Joseph

“Gluttony tries to destroy self-control; unchastity, moderation; avarice, voluntary poverty; anger, gentleness; and the other forms of vice, their corresponding virtues. But when the vice of pride has become master of our wretched soul, it acts like some harsh tyrant who has gained control of a great city, and destroys it completely, razing it to its foundations.”
― St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain, The Philokalia

“I am lost to the world
with which I used to waste so much time,
It has heard nothing from me for so long
that it may very well believe that I am dead!

It is of no consequence to me
Whether it thinks me dead;
I cannot deny it,
for I really am dead to the world.

I am dead to the world's tumult,
And I rest in a quiet realm!
I live alone in my heaven,
In my love and in my song!”
― Friedrich Rückert

“A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So, he loses touch with reality and lives in a world of illusions.”
― Alan Watts

“Learn only in order that you yourself may create. Only this divine ability to create makes a true human being; without it one is simply a cleverly constructed machine [...]",”
― Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, Vorlesungen Uber Die Methode Des Academischen Studium, Dritte Ausgabe