The Sayings of the Desert Fathers Quotes

“It is dangerous for a man to try teaching before he is trained in the good life. A man whose house is about to fall down may invite travellers inside to refresh them, but instead they will be hurt in the collapse of the house. It is the same with teachers who have not carefully trained themselves in the good life; they destroy their hearers as well as themselves. Their mouth invites to salvation, their way of life leads to ruin.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“Evagrius said, ‘A wandering mind is strengthened by reading, and prayer. Passion is dampened down by hunger and work and solitude. Anger is repressed by psalmody and long-suffering and mercy. But all these should be at the proper times and in due measure.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“Arsenius always used to say this, ‘Why, words, did I let you get out? I have often been sorry that I have spoken, never that I have been silent.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“The devil appeared to a monk disguised as an angel of light, and said to him, ‘I am the angel Gabriel, and I have been sent to you.’ But the monk said, ‘Are you sure you weren’t sent to someone else? I am not worthy to have an angel sent to me.’ At that the devil vanished.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“Two hermits lived together for many years without a quarrel. One said to the other, ‘Let’s have a quarrel with each other, as is the way of men.’ The other answered, ‘I don’t know how a quarrel happens.’ The first said, ‘Look here, I put a brick between us, and I say, That’s mine. Then you say, No, it’s mine. That is how you begin a quarrel.’ So they put a brick between them, and one of them said, ‘That’s mine.’ The other said, ‘No; it’s mine.’ He answered, ‘Yes, it’s yours. Take it away.’ They were unable to argue with each other.26”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“Macarius said also, ‘If you are stirred to anger when you want to reprove someone, you are gratifying your own passions. Do not lose yourself in order to save another.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“Mathois said, ‘The nearer a man comes to God, the more he sees himself to be a sinner. Isaiah the prophet saw the Lord and knew himself to be wretched and unclean (Is. 6:5).”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“Daniel said, ‘If the body is strong, the soul weakens. If the body weakens, the soul is strong.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“Evagrius said, ‘Cut the desire for many things out of your heart and so prevent your mind being dispersed and your stillness lost.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“Antony said to Poemen, ‘Our great work is to lay the blame for our sins upon ourselves before God, and to expect to be tempted to our last breath.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“When Poemen was asked how he dealt with any brother who fell asleep during public prayer, he replied, ‘I put his head upon my knees and help him to rest.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“I may be wrong but I think nothing needs so much effort as prayer to God. If anyone wants to pray, the demons try to interrupt the prayer, for they know that prayer is the only thing that hinders them. All the other efforts in a religious life, whether they are made vehemently or gently, have room for a measure of rest. But we need to pray till our dying breath. That is the great struggle.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“The hermit said, ‘This is the way to be strong: when temptations start to speak in your mind do not answer them but get up, pray, do penance, and say “Son of God, have mercy upon me.” ”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“They did not talk, not because they hated conversation, but because they wanted to listen intently to the voice of God in silence; they did not dislike eating, but were feeding on the Word of God so that they did not have room for earthly food or time to bother with it; they did not avoid company because it bored them, but, as one of them said, ‘I cannot be with you and with God.’34 It was not a dislike of sleep that made them keep vigil, but an eager and longing attitude of waiting for the coming of Christ:”
― Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

“Now I no longer fear God, I love him, for love casts out fear.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection

“To go against self is the beginning of salvation.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection

“All chatter is unnecessary. Nowadays everyone talks but what is needed is action. That is what God wants, not useless talking.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection

“I think Mary always needs Martha, and by Martha’s help Mary is praised.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection

“There is a useful sorrow, and a destructive sorrow. Sorrow is useful when we weep for our sins, and for our neighbour’s ignorance, and so that we may not relax our purpose to attain to true goodness, these are the real kinds of sorrow. Our enemy adds something to this. For he sends sorrow without reason, which is something called lethargy. We ought always to drive out a sadness like that with prayers and psalms.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection

“Just as you can’t stop air coming into your lungs, so you can’t stop thoughts coming into your mind. Your part is to resist them.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection

“Men try to appear excellent in preaching but they are less excellent in practicing what they preach.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection

“Many solitaries living in the desert have been lost because they lived like people in the world. It is better to live in a crowd and want to live a solitary life than to live in solitude and be longing all the time for company.”
― Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection