A brother asked: Who, father, can fulfill all the commandments, when there are so many of them? The elder answered: He who imitates the Lord and follows Him step by step. The brother said: And who can imitate the Lord? The Lord was God, although He also became man, while I am a sinful man, enslaved to innumerable passions. How, then, can I imitate the Lord? The elder replied: Of those who are enslaved to the world and its vanities, no one can imitate the Lord; but those who can say, "Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee" (Matthew 19:27), receive the power to imitate the Lord and are directed by all His commandments. The brother said: But, father, the Lord's commandments are many, and who can keep all of them in mind, in order to struggle for them all, especially I, a man of little mind? - Which is why I would like to hear a brief word, in order to further my own salvation by keeping it. The Elder replied: Although many are the commandments, nevertheless they all are combined in one saying: "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself" (Luke 10:27). Those struggling to keep this saying perform all the commandments at once. But, whoever does not renounce every predilection for the material cannot love either God or his neighbor in a real way.
Blessed Diadochus
By means of the senses, the body desires to delight in things corresponding to it, and the more it is satisfied, the more it desires. But this is counter to the striving of the soul. Therefore, let the first care of the soul be to put a bridle on all the senses so as not to delight in the sensible. Since the more powerful a body becomes, the more powerfully it strives toward what is akin to it; and the more powerfully it strives toward this, the more unrestrained it becomes, it behooves the soul [to do] the second thing - to endeavor intensely to mortify the flesh by fasting, vigil, standing and other deprivations, in order, by having worn out its strength, to have it humble and readily submissive in all spiritual matters...
Venerable Theodore of Edessa
Not he who shows mercy to many is pious, but he who offends no one. Study virtue by word, but preach about it by deed.
Venerable Nilus of Sinai
Some one of the saints said: Think of the good, in order not to think of the bad, because the mind does not tolerate being in idleness. Occupation with vain thoughts gives birth also to vain deeds; while occupation with good thoughts gives birth also to good fruit.
Venerable Ephraim the Syrian
If you commence any work and do not see God's will on it, do not do it for anything.
The God-loving man does not reproach anyone else, because he knows that he himself also sins, and this is a sign of a soul being saved.
Venerable Anthony the Great