“Every attack against us isn’t solely wicked; it’s also a blessing. It helps us to become better, to acquire humility. A wicked tongue, a poisonous tongue is a ‘messenger from Satan’ as Saint Paul says (2 Cor. 12, 7), sent by God to ‘give us a slap’, to stop us becoming conceited. To help us rein in our vanity, our high opinion of ourself, our self-satisfaction.”

(St Tikhon of Zadonsk, collected quotes)