The following is a fragment of a conversation between St Herman and some officers of a Russian ship, recorded by his disciple Yanovsky; it includes perhaps the most familiar quotation from St Herman.
"But do you love God?" asked the Elder. And all answered: "Of course we love God. How can we not love God?"
"And I, a sinner, have tried to love God for more than forty years, and I cannot say that I perfectly love Him," answered Father Herman, and began to explain how one must love God. "
If we love someone," he said, "then we always think of that one, we strive to please that one; day and night our heart is preoccupied with that object. Is it in this way, gentlemen, that you love God? Do you often turn to Him, do you always remember Him, do you always pray to Him and fulfill His Holy commandments?"
We had to admit that we did not.
"For our good, for our happiness," concluded the Elder, "at least let us give a vow to ourselves, that from this day, from this hour, from this minute, we shall strive above all else to love God and to do His Holy Will!"
The original publication of St. Herman’s life was from 1894 Valaam Monastery, which is available on-line in the original Russian (pre-1917 orthography) at:
http://www.asna.ca/alaska/research/zhizn.pdf
It seems to be part of a larger project to include all historic Alaskan Orthodox materials at: http://www.asna.ca/alaska