good; and, therefore, when I rise in the morning, I say that this
whole city, from the greatest to the least, will enter into the
kingdom of God for their righteousness: while I, for my sins, shall
go to eternal pain. And this I say over again, from the bottom of
my heart, when I lie down at night." When Antony heard that, he
said, "Like a good goldsmith, thou hast gained the kingdom of God
sitting still in thy house; while I, as one without discretion, have
been haunting the desert all my time, and yet not arrived at the
measure of thy saying."

Quoth Antony, "If a monk could tell his elders how many steps he
walks, or how many cups of water he drinks, in his cell, he ought to
tell them, for fear of going wrong therein."

At Alexandria, Antony met one Didymus, most learned in the
Scriptures, witty, and wise: but he was blind. Antony asked him,
"Art thou not grieved at thy blindness?" He was silent: but being
pressed by Antony, he confessed that he was sad thereat. Quoth
Antony, "I wonder that a prudent man grieves over the loss of a
thing which ants, and flies, and gnats have, instead of rejoicing in
that possession which the holy Apostles earned. For it is better to
see with the spirit than with the flesh."

A Father asked Antony, "What shall I do?" Quoth the old man, "Trust
not in thine own righteousness; regret not the thing which is past;
bridle thy tongue and thy stomach."

Quoth Antony, "He who sits still in the desert is safe from three
enemies: from hearing, from speech, from sight: and has to fight
against only one, his own heart."