Beware of passionate attachments to the world. Although they deceive you with peace and comfort, they are so fleeting that you do not notice how you are deprived of them, and in their place come sorrow, longing, despondency, and no comfort whatsoever.

St. Leonid of Optina

“I have not come,” says the Lord, “to bring peace on earth (that is, love of parents for sons, and love of brothers for brothers who have resolved to serve Me), but war and a sword” in order to separate lovers of God from lovers of the world, the lovers of material things from lovers of spiritual things, the lovers of fame from the humble-minded.

St. John Climacus

Unceasing prayer is born of love, while fault-finding, idle talk, and self-indulgence are the death of prayer.

St. Silouan the Athonite

We must begin with thanksgiving for everything. The beginning of joy is to be content with your situation.

St. Ambrose of Optina

The man who has once chosen pleasure in this life, and has not cured his inconsiderateness by repentance, places the land of the good beyond his own reach; for he has dug against himself the yawning impassable abyss of a necessity that nothing can break through.

St. Gregory of Nyssa