Isaac of Nineveh Quotes

You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.

Sad to say, multi-tasking is beyond me. I read one book at a time all the way through. If I'm reviewing the book, I have to write the review before I start reading any other book. I especially hate it when the phone rings and interrupts my train of thought.

It makes it harder to write if I watch a lot of television, because television is not like a written story.

Nothing interferes with my concentration. You could put on an orgy in my office and I wouldn't look up. Well, maybe once.

Multi-tasking is keeping me from whole-hearted worship.

The prayer of one who does not consider himself a sinner is not accepted by the Lord.

Sincere thought means thought of concentration (quiet awareness). The thought of a distracted mind cannot be sincere

But it is impossible to enjoy a tennis game, a book, or a conversation unless attention is fully concentrated on the activity.

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 soul that loves God has its rest in God and in God alone. In all the paths that men walk in in the world, they do not attain peace until they draw nigh to hope in God.

For an athlete to function properly, he must be intent. There has to be a definite purpose and goal if you are to progress. If you are not intent about what you are doing, you aren't able to resist the temptation to do something else that might be more fun at the moment.

God will cleanse your sins if you yourself are dissatisfied with yourself and will keep on changing until you are perfect.

To have a pure heart, we must submit all thoughts to the authority of Christ. If we are willing to do that, he will change us to be like him.

Distraction wastes our energy, concentration restores it.

We abide in God insofar as we do not sin.

Concentration is that ability to not think about anything.

What you keep before your eyes will affect you.

Our minds are forced to become fixed upon different things by an attraction in them which we cannot resist. To control the mind, to place it just where we want it, requires special training. It cannot be done in any other way. In the study of religion the control of the mind is absolutely necessary. We have to turn the mind back upon itself in this study.

The ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence.

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.

A concentrated mind and a sitting body make for better prayer than a kneeling body and a mind half asleep.

Do you think that the man-loving God has given you much so that you could use it only for your own benefit? No, but so that your abundance might supply the lack of others.

And truly, O man, if you concentrate hard on the state you are in it will be surprising if you have time for anything else.

Love is the fruit of prayer ... Patiently abiding in prayer signifies a man's renunciation of himself. Therefore the self-denial of the soul turns into love for God.