Letter 857: The spiritual life is a journey with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

To Alypius. You seem to be unaware that the same word, and the same name, and the same utterance, when not spoken with the same tone, sometimes displays the fruit of reason, and sometimes the fruit of anger.

Ἔοικας ἀγνοεῖν, ὅτι τὸ αὐτὸ ῥῆμα, καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ὄνομα, καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς λόγος, μὴ μετὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ τόνου λεγόμενος, ποτὲ μὲν ἐμφαίνει λογισμοῦ, ποτὲ δὲ ὀργῆς καρπέν.