overcome Fear, How Do We Face Fear?

  • Fear is what bridles the tongues of people, preventing them from expressing themselves freely without embarrassment or fear. It is what makes many remain silent from [saying] the word of truth and defending those suffering wrong. It is what makes a person unsuccessful in his life, taking them away from their hopes and dreams, not realizing the achievements they desire to reach.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Overcome Fear, The Effect of Fear on the Human Being