The beginning of evil is to diversify the mind. It is good to flee from the things of the body. When a man is engaged in conflict about the body, he is like a man standing on the very edge of a deep pool, into which his enemy can knock him the moment he sees him. But when he has put aside bodily things, he is like a man standing a long way from the pool, where, if the enemy drags him along to throw him in, God will help him while he is being dragged there.
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The arrows of the enemy cannot touch someone who loves quiet. But those who wander about among crowds will often be wounded by them.

[from The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks]