Musar for Deuteronomy 17:19

This is what the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded the king: "And the Torah shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he will learn to fear the L-rd, his G-d" (Devarim 17:19). This teaches that the fear is only learned by uninterrupted study.

The matter of holiness is dual. Its beginning is service [of G-d] while its end is reward; its beginning is exertion while its end is a [divine] gift. That is, its beginning is that which a man sanctifies himself, while its end is his being sanctified. This is what our sages, of blessed memory, said: "if a man sanctifies himself a little, he becomes much sanctified. If he sanctifies himself below, he becomes sanctified from above" (Yomah 39a).

However, it is impossible for a man to place himself in such a state. For it is beyond his ability. He is after all a physical creature, of flesh and blood. Thus I said that the end of Holiness is a gift. For that which is in man's ability to do is the initial exertion, pursuing true knowledge and continual thought on the sanctification of deed.