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When you pray to God in time of temptation do not say, 'Take this or that away from me', but pray like this: 'O Jesus Christ, sovereign Master, help me and do not let me sin against Thee.'
Abba Isaiah the Solitary
Never confuse the person, formed in the image of God, with the evil that is in him: because evil is but a chance misfortune, an illness, a devilish attack. But the very essence of the person is the image of God, and this remains in him despite every disfigurement.
St. John of Kronstadt
Blessed is he who always has before his eyes that "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" (Ps. 23:1), and keeps in mind that God is powerful to arrange for His servants as is pleasing to Him.
St. Barsanuphius
Strive as well as you can to enter deeply with the heart into the church reading and singing and to imprint these on the tablets of the heart.
Abbot Nazarius
Even if we have thousands of acts of great virtue to our credit, our confidence in being heard must be based on God's mercy and His love for men. Even if we stand at the very summit of virtue, it is by mercy that we shall be saved.
St. John Chrysostom
Every day you provide your bodies with good to keep them from failing. In the same way your good works should be the daily nourishment of your hearts. Your bodies are fed with food and your spirits with good works. You aren't to deny your soul, which is going to live forever, what you grant to your body, which is going to die.
St. Gregory the Great
Beguiling and deceptive is the life of the world, fruitless its labour, perilous its delight, poor its riches, delusive its honors, inconstant, insignificant; and woe to those who hope in its seeming goods: because of this any die without repentance. Blessed and most blessed are those who depart from the world and its desires.
Elder Nazarius
Our holy fathers have renounced all other spiritual work and concentrated wholly on this one doing, that is, on guarding the heart, convinced that, through this practice, they would easily attain every other virtue, whereas without it not a single virtue can be firmly established.
St. Symeon the New Theologian
When anyone is disturbed or saddened under the pretext of a good and soul-profiting matter, and is angered against his neighbour, it is evident that this is not according to God: for everything that is of God is peaceful and useful and leads a man to humility and to judging himself.
St. Barsanuphius the Great
It is better to eat meat and drink wine and not to eat the flesh of one's brethren through slander.
Abba Hyperechius
It is necessary most of all for one who is fasting to curb anger, to accustom himself to meekness and condescension, to have a contrite heart, to repulse impure thoughts and desires, to examine his conscience, to put his mind to the test and to verify what good has been done by us in this or any other week, and which deficiency we have corrected in ourselves in the present week. This is true fasting.
St. John Chrysostom
God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. Hence, if we feel in our hearts the cold which comes from the devil - for the devil is cold - let us call on the Lord. He will come to warm our heartswith perfect love, not only for Him but also for our neighbour, and the cold of him who hates the good will flee before the heat of His countenance.
St. Seraphim of Sarov
Behold, through the truth of Christian humility you will be able to achieve victory over every vice, that is by attributing to God rather than to yourself the fact that you have won.
St. Martin of Braga
Humility is the only thing we need; one can still fall having virtues other than humility -- but with humility one does not fall.
Elder Herman of Mt. Athos
Do we forgive our neighbours their trespasses? God also forgives us in His mercy. Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us. As we treat our neighbours, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness, then, of your sins or unforgiveness, and hence also your salvation or destruction, depend on you yourself, man. For without forgiveness of sins there is no salvation. You can see for yourself how terrible it is.
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk