Dorotheus of Gaza > Quotes

“...we must never do anything that, in our opinion, may upset or offend, whether it be our acts, our words, our attitudes or our expressions. I repeat, even a look can be offensive. Every time we know we are behaving with the intentìon of hurting or making another feel bad, we defile our conscience because we are aware of this intention.”
― Dorotheus of Gaza, Drinking from the Hidden Fountain: A Patristic Breviary. Ancient Wisdom for Today's World (Cistercian Studies Series)

“If someone wants to be a skilled carpenter he does not tinker in other crafts. Thus it also is with someone desiring to obtain the spiritual trade. He should not interest himself in anything but rather day and night, be devoted to it, so that he master it. Those who do not come to this affair with this zeal, not only do not advance, but they tire themselves out as men wandering randomly.”
― Dorotheos of Gaza, Discourses of Dorotheos of Gaza