“Evil walks with small steps. If it were to come all at once, we would not be deceived.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“Do not allow any evil habit to master you. While it is yet young, pluck the evil root out of your heart, so it doesn’t fasten on and strike root.”
Saint John of Damascus
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“Hell can’t be made attractive, so the devil makes attractive the road that leads there.”
Saint Basil the Great
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“A passion which we allow to grow active within us through our own choice afterwards forces itself upon us against our will.”
Saint Mark the Ascetic
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“If someone falls into any sin and is not sincerely grieved about it, it is easy for him to fall into the same thing again.”
Saint Mark the Ascetic
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“Thus, while you are neglecting yourself and hardly taking stock of yourself, the evil spirits enter into you and destroy and lay barren your mind, dissipating your thoughts on things of this world.”
Saint Makarios of Egypt
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“Habits, if not resisted, soon become necessity.”
Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo
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“The one whose sins are small in his eyes will fall into even greater ones.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“Ease and idleness are the destruction of the Soul and they can injure her more than the demons.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“The devil makes small sins seem smaller in our eyes, for otherwise he can’t lead us to greater evil.”
Saint Mark the Ascetic
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“Good habits are Virtues, and bad habits are passions.”
Saint Tikhon of Mount Athos
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“When you first become involved in something evil, don’t say: ‘It will not overpower me.’ For to the extent that you are involved you have already been overpowered by it.”
Saint Mark the Ascetic
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“The demons cunningly withdraw for a time in the hope that we will cease to guard out heart, thinking we have now attained peace; then they suddenly attack our unhappy Soul and seize it like a sparrow. Gaining possession of it, they drag it down mercilessly into all kinds of sin, worse than those which we have already committed and for which we have asked forgiveness. Let us stand, therefore, with fear of God and keep guard over our heart, practicing the Virtues which check the wickedness of our enemies.”
Saint Isaiah the Solitary
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“A wise man is one who pays attention to himself and is quick to separate himself from all defilement.”
Saint Thalassios the Libyan
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“A proud Monk needs no demon. He has turned into one, an enemy to himself.”
Saint John Climacus
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“Man stands at the crossroads between righteousness and sin, and chooses whichever path he wishes. But after that the path which he has chosen to follow, and the guides assigned to it, whether Angels and Saints or demons and sinners, will lead him to the end of it, even if he has no wish to go there.”
Saint Peter of Damascus
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“Just as a basic concern is to be careful of anything that might be harmful to our physical health, so our Spiritual concern should watch out for anything that might harm our Spiritual life and the work of faith and Salvation. Therefore, carefully and attentively assess your inner impulses: are they from God or from the spirit of evil?”
Saint John Maximovitch
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“An evident sinner will turn towards good more easily than a secret sinner, hiding under the cloak of visible virtues.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“Anyone who has undertaken a careful observation of what goes on in himself just during the course of a single day will acknowledge as very obvious the fact that the spirit is fallen.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“We must be watchful all the time because the evil one neither sleeps nor hesitates, but seeks out someone to devour. This does not mean that we will get frightened or hesitate, but we must use self-contempt and patience in temptations, because they will result in our redemption.”
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi
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“When the demons see that a Soul is beginning to ascend, they attack more fiercely, for they do not want it to escape them.”
Saint Makarios of Egypt
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“As soon as you turn away – however slightly – from God, and no longer place your trust in Him, things go awry; for then the Lord withdraws, as though saying: ‘You have put your trust in something else – very well, rely on that instead.’ And whatever it may be it proves utterly worthless.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“Have you seen a fallen person? Know that he followed his own will.”
Saint Dorotheos of Gaza
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“There are three traps of satan that steal joy and peace: Regretting about the past, fear for the future, and ingratitude for the present.”
Saint Anthony the Great
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“If you bear your weakness constantly in mind, you will not overstep the bounds of caution.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“There is only one thing to be feared and that is sin. Everything else is beside the point.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“Whatever passion a man does not bravely war against, is an object of his affection; and it holds him fast, and weighs him down, and becomes to him a hindrance and a fetter, preventing his mind from going up to God and pleasing Him, and from serving Him only and thereby proving fit for the Kingdom and obtaining Eternal Life.”
Saint Makarios the Great of Egypt
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“…awareness of sin is a result of love and humility, while unawareness is a result of pride and hardness of heart.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
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“It is a Spiritual gift from God for a man to perceive his sins.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“We must know when to be quiet, and when to leave where we are.”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“No matter how small the passions may seem, get rid of them straight away – completely and without hesitation – so that there’s not a trace left behind. Get rid of them with indignation and wrath. Strange as it may seem, get angry with them, because you’ll then get rid of them root and branch. No passion can dominate you or injure you unless you have a liking for it.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“Wherefore on no account suffer any evil habit to master thee; but, while it is yet young, pluck the evil root out of thine heart, lest it fasten on and strike root so deep that time and labor be required to uproot it.”
Saint John of Damascus
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