Letter 875: Virtue must be practiced with all one's strength — not merely admired from a distance.

That your gentleness is not contemptible, nor your courage savage — for kindness tempers cruelty — we all know. But you must also adorn yourself with the other virtues, so that you may shine in all things. To Theodosius the Presbyter. One should not simply offer teaching in a form that is all-encompassing and full of every storm, but first examine the dispositions and inclinations of each soul, and then instruct accordingly. For what profit is there if one, intending to give not an accurate but a general teaching, pushes someone? For someone will seem to have grasped one part but will lack the other. And again, whoever has been exhorted to one virtue will find the other one also necessary and useful. From circumstances, hope arises that the one who is brought to virtue will also be led to prudence. Wherefore, the inclinations and tendencies of each person must be attended to, neither ignoring time nor delaying the fitting occasion, but providing matter appropriate to nature, and directing each person to the part toward which he has a natural propensity. And therefore, since he desires both praise and glory and reputation, it is necessary above all that the foundation be secure. For the subsequent building will easily be erected upon it. Learn this from me, so that you may shine in all things.