Thomas A Kempis 1.13 (part 1) - The root of temptation lies within us

So long as we live in the world, being without trouble and temptation is impossible. So it is written in Job, Troubled is the life of man on earth. So each of us should be concerned about his own temptations and be vigilant in prayer, so that the devil finds no place deceive; who never sleeps, but circles around seeking his prey. No one is so holy and perfect that he never has temptations, and to be fully free of them is not possible. 

However, there are temptations that are very useful, even though they afflict us seriously; for through them we are humbled, purified, and instructed. All the saints passed and progressed through many trials and temptations. Those who did not endure were held back by them and failed. There is no station in life so sacred, no place so secret, that there are no temptations and adversities.

There is no man completely free from temptations, no matter how long he has lived, because the cause of temptation is within us. We are born with disordered desires. As soon as one trial or temptation fades, another takes its place, and there is always something that we need to endure patiently. This is because we have lost the good of happiness. Many seek to flee from temptations and fall more seriously into them. We cannot win the fight by running away, but by patience and true humility we become stronger than all our enemies.

The one who resists the outward part of the temptations but does not pull up the root, that one will find that temptations return more quickly and rage more fiercely. By small steps, through patience and endurance, with God's help you will conquer better than with your own hardness and self-willed persistence. Often accept council and consolation in temptation, and with someone who is tempted do not act harshly, but comfort and strengthen him as you would have done to yourself. 

Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis, 1.13 (first part, it's a long chapter to translate in one sitting). 

Translation focused on contemporary English and preservation of rhetorical force and art

Thomas A Kempis 1.15 - Works of charity / love

There is no worldly good, there is no person, for which we should do anything that is evil. To serve those in need, a good work must sometimes be postponed or be changed for a better one. In this, a good work is not destroyed, but transformed into something better. If a work does not come from the heart, the external work does not benefit anyone, but if anything is done from the heart, however small and disregarded it might be, it brings forth good fruit. God considers more from what an action comes, rather than how much he does. 

He does much who loves much. He does much who does a good thing. He does well who serves to the community rather than his own interest. Often something looks like generosity which is more worldly, because worldly inclinations, self-will, hope of repayment, and feelings of the will are rarely absent.

He who has true and perfect love does not seek his own in any matter, but desires only God's glory in everything that is done. He envies none, because he desires no selfish joy, nor does he want to rejoice in himself, but in God above all he wishes to find his blessing. He attributes good to none but God alone, from whom all things come, and in whom finally all the Holy Ones rest in joyful satisfaction. Oh, he who has a spark of true charity would sense that all earthly things are empty.

Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis, 1.15. 

Translation focused on contemporary English and preservation of rhetorical force and art