Overcome temptations…
If a man tries to overcome temptations without prayer and patient endurance, he will become more entangled in them instead of driving them away.
–Saint Mark the Ascetic (Fifth Century)
Evil in misuse…
Food is not evil, but gluttony is. Childbearing is not evil, but fornication is. Money is not evil, but avarice is. Glory is not evil, but vainglory is. Indeed, there is no evil in existing things, but only in their misuse.
–Saint Maximos the Confessor (580-662)
Sloth is not…
Sloth is not just laziness. It is an inability to act for your own spiritual good. That is, knowing what is necessary for the good of your own soul, and not being able, or not being willing, to take the necessary actions.
–Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966)
Envy consumes…
As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man.
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407)
Whoever gives an evil example…
Whoever bids other folks to do right, but gives an evil example by acting the opposite way, is like a foolish weaver who weaves quickly with one hand and unravels the cloth just as quickly with the other.
–Saint Thomas More (1478-1535)
Attack the roots of sin…
When you attack the roots of sin, fix your thought more on the God you desire than on the sin you abhor.
–Walter Hilton (1340-1396)
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