Quotes from St. Basil

He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.

He who plants kindness gathers love.

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.

God who created us has granted us the faculty of speech that we might disclose the counsels of our hearts to one another and that, since we possess our human nature in common, each of us might share his thoughts with his neighbor, bringing them forth from the secret recesses of the heart as from a treasury.

If everyone would take only according to his needs and would leave the surplus to the needy, no one would be rich, no one poor, no one in misery.

The hairsplitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difference to us. Whoever deliberately commits abortion is subject to the penalty for homicide.

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.

Every divine action begins from the Father, proceeds through the Son, and is completed in the Holy Spirit.

If, therefore, there is any grace in the water, it is not from the nature of water but from the Spirit's presence there.

There is nothing unpremeditated, nothing neglected by God. His unsleeping eye beholds all things.

What is the mark of love for your neighbor? Not to seek what is for your own benefit, but what is for the benefit of the one loved, both in body and in soul.

Who is the covetous man? One for whom plenty is not enough.