Quotes from Saint John Chrysostom

Hell is paved with priests' skulls.

No one can harm the man who does himself no wrong.

The love of husband and wife is the force that welds society together.

Depart from the highway, and transplant thyself in some enclosed ground; for it is hard for a tree that stands by the wayside to keep her fruit till it be ripe.

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.

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

That is true plenty, not to have, but not to want riches.

Prayer should be the means by which I, at all times, receive all that I need, and, for this reason, be my daily refuge, my daily consolation, my daily joy, my source of rich and inexhaustible joy in life.

The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire; it hath bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled demons, burst the chains of death, expanded the gates of heaven, assuaged diseases, repelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt.

Prayer is an all-efficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine which is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by clouds, a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings.

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

When you are weary of praying, and do not receive, consider how often you have heard a poor man calling, and have not listened to him.

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

We must not mind insulting men, if by respecting them we offend God.

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

The drunken man is a living corpse.

No one can harm the man who does himself no wrong.

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

God helps those who work, not those who are idle. No one helps an inactive person, but one who joins in the labor. The good God himself will bring...work to perfection.

Feeding the hungry is a greater work than raising the dead

In the matter of piety, poverty serves us better than wealth, and work better than idleness, especially since wealth becomes an obstacle even for those who do not devote themselves to it.

No matter how just your words may be, when you speak with anger, you ruin all: no matter how boldly you speak, how fairly reprove, or what not.

It is better to err by excess of mercy than by excess of severity. . .Wilt thou become a Saint? Be severe to thyself but kind to others.

Imagine your anger to be a kind of wild beast, because it has ferocious teeth and claws, and if you don't tame it, it will devastate all things even corrupting the soul.