Everyone has some kind of philosophy, some general worldview, which to men of other views will seem mythological.

In all the world I have no one but you. Help me to follow you, even though it seems impossible. Help me to trust you as much as I long to love you.

Whenever you are willing to obey me, Much-Afraid, and to follow the path of my choice, you will always be able to hear and recognize my voice, and when you hear it you must always obey. Remember also that it is always safe to obey my voice, even if it seems to call you to paths which look impossible or even crazy.

The man who wavers in his faith is upset by the smallest trifles; the man who is steadfast in his faith can look on calmly at the ruin of all his universe.

The only thing that can bring unfailing joy to the soul is to understand and know God. Everything depends on what He is. He has created us and put us in our present environment, and we are absolutely in His power.

The modesty that theology needs is the recognition that we cannot rationally comprehend God.

But if Maximus is "a mystic like Dionysius", he is surely "a mystic who is also a metaphysician, an ascetic who has reached, through his familiarity with Aristotelian philosophy, a consistency and precision of thought that one looks for in vain in the works of the Areopagite.

Our awareness of God starts where self-sufficiency ends.

If we want to be able to pick up the pieces of our lives and go on living, we have to get over the irrational feeling that every misfortune is our fault, the direct result of our mistakes or misbehavior. We are really not that powerful. Not everything that happens in the world is our doin

I believe in the reality of God the way scientists believe in the reality of electrons. I see things happening that would not happen unless there is a God.

I'm a traditional Jew, and I observe the biblical dietary laws. … I suspect most of you assume I go around all day saying to myself, 'Boy, would I love to eat pork chops, but that mean old God won't let me.' Not so. The fact … is, I go around all day saying, 'Isn't it incredible? There are five billion people on this planet and God cares what I have for lunch [and] what kind of language I use.

observant but not compulsive" and the absence of a belief in a God who would punish us for disobedience would go on to become cornerstones of my personal and professional life.