Always think of your soul as knowing nothing

that you may be preserved from the reprehensible things which the supposition that you are capable of directing others stirs in you.

...Always consider yourself as needing instruction so that you may be found wise throughout your life.

St. Issac the Syrian On Ascetical Life

We ought to love afflictions

God does not want us, His children, to be pestered. He gives us temptations and hardships in order to become perfect. Temptations will cease to exist in our life, when we reach the level of perfection...

We Christians ought to love afflictions and not try to get rid of them; afflictions are necessary means leading to our perfection.

Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos, quoted here.

Isn't Christianity in the West better off

being in freedom? [Some one asked Father Dimitry Dudko during the the Soviet era] --he replied: "No. There they have a spirituality with comfort, and you can't expect much from that; here in Russia we have martyrs and suffering, and from that can come resurrection and new life."

...We [in the West] are in a privileged position of peace and freedom, and this is dangerous for us. We can sit in the midst of our Orthodox treasures, the treasures that give salvation that no one else has -- and be satisfied with our situation and so be totally fruitless. If we have difficulty in being Orthodox -- then let us rejoice, for that means we must struggle, and there is hope that we won't wither and die spiritually.

Seraphim (Rose) in Orthodoxy in America

The fathers

says the Gerontikon, kept the commandments; their successors wrote them down; but we have placed their books on the shelves. And even if we want to read them, we do not have the application to understand what is said and to put it into practice; we read them either as something incidental, or because we think that be reading them we are doing something great, thus growing full of pride. We do not realize that we incur greater condemnation if we do not put into practice what we read... And we should remember what the Lord says about the servant who knew his master's will but failed to carry it out.

St. Peter of Damaskos in the Philokalia

Pray and then speak.

That’s what to do with your children. If you are constantly lecturing them, you’ll become tiresome and when they grow up they’ll feel a kind of oppression. Prefer prayer and speak to them through prayer. Speak to God and God will speak to their hearts. That is, you shouldn’t give guidance to your children with a voice that they hear with their ears. You may do this too, but above all you should speak to God about your children. Say, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, give Your light to my children. I entrust them to You. You gave them to me, but I am weak and unable to guide them, so, please, illuminate them.’ And God will speak to them and they will say to themselves, ‘Oh dear, I shouldn’t have upset Mummy by doing that!’ And with the grace of God this will come from their heart.” He also said, “It is not sufficient for the parents to be devout. They mustn’t oppress the children to make them good by force. We may repel our children from Christ when we pursue the things of our religion with egotism.

Elder Porphyrios in Wounded by Love quoted here.