~Jesus said, "Strive for the sake of God and not for the sake of your bellies. Look at the birds coming and going! They neither reap nor plough, and God provides for them. If you say, "Our bellies are larger than the bellies of the birds, then look at these cattle, wild and tame, as they come and go, neither reaping nor plowing, and God provides for them too. Beware the excesses of the world, for the excesses of the world are an abomination in God's eyes."

~Jesus said, "Blessed is he who guards his tongue, whose house is sufficient for his needs, and who weeps for his sins."

~Jesus used to eat the leaves of the trees, dress in hair shirts, and sleep wherever night found him. He had no child who might die, no house which might fall into ruin; nor did he save his lunch for his dinner or his dinner for lunch. He used to say, "Each day brings with it its own sustenance. "

~Christ passed by a group od Israelites who insulted him. Every time they spoke a word of evil, Christ answered with good. Simon the pure said to him, "Will you answer with good each time they speak evil?" Christ said, "Each person spends of what he owns."

~Jesus said, "You work for this world, where you are provided for without working; whereas you do not work for the afterlife, where you will not be provided for except by working."

~Jesus was asked, "Which of your deeds is the best?" He answered, "Leaving alone that which does not concern me."

~Jesus met a man and asked him, "What are you doing?" "I am devoting myself to God," the man replied. Jesus asked, "Who is caring for you?" "My brother," replied the man. Jesus said, "Your brother is more devoted to God than you are." ;-)

~Jesus said, "He who speaks without mentioning God is merely babbling. He who reflects without self-admonition is merely heedless. He who is silent without reflecting is merely wasting time."

~Jesus said to his companions, "If you are truly my brothers and friends, accustom yourselves to the enmity and hatred of men. For you shall not obtain what you seek except by abandoning what you desire. You shall not possess what you love except by tolerating what you hate."

~"Blessed is he who sees with his heart but whose heart is not in what he sees."

~Christ said, "The world is a bridge. Cross this bridge but do not build upon it."

~Christ said, "Be in the middle but walk to the side."

~Christ said, "You will not commit adultery as long as you avert your eyes"

~Jesus said, "God likes HIs servant to learn a craft whereby he can become independent of people, and God hates a servant who acquires religious knowledge and then adopts it as a craft."

~ John the son of Zachariah met Jesus the son of Mary, John smiling of face and welcoming while Jesus was frowning and gloomy. Jesus said to John, "You smile as if you feel secure." John siad to Jesus, "You frown as if you are in despair." God revealed, "What John does is dearer to Us." This encounter between Jesus and John is perhaps meant as a veiled critisism of excessive asceticism which borders on despair.

~ They asked Jesus, "Show us an act by which we may enter paradise." Jesus said, "Do not speak at all." They said "We cannot do this." Jesus replied, "Then speak only good."

~Jesus and his disciples passed by a dog's carcass. The disciples said, "How foul is his stench!" Jesus said, "How white are his teeth!" He said this in order to teach them a lesson - namely, to forbid slander.

~Jesus was a constant traveler in the land, never abiding in a house or a village. His clothing consisted of a cloak made of coarse hair or camel stub and two hairless shirts. In his hadn he carried a club. Whenever night fell, his lamp was the moonlight, his shade the blackness of night, his bed the earth, his pillow a stone, his food the plants of the fields. At times, he epent whole days and nights without food. In times of distress he was happy, and in times of ease he was sad.

~Jesus said, "The evildoer is infectious; the associate of the wicked can kill. Be careful, therefore, with whom you associate."

~Jesus said to the Israelites, "Do not reward the wrongdoer with wrongdoing, for this will nullify your virture in God's sight."

~If you want to fast as Jesus did, he would fast all the time and lived on nothing but barley. He always wore garments of coarse hair, and wherever he would be at nightfall he would plant his feet and keep praying until he saw the break of dawn. He would never leave a particular place before praying two rak'as. If, however, you want to fast as his mother the Virgin did, she used to fast for two days at a time and then eat for two days."

~"Christ said, "Flesh eating flesh? How offensive an act!"

~Jesus said, "Do you desire the world for the sake of virtuous deeds? It is more virtuous for you to forsake the world."

~Jesus used to say, "Too much food kills the soul, just as too much water kills a plant.

~Jesus said, "To dispense wisdom to other than those worthy of it is to do it an injustice, and to bar it from those worthy of it is to do them an injustice. Be like the gentle physician who applies medication to the place of illness." In another version, he said, "He who dispenses wisdom to other than those worthy of it is ignorant, and he who bars it from those worthy of it has done an injustice. Wisdom has its due, and it has people who are worthy of it, so give every man his due."