Quotes from St. John Chrysostom
The drunken man is a living corpse.
- St. John Chrysostom
It is a shame for a man to desire honor because of his noble progenitors, and not to deserve it by his own virtue.
- St. John Chrysostom
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.
- St. John Chrysostom
Feeding the hungry is a greater work than raising the dead
- St. John Chrysostom
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.
- St. John Chrysostom
I know my own soul, how feeble and puny it is: I know the magnitude of this ministry, and the great difficulty of the work; for more stormy billows vex the soul of the priest than the gales which disturb the sea.
- St. John Chrysostom
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.
- St. John Chrysostom
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.
- St. John Chrysostom
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.
- St. John Chrysostom
In the Christian combat, not the striker, as in the Olympic contests, but he who is struck, wins the crown. This is the law in the celestial theatre, where the Angels are the spectators.
- St. John Chrysostom
Intemperance is a hydra with a hundred heads. She never stalks abroad unaccompanied with impurity, anger, and the most infamous profligacies.
- St. John Chrysostom
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.
- St. John Chrysostom