Every man is the painter and the sculptor of his own life.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Self-Discovery
Feeding the hungry is a greater work than raising the dead.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Work
Prayer is an all-efficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine which is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by clouds, a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Prayer
Depart from the highway, and transplant thyself in some enclosed ground, for it is hard for a tree that stands by the wayside to keep its fruit until it be ripe.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Retirement
Humility is the root, mother, nurse, foundation, and bond of all virtue.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Humility
If there were no tribulation, there would be no rest; if there were no winter, there would be no summer.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Difficulties, Adversity
An insult is either sustained or destroyed, not by the disposition of those who insult, but by the disposition of those who bear it.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Insults
This is the highest point of philosophy, to be simple and wise; this is the angelic life.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Angels
Nothing is more fallacious than wealth. Today it is for thee, tomorrow it is against thee. It arms the eyes of the envious everywhere. It is a hostile comrade, a domestic enemy.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Wealth
It is a shame for a man to desire honor only because of his noble progenitors, and not to deserve it by his own virtue.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Ancestry
Good men do not always have grace and favor, lest they should be puffed up, and grow insolent and proud.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Men
Prayer should be the means by which I, at all times, receive all that I need, and, for this reason, be my daily refuge, my daily consolation, my daily joy, my source of rich and inexhaustible joy in life.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Prayer
Charity is the scope of all God’s commands.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Charity
Laughter does not seem to be a sin, but it leads to sin.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Laughter
As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Jealousy, Envy
The desire to rule is the mother of all heresies.
—John Chrysostom
Topics: Christianity
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Jerome Greek Priest
Francis of Assisi Italian Monk
Vincent de Paul French Catholic Saint
Francis de Sales French Catholic Saint
Bonaventure Italian Christian Scholar
Nikolai Berdyaev Russian Christian Philosopher
Bernard of Clairvaux French Catholic Religious Leader
Pythagoras Greek Philosopher
John Bunyan English Writer, Preacher
A. W. Tozer American Christian Pastor