Evagrius Ponticus Quotes

God cannot be grasped by the mind. If he could be grasped, he would not be God.

Do not be troubled if you do not immediately receive from God what you ask Him; for He desires to do something even greater for you, while you cling to Him in prayer.

The further the soul advances, the greater are the adversaries against which it must contend.

Prayer is the laying aside of thoughts.

Blessed is the one who has arrived at infinite ignorance.

If you patiently accept what comes, you will always pray with joy.

A man who worships in Spirit and Truth no longer honors the Creator because of His works, but praises Him because of Himself.

Happy is the spirit that attains to the perfect formlessness at the time of prayer.

Prayer is the fruit of joy and thankfulness.

If your spirit still looks around at the time of prayer, then it does not yet pray as a monk. You are no better than a man of affairs engaged in a kind of landscape gardening.

A monk is a man who considers himself one with all men because he seems constantly to see himself in every man.