Quotes

A collection of scriptural meditations from Saints and Fathers of the Church.

Gluttony

It is not food that is evil but gluttony; not childbearing but fornication; not money but cupidity; not glory but vainglory. If this be so there is no evil in anything that is, except wrong use, which results from our mind neglecting to cultivate our nature (the powers of the soul, and their right direction).

St. Maximus the Confessor

Solitude

Solitude offers us an excellent opportunity for calming our passions and giving our reason time to remove them thoroughly from our soul. For just as wild animals can be soothed by being stroked, so all our anger, fear and stress, which poison and disrupt our soul, can be soothed by an atmosphere of peace where the freedom from constant disturbance ensures that our soul can be brought more easily under the power of reason.

St. Basil the Great

Solitude

Every man that loves God loves a quiet life.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Solitude

Nothing so fills the heart with contrition and humbles the soul as solitude embraced with self-awareness, and utter silence.

St. Gregory of Sinai

Gluttony

Understand what I say: there can be no knowledge of the mysteries of God on a full stomach.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Gluttony

As a cloud veils the light of the moon, so the vapors of the belly banish the wisdom of God from the soul.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Gluttony

The belly when filled with all kinds of food gives birth to seeds of wantonness, nor can the mind, when choked with the weight of food, keep the guidance and government of the thoughts. For not only is drunkenness with wine wont to intoxicate the mind, but excess of all kinds of food makes it weak and uncertain, and robs it of all its power of pure and clear contemplation. The cause of the overthrow and wantonness of Sodom was not drunkenness through wine, but fullness of bread. Hear the Lord rebuking Jerusalem through the prophet. 'For how did thy sister Sodom sin, except in that she ate her bread in fullness and abundance?' (Ezek. xvi. 49)

St. John Cassian

Solitude

A fish swiftly escapes a hook and a sensual soul shuns solitude.

St. John Climacus

Poor

Do not shun poverty and afflictions, these wings of buoyant prayer.

St. Nilus of Sinai

Solitude

Nothing is better for rendering the heart penitent and the soul humble than wise solitude and complete silence.

St. Gregory of Sinai

Gluttony

If a person swallows too much food, he is inviting impure thoughts. If he mortifies the stomach, he is creating pure thoughts. Often a lion if it is caressed becomes domesticated, whereas the more you coddle the body, the more it goes wild.

St. John Climacus

Poor

Love the poor, and through them you will find mercy.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Gluttony

One should not ponder divine matters on a full stomach, say the ascetics. For the well-fed, even the most superficial secrets of the Trinity lie hidden.

Tito Colliander

Poor

I had wasted much of my time and devoted almost all of my youth in acquiring knowledge which now appears as just foolishness before God. Then one day I awoke suddenly, as if from some deep sleep, and saw the intense light of divine truth, and realized the absolute worthlessness of all the wisdom taught by the leaders of this world. I wept many tears for the wretchedness of my life and prayed for some guidance to lead my life to faith. The first thing I did to reform my previous way of life was to mix with the poor...

St. Basil the Great

Poor

A man who has embraced poverty offers up prayer that is pure, while a man who loves possessions prays to material images.

St. John Climacus

Solitude

The arrows of the enemy cannot touch one who loves quietness; but he who moves about in a crowd will often be wounded.

St. Nilus of Sinai

Poor

The feeding of the needy is the purchase money of the heavenly kingdom and the free dispenser of things temporal is made the heir of things eternal.

St. Leo the Great

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Every man that loves God loves a quiet life.

Nothing so fills the heart with contrition and humbles the soul as solitude embraced with self-awareness, and utter silence.

Understand what I say: there can be no knowledge of the mysteries of God on a full stomach.

As a cloud veils the light of the moon, so the vapors of the belly banish the wisdom of God from the soul.

A fish swiftly escapes a hook and a sensual soul shuns solitude.

Do not shun poverty and afflictions, these wings of buoyant prayer.

Nothing is better for rendering the heart penitent and the soul humble than wise solitude and complete silence.

If a person swallows too much food, he is inviting impure thoughts. If he mortifies the stomach, he is creating pure thoughts. Often a lion if it is caressed becomes domesticated, whereas the more you coddle the body, the more it goes wild.

Love the poor, and through them you will find mercy.

One should not ponder divine matters on a full stomach, say the ascetics. For the well-fed, even the most superficial secrets of the Trinity lie hidden.

A man who has embraced poverty offers up prayer that is pure, while a man who loves possessions prays to material images.

The arrows of the enemy cannot touch one who loves quietness; but he who moves about in a crowd will often be wounded.

The feeding of the needy is the purchase money of the heavenly kingdom and the free dispenser of things temporal is made the heir of things eternal.

"As a general rule, decide whether a thing is permissible by the effect it produces within. Permit yourself what is constructive, but never what is destructive."

St. Theophan the Recluse

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