For in a contest there is much labor needed--and after the contest victory falls to some, to others disgrace. Is the palm ever given or the crown granted before the course is finished? ... Therefore no one can receive a reward, unless he has striven lawfully; nor is the victory a glorious one, unless the contest also has been toilsome.
-St. Ambrose of Milan, Chapter 15, Three Books on the Duties of the Clergy, 4th century


Spiritual delight is not enjoyment found in things that exists outside the soul.
-St. Isaac of Syria, Unknown, 7th century


Do we forgive our neighbors 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 neighbors, 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.
-St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, Unknown, 18th century


Before we enter the Lenten fast, we are reminded that there can be no true fast, no genuine repentance, no reconciliation with God, unless we are at the same time reconciled with one another. A fast without mutual love is the fast of demons. . . We do not travel the road of Lent as isolated individuals but as members of a family.
-His Grace Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia 20th Century


It is better for us to die in our struggle than to live in our fall.
-St. Isaac of Syria, Homilies 73, in Ascetical Homilies, p. 359, 7th century