Conquering Temptations

“As long as we live in this world, we cannot be without temptations and tribulations…Many seek to flee temptations and fall worse into them. We cannot conquer by flight alone, but by patience and true humility we become stronger than all our enemies. He who only declines them outwardly and does not pluck out their root will profit little; nay, temptations will sooner return and he will find himself in a worse condition. By degrees and by patience you will, by God’s grace better overcome them than by harshness and your own importunity.”
—Thomas a Kempis