John Chrysostom: Make the Most of What is Given to You

Did you hear, then, the awful punishment laid up for those not busying themselves with the master's possessions? Let us therefore both protect them and busy ourselves with them, and give evidence of much trading with them. Let no one claim, I am an ordinary person, I am a learner, I have no role in teaching, unlettered as I am and worth nothing. I mean, even if you are an ordinary person, even if unlettered, even if you have been entrusted with one talent, make the most of what has been committed to you, and you will receive the same reward as the one who teaches you.

- John Chrysostom (around A.D. 347 to around A.D. 407), Sermon 7 on Genesis, in St. John Chrysostom, Eight Sermons on the Book of Genesis, pp. 112-13 (2004), Robert C. Hill translator.