Saint Basil Quotes

‘A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.’ – Saint Basil

‘There is nothing unpremeditated, nothing neglected by God. His unsleeping eye beholds all things.’ – Saint Basil

‘Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger.’ – Saint Basil

‘Every evil is a sickness of soul, but virtue offers the cause of its health.’ – Saint Basil

‘Does not the gratitude of the dog put to shame any man who is ungrateful to his benefactors?’ – Saint Basil

‘Strive to attain to the greater virtues, but do not neglect the lesser ones. Do not make light of a fall even if it be the most venial of faults; rather, be quick to repair it by repentance, although many others may commit a large number of faults, slight and grievous, and remain unrepentant.’ – Saint Basil

‘In truth, to know oneself seems to be the hardest of all things. Not only our eye, which observes external objects, does not use the sense of sight upon itself, but even our mind, which contemplates intently another’s sin, is slow in the recognition of its own defects.’ – Saint Basil

‘Liberated from the error of pagan tradition through the benevolence and loving kindness of the good God with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the operation of the Holy Spirit, I was reared from the very beginning by Christian parents. From them I learned even in babyhood the Holy Scriptures which led me to a knowledge of the truth.’ – Saint Basil

‘To lovers of the truth, nothing can be put before God and hope in Him.’ – Saint Basil

‘Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence.’ – Saint Basil

‘We men are easily prone to sins of thought. Therefore, He who has formed each heart individually, knowing that the impulse received from the intention constitutes the major element in sin, has ordained that purity in the ruling part of our soul be our primary concern.’ – Saint Basil

‘As we were baptized, so we profess our belief. As we profess our belief, so also we offer praise. As then baptism has been given us by the Savior, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, so, in accordance with our baptism, we make the confession of the creed, and our doxology in accordance with our creed.’ – Saint Basil

‘Do not measure your loss by itself; if you do, it will seem intolerable; but if you will take all human affairs into account you will find that some comfort is to be derived from them.’ – Saint Basil

‘By nature, men desire the beautiful.’ – Saint Basil

‘All of us who desire the kingdom of God are, by the Lord’s decree, under an equal and rigorous necessity of seeking after the grace of Baptism.’ – Saint Basil

‘All who call the Holy Ghost a creature we pity, on the ground that, by this utterance, they are falling into the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against Him.’ – Saint Basil

‘The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. With us there is no nice enquiry as to its being formed or unformed.’ – Saint Basil

‘Good masters teach good doctrine, but that taught by evil masters is wholly evil.’ – Saint Basil

‘First and foremost, the monk should own nothing in this world, but he should have as his possessions solitude of the body, modesty of bearing, a modulated tone of voice, and a well-ordered manner of speech. He should be without anxiety as to his food and drink, and should eat in silence.’ – Saint Basil

‘Indulging in unrestrained and immoderate laughter is a sign of intemperance, of a want of control over one’s emotions, and of failure to repress the soul’s frivolity by a stern use of reason.’ – Saint Basil