Come from God…
We have no good works in us unless they come from God.
— Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe (Fifth — Sixth Century)
This world and…
This world and the world to come are two enemies. We cannot therefore be friends to both; but we must decide which we will forsake and which we will enjoy.
— Saint Clement (first century)
Taste the sweetness of God…
It is impossible for a man to experience the sweetness of God as long as he is experiencing the sweetness of the world. But if, on the other hand, he taste the sweetness of God, he will hate the world.
— Unknown Desert Father
It is impossible…
It is impossible for you to live a godly life if you are in love with pleasure and money.
— Isidore the Priest (a Desert Father)
Love for earthly…
Love for that which is earthly makes the soul empty, and then there she is sad, and grows wild, and does not want to pray to God. The enemy then, seeing that the soul is not in God, shakes her and freely places in the mind whatever he wants, and he drives the soul from one thought to another, and thus the whole day the soul remains in such disorder and cannot purely gaze at the Lord.
— Saint Silouan the Athonite (1866-1938)
As God pleases…
Do not want things to turn out as they seem best to you, but as God pleases. Then you will be free from confusion, and thankful in prayer.
–The Desert Fathers (and Mothers)
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