Hurray for Origen!

"From all these testimonies it is deduced that the heretics whom we mentioned above, and whoever there is who agrees with them in interpreting these words as spoken about the law of Moses, have been unable to touch even remotely upon the Apostle's meaning. Instead, this passage ought to be understood, as we have already repeatedly said, of the law of nature which is written "not on stone tablets but on the fleshly tablets of the heart, not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God." This law has been inscribed by the one who created man in the beginning..."
--Origen commenting on Romans 5:20-21 ^_^

Jon Trott

"And then it hit me. This is how women feel. This is how it feels to be a women in a man's world- the cool male eyes running up and down your body like they own it- the casual comment, the wolf-whistle, the wink."
-Are Men Really Human? A Melancholy but not without hope personal reflection on male sexuality. by Jon Trott

The Theologian and the Mourner

"Theology and mourning do not go together, for the one dissipates the other. The difference between a theologian and a mourner is that the one sits on a professional chair while the other passes his days in rags on a dung heap."
--St. John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Asccent 7:27

Look up later

p.212 Hesychius, John Chrysostom
225-226 Macarius the Great
235 Matthew the Poor "Spiritual Aridity"
237 " " "The Relationship btw Aridity and the Will"
243 " " "Reasons for spiritual struggle""Spiritual Languor as a Discipline for the Ambitious Soul"

BunchOhStufF

"Do not imagine that merely the possession of gold and silver is possessiveness; rather, it is the acquisition of anything whatsoever that your will clings to."
--St. Isaac the Syrian, Homilies 4, in Ascetical Homilies, p30

"In the same way those who are burning with a holy and venerable longing for the heavenly Spirit are wounded in their soul with love for the love of God. They burn with a divine and heavenly fire which the Lord came on this earth to enkindle, and how he wishes that it be quickly accomplished (Lk 12:49). They are inflamed with a heavenly longing for Christ so that everything, as was said, that is of this world, considered outstanding and precious is repulsive and despised on account of the fire of their love for Christ who binds them, burns them, and inflames them with a passion for God...From such a love nothing of the earth or underworld will seperate them, as the apostle Paul testified, namely: "Who will seperate us from the love of Christ?" (Rom 8:35).
--St. Macarius the Great, Homilies 9:9, in Spiritual Homilies

"As Christ, having taken on "the form of a servant" (Phil 2:7), through humility conquered the devil, so at the beginning through pride and vainglory the serpent overthrew Adam. And now the same serpent, hiding in human hearts, through vainglory destroys and dissolves the race of Christians."
--Macarius the Great, Homilies 27:5, in Spiritual Homilies

"Humility, even without works, gains forgiveness for many offenses; but without her, works are of no profit to us."
--St. Isaac the Syrian, Homilies 69, in The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, p338

"Men of high spirit endure offense nobly and willingly. But only the holy and saintly can pass unscathed through praise."
--St. John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent 22:12

"So long as you are in this life, scorn your self by the constant remembrance of your sins. Confess them before the merciful God in contrition and you will gain intimacy with him."
--St. Isaac the Syrian, in "The Four Books," 1:4

"If your heart is brazenly confident of your works and knowledge, then know that this foreshadows impending tribulations."
--" "

Sight on God

"Everything is possible to faith if man fixes his sight on God and not on the thing desired."
--St. Isaac the Syrian, in "The Four Books"

St. Antony the Great

"Turn this body in which you are clothed into a censer in which you burn all your evil thoughts and musings. Raise them before the Lord that he might raise your hearts to him. Ask him with all the might you possess in your minds to bring down his immaterial fire from on high to consume all that is found i that censer and purify it...You will then see [the new] man coming out as water from the divine font..."
--St Antony the Great, Letters 6.8, in "The Letters," Arabic version

Matthew The Poor

"But because of God's compassion upon you, he does not show you your shame and nakedness all at once, lest your sould be swallowed up in grief. He but unveils to you bit by bit pages of the lawsuits of your fornication, your haughtiness, your wrath, your rebellion, your theft, your calumny, your envy, and your jealousy. He shows you that they all stand against you still, but in suspension, sealed with the blood of Christ and waiting for an honest repentance and a holy covenant.
--Matthew The Poor, Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way

Isaiah 43:2

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you."
-Isaiah 43:2

Christina Hoff Sommers

"Many school systems have entirely given up the task of character education. Children are left to fend for themselves. To my mind, leaving children alone to disover their own values is a little like putting them in a chemistry lab and saying, 'Discover your own compounds, kids.' If they blow themselves up, at least they have engaged in an authentic search for the self." --Christina Hoff Sommers

St. John Climacus

"It is not the self-critical who reveals his humility (for does not everyone somehow have to put up with himself?). Rather it is the man who continues to love the person who has criticized him."

"After a long spell of prayer, do not say that nothing has been gained, for you have already achieved something. For after all, what higher good is there than to cling to the Lord, to persevere in unceasing union with him?"
--St. John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent

The Appearance of God

The appearance of God is ineffable and indescribable and cannot be seen by eyes of flesh...For if I say he is Light, I name but his own work; if I call him Word, I name but his soverignty; if I call him Mind, I speak of His wisdom; if I say he is Spirit, I speak of his breath; if I call him Wisdom; I speak of his offspring; if I call him Strength, I speak of his sway; If I call him Power, I am mentioning his activity; if Providence, I but mention his goodness; if I call him Kingdom, I but mention his glory; if I call him Lord, I mention his being judge; if I call him Judge, I speak of him as being just; if I call him Father, I speak of all things as being from him; if I call him Fire, I but mention his anger... and all things God has made out of things that were not into things that are, in order that through his works his greatness may be known and understood.
--Theophilus to Autolycus