As you deem whatever good is done you by men to be gifts from God, and believe that the whole thanks should be given to Him, so count whatever good you show men to be God's benefactions, not yours. God, however, makes His gifts great, not on account of themselves, but on account of the men to whom He mercifully imparts them. For by showing mercy to the world He glorified the apostles.Just as pains felt always cause no more happiness than if they are felt for a moment, so it is with the savors and other things that pertain to the senses of the body.
He who carries a cross seeks not to live long, so that he may soon put it down.
You are having pleasure. You are, therefore, badly off. Why then do you hesitate to withdraw somewhere, even to hard things?
Since the very same fault, or worse, is in your own self, why do you not reprehend in yourself what you reprehend in another?
~ Meditations of Guigo, Prior of the Charterhouse ~
