Could there be, perhaps, anyone at all who is unconvinced of the following? -- that no one has ever gained victory in war, or received a fading crown, or had his heart's desire fulfilled (even in things unworthy of praise), or ministered in things divine, or achieved any of the glorious deeds of virtue, unless he has first set at naught labors and afflictions, and has driven away from his proximity the thinking that impels a man toward repose, which thinking begets heedlessness, sloth, pusillanimity, from which comes laxity in everything.
Homily 72.
