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Indulging in unrestrained and immoderate laughter is a sign of intemperance, of a want of control over one's emotions, and of failure to repress the soul's frivolity by a stern use of reason.

Saint Basil

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Saint Basil
Bishop
Catholic Deacon
Catholic Priest
Philosopher
Saint
Theologian
Writer
Caesarea Mazaca
Saint Basil the Great
Basilius Magnus
Use
Repress
Soul
Stern
Reason
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Emotions
Immoderate
Laughter
Unrestrained
Failure
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Emotion
Intemperance
Control
Frivolity

More quotes by Saint Basil

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Among irrational animals the love of the offspring and of the parents for each other is extraordinary because God, who created them, compensated for the deficiency of reason by the superiority of their senses.
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Good masters teach good doctrine, but that taught by evil masters is wholly evil.
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He who confesses magic or sorcery shall do penance for the time of murder, and shall be treated in the same manner as he who convicts himself of this sin.
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The hairsplitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difference to us. Whoever deliberately commits abortion is subject to the penalty for homicide.
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While we try to amass wealth, make piles of money, get hold of the land as our real property, overtop one another in riches, we have palpably cast off justice, and lost the common good. I should like to know how any man can be just, who is deliberately aiming to get out of someone else what he wants for himself.
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You can see that a city is prosperous by the wealth of goods for sale in the market. Land too we call prosperous if it bears rich fruit. And so also the soul may be counted prosperous if it is full of good works of every kind.
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We should not accept in silence the benefactions of God, but return thanks for them.
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Strive to attain to the greater virtues, but do not neglect the lesser ones. Do not make light of a fall even if it be the most venial of faults rather, be quick to repair it by repentance, although many others may commit a large number of faults, slight and grievous, and remain unrepentant.
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Do not, as is usually the case, thrust the care of the common weal upon your neighbor then, as each one in his own thoughts makes light of the matter, all find to their surprise that they have drawn upon themselves by their neglect a personal misfortune.
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Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger.
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He who is guilty of unseemliness with males will be under discipline for the same time as adulterers.
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He who plants kindness gathers love.
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Any one who chooses will set up for a literary critic, though he cannot tell us where he went to school, or how much time was spent in his education, and knows nothing about letters at all.
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The steam of meat darkens the light of the spirit...One hardly can have virtue when one enjoys meat meals and feasts.
Saint Basil
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I reckon silence more profitable than speech, for? in the words of the Preacher, 'The words of wise men are heard in quiet' (Eccles. 9:17).
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What is there astonishing in the death of a mortal? But we are grieved at his dying before his time. Are we sure that this was not his time? We do not know how to pick and choose what is good for our souls, or how to fix the limits of the life of man.
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We should not think that we achieve success in preaching through our own devices, but we should rely entirely on God.
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We should even go beyond doing what is required in order to avoid scandal.
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It is not he who begins well who is perfect. It is he who ends well who is approved in God's sight.
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Drunkenness, the ruin of reason, the destruction of strength, premature old age, momentary death.
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