Every man is the painter and the sculptor of his own life.

Whether or not our prayer is heard depends not on the number of our words, but on the fervor of our souls.

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.

If we were not passionately inclined to money or to vainglory, then we would not fear death or poverty. We would not know enmity or hatred, and we would not suffer from the sorrows of ourselves or others.

You see how many are the benefits of baptism, and some think its heavenly grace consists only in the remission of sins, but we have enumerated ten honors [it bestows]! For this reason we baptize even infants, though they are not defiled by [personal] sins, so that there may be given to them holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance, brotherhood with Christ, and that they may be his [Christ's] members

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

Whether, therefore, we receive what we ask for, or do not receive it, let us still continue steadfast in prayer. For to fail in obtaining the desires of our heart, when God so wills it, is not worse than to receive it; for we know not as He does, what is profitable to us.