Through humbleness many of your sins are forgiven. And good deeds without humbleness are of no use, on the contrary, many sorrows bring they to us. Thus, through humbleness show your shortcomings. Humbleness is as useful as the salt added in food, and can overcome the power of many sins. This is why we need to constantly grieve in our humbleness, earning ourselves salvation. And if we do achieve it, we will become sons of God, allowing us to sit next to Him, even if we didn’t do anything else but being humble. Because without humbleness, everything, all our virtues and all our deeds are in vain.

(Translation from Sfântul Isaac Sirul, Cuvinte despre nevoință, Editura Bunavestire, Bacău, 1997, p. 231)