The Anonymous Sayings of the Desert Fathers

“Do you not know that sorrow is a lighted lamp and that, if you do not protect it carefully, it is immediately extinguished and goes out? Thus excess of food extinguishes it; much sleep obstructs it; slander puts it out and talking too much destroys it. In brief, all physical relaxation impedes it. So he who loves God must take the part of Christ in each one of his undertakings.”



The Anonymous Sayings of the Desert Fathers