Isaac of Nineveh Quotes

It is impossible to draw near to God without sorrows, without which human righteousness cannot remain unchanged... If you desire virtue, than give yourself to every affliction, for afflictions produce humility. If someone abides in virtue without afflictions, the door of pride is opened to him.

The Holy Scriptures lead us to God and open the path to the knowledge of God.

The true mystic is always both humble and compassionate, for she knows that she does not know.

In a state of grace, the soul is like a well of limpid water, from which flow only streams of clearest crystal. Its works are pleasing both to God and man, rising from the River of Life, beside which it is rooted like a tree.

God will never direct us to be prideful, arrogant and unforgiving, immoral or slothful or full of fear. We step into these things because we are insensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit within us.

The most important message that I can give to you and to all the world is to keep the commandments of God.

I've watched my duty, straight an' true, an' tried to do it well; Part of the time kept heaven in view, An' part steered clear of hell.

The only person, if you're a religious person, who's always right is God. And if you make the mistake of thinking that you, like God, are always right, and that you, like God, always know everything, then it seems to me you're riding for a fall.

Whoever hates his sins will stop sinning; and whoever confesses them will receive remission. A man can not abandon the habit of sin if he does not first gain enmity toward sin, nor can he receive remission of sin without confession of sin. For the confession of sin is the cause of true humility.

The Bible does not profess to make men omniscient, but simply to tell them enough to make them happy and good, if they will believe it and live up to it.

The Commandments of God are higher than all the treasures of the earth. Whoever has acquired them has received God within himself.

Thus there will be three effects of nearness to Jesus humility, happiness, and holiness.

You have no questions to ask of any body, no new way that you need inquire after; no oracle that you need to consult; for whilst you shut yourself up in patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God, you are in the very arms of Christ, your heart is His dwelling-place, and He lives and works in you.

No one can sense his own weakness is at least a small temptation is not allowed to afflict either his body or his soul. Then, comparing his weakness to the help of God, a man comes to know its magnitude. But whoever does not know that he needs God's help, let him make many prayers. Insofar as he multiplies them, in that measure will he be humbled.

When you want to make a beginning of a good deed, first prepare for temptations, which will come to you, and don't doubt the truth of that which you do for God.

Maintaining peace with God is more important than keeping pace with someone else.

Just as those who are deprived of light cannot walk straight, so also those who do not behold the ray of the Holy Scriptures must necessarily sin, since they walk in the deepest darkness.

We abide in God insofar as we do not sin.

Pride looks down, and no one can see God but by looking up.

What will it cost [a person] to be a true Christian? It will cost him his self-righteousn ess. He must cast away all pride and high thoughts, and conceit of his own goodness. He must be content to go to heaven as a poor sinner, saved only by free grace, and owing all to the merit and righteousness of another.

Christianity . . . sees the necessity for man to have spiritual values and it shows him how to get at those through physical sacraments.

The moment we glorify ourselves, since there is room for one glory only in the universe, we set ourselves up as rivals to the Most High.

Pray and read, read and pray; for a little from God is better than a great deal from men.

The Lord bears all the weaknesses of men, but He does not bear a man who is always murmuring, and does not leave Him without chastisement.

I don't want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side.