Exhortation to the Greeks 10.109

… you have committed adultery.” How much better it is for people not even to wish at all to desire what they should not, than to obtain their desires! But you cannot bear the austerity of salvation. Just as we enjoy sweet foods and prefer them for the smoothness of the pleasure, while bitter things, though they roughen the palate, heal us and make us healthy, and the harshness of medicines strengthens those with weak stomachs; so custom pleases and tickles, but custom pushes us into the pit, while truth leads up to heaven, “rough” at first, “but a good nurse of the young.” This women's chamber is holy, and this council of elders is wise. Nor is she hard to approach or impossible to grasp; she is our nearest neighbor, dwelling within us, as the all-wise Moses says in a riddle, in our three parts: “in the hands, in the mouth, and in the heart.” This is a true symbol of the truth, fulfilled in all three: counsel, action, and speech. And do not fear this, that the many pleasant things that appear may rob you of wisdom; you yourself will willingly pass over the nonsense of custom, just as children throw away their toys when they become men.