John Chrysostom Quotes

A man does not possess all the gifts, lest he think that grace is nature.

If then we have Angels, let us be sober, as though we were in the presence of tutors; for there is a demon present also.

It is a shame for a man to desire honor because of his noble progenitors, and not to deserve it by his own virtue.

It brings comfort to have companions in whatever happens.

Nothing is more fallacious than wealth. To-day it is for thee; tomorrow it is against thee. It arms the eyes of the envious every where. It is a hostile comrade, a domestic enemy.

To love Christ -means not to be a hireling, not to look upon a noble life as an enterprise or trade, but to be a true benefactor and to do everything only for the sake of love for God.

God measures out affliction to our need.

It is folly to abstain all day long from food, but fail to abstain from sin and selfishness.

Let us not overlook so great a gain.

Men have the power of thinking that they may avoid sin.

Laughter does not seem to be a sin, but it leads to sin.

Let us return from that Table like lions breathing out fire, terrifying to the devil!

Words cannot express the joy which a friend imparts.

What prayer could be more true before God the Father than that which the Son, who is Truth, uttered with His own lips?

What gnats are compared with humans, so is the whole creation compared with God.

It is certainly a greater and more wonderful work to change the minds of enemies, bringing about a change of soul, than to kill them.

What shepherd feeds his sheep with his own blood? But Christ feeds us with His own Blood and in all things unites us to Himself.

Do you think that the man-loving God has given you much so that you could use it only for your own benefit? No, but so that your abundance might supply the lack of others.

If you would rise, shun luxury, for luxury lowers and degrades.

I exhort and entreat you all, disregard what this man and that man thinks about these things, and inquire from the Scriptures all these things.

Feet were made, not given for dancing, but to walk modestly, not to leap impudently like camels.

One who strictly prosecutes the misdemeanors of others will find not condescension towards his own.

An insult is either sustained or destroyed, not by the disposition of those who insult, but by the disposition of those who bear it.

Labor: a powerful medicine.

The slave should be resigned to his lot, in obeying his master he is obeying God.

For Christians above all men are forbidden to correct the stumblings of sinners by force.

As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a [person].

The rich man is not one who is in possession of much but one who gives much.

If there were no tribulation there would be no rest if there were no winter there would be no summer.