truisms

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Tue 23 January 2007 7:52 am

History is an account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.
Ambrose Bierce

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Tue 23 January 2007 7:59 am

The hardest tumble a man can make is to fall over his own bluff.
Ambrose Bierce

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Tue 23 January 2007 7:59 am

To be positive is to be mistaken at the top of one's voice.
Ambrose Bierce

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Tue 23 January 2007 8:00 am

Who never doubted, never half believed. Where doubt is, there truth is - it is her shadow.
Ambrose Bierce

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Tue 23 January 2007 8:04 am

A brother asked Abba Isidore the priest, "Why are the demons so frightened of you?" The old man said to him, "Because, ever since the day I began practicing ascesis, I have striven to prevent anger from reaching my lips.
The Desert Fathers

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Tue 23 January 2007 8:06 am

Wherefore on no account suffer any evil habit to master thee; but, while it is yet young, pluck the evil root out of thine heart, lest it fasten on and strike root so deep that time and labor be required to uproot it. And the reason that greater sins assault us and get the mastery of our souls is that those which appear to be less, such as wicked thoughts, unseemly words and evil communications, fail to receive proper correction.
St. John Damascene, Barlaam and Ioasaph

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Tue 23 January 2007 8:39 am

"The devil does not hunt after those who are lost; he hunts after those who are aware, those who are close to God. He takes from them trust in God and begins to afflict them with self-assurance, logic, thinking, criticism. Therefore we should not trust our logical minds. Never believe your thoughts."
Elder Paisios