He who loves God prefers knowledge of God to all things created by him, and ever strives for it with desire.
St Maximus the Confessor (c580–662), Four Centuries on Love, 1:4

Do not corrupt your flesh with shameful deeds; do not pollute your soul with evil thoughts: and the peace of God will descend upon you, bringing with it love.
St Maximus the Confessor (c580–662), Four Centuries on Love, 1:44

What anyone loves he surely holds on to, and looks down on everything that hinders his way to it so as not to be deprived of it. And the one who loves God cultivates pure prayer and throws off from himself every passion which hinders him.
St Maximus the Confessor

“The man divinized by grace will be everything that God is, apart from identity of essence.”Maximus the Confessor Ad Thalassium 22, PG 90:320a