Quotes by Saint Basil

“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.”

“Indulging in unrestrained and immoderate laughter is a sign of intemperance, of a want of control over one's emotions, and of failure to repress the soul's frivolity by a stern use of reason.”

“Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger.”

“God who created us has granted us the faculty of speech that we might disclose the counsels of our hearts to one another and that, since we possess our human nature in common, each of us might shar...”

“What is the benefit of fasting in our body while filling our souls with innumerable evils? He who does not play at dice, but spends his leisure otherwise, what nonsense does he not utter? What absu...”

“Do not measure your loss by itself; if you do, it will seem intolerable; but if you will take all human affairs into account you will find that some comfort is to be derived from them.”

“First and foremost, the monk should own nothing in this world, but he should have as his possessions solitude of the body, modesty of bearing, a modulated tone of voice, and a well-ordered manner o...”

“Now, if you notice how the swan, putting its neck down into the deep water, brings up food for itself from below, then you will discover the wisdom of the Creator, in that He gave it a neck longer ...”

“Does not the gratitude of the dog put to shame any man who is ungrateful to his benefactors?”

“There is nothing unpremeditated, nothing neglected by God. His unsleeping eye beholds all things.”

“Liberated from the error of pagan tradition through the benevolence and loving kindness of the good God with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the operation of the Holy Spirit, I was reare...”

“Just as we would have no need of the farmer's labor and toil if we were living amid the delights of paradise, so also we would not require the medical art for relief if we were immune to disease, a...”

“In truth, to know oneself seems to be the hardest of all things. Not only our eye, which observes external objects, does not use the sense of sight upon itself, but even our mind, which contemplate...”

“He who sows courtesy reaps friendship and he who plants kindness gathers love.”

“To lovers of the truth, nothing can be put before God and hope in Him.”

“Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away hunger.”

“He who sows courtesy reaps friendship and he who plants kindness gathers love.”