Letter 1640: The priesthood is a sacred trust, not a career.

To Didymus. That the paltry glory of this world is a day-lily [hemerokalles, a lily that blooms for a single day], that is to say, a flower, blooming for scarcely one single day, whereas the good repute of virtue is both unfading and unending - anyone not lacking in mind and prudence would firmly affirm. And if many lay claim to the former but despise the latter, it is no wonder; for the sick too refuse wholesome foods and take pleasure in the unwholesome ones, and the intemperate choose the harlot in place of the chaste woman. We must take our votes [cast our judgments] not from those who are ailing, but from those who are in health.

Ὅτι ἡμεροκαλές (63) ἐστι, τουτέστιν, ἄνθος· πρὸς μίαν μόνην σχεδὸν ἡμέραν ἀκμάζον, τὸ δοξάριον τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, ἡ δὲ τῆς ἀρετῆς εὐκλεία ἀμάραντός τε καὶ ἀτελεύτητος, πᾶς τις τῶν νοῦ καὶ φρονήσεως οὐκ ἀμοιρούντων ἰσχυρίζαιτο. Εἰ δὲ πολλοὶ ἐκείνου μὲν ἀντιποιοῦνται, ταύτης δὲ καταφρονοῦσι, θαυμαστὸν οὐδέν· ἐπεὶ καὶ οἱ νοσοῦντες τὰς μὲν ὑγιεινὰς παραιτοῦνται τροφάς, ταῖς δὲ νοσώδεσιν ἡδονται· καὶ οἱ ἀκρατεῖς τὴν ἑταίραν ἀνεὶ τῆς σώφρονος ἀπὸ τῶν ἀῤῥωστούντων, ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ τῶν ὑγιαινόντων λαμβάνειν τὰς ψήφους.