pacificsm pain pantheism paradox parents parody parting passion patience patriotism peace perfection Perivale permanence persecution perseverance pessimist Peter photography philosophy plagiarism plans pleasure pluralism poetry politics political correctness pornography possibility postmodernism poverty power praise prayer prayers preaching predestination predictions prejudice Presbyterian presumption presuppositions pride principles priorities privacy probability problems procrastination profanity progress promises prophet prosperity prostitution proverbs providence prudence psychiatry punctuality purgatory puritans punishment puns purpose |
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[A pacifist is] the last and least excusable on the list of the enemies of society.--G. K. Chesterton I do believe that where there is a choice only between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence. --Mohandas Gandhi Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side, you automatically help out that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, 'he that is not with me is against me' - George Orwell, writing of Britain's pacifists in 1942 The Bible is clear here: I am to love my neighbor as myself, in the manner needed, in a practical way, in the midst of the fallen world, at my particular point of history. This is why I am not a pacifist. Pacifism in this poor world in which we live -- this lost world -- means that we desert the people who need our greatest help. -- Francis Schaeffer, 1984 The pacifist thinks that the alternative to war is peace; it is not. Sometimes the alternative is oppression. Sometimes certain God-given rights and liberties can be preserved only by resistance to that which would destroy them. And to defend certain basic God-given rights and liberties is not immoral but righteous. --Fulton John Sheen (1895-1979) _A Declaration Of Dependance_ [1941]
In time of sickness the soul collects itself anew. -- Latin Proverb We cannot learn without pain. -- Aristotle Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you. Pain is inevitable. Misery is optional. Physical pain is a fact that comes with living, just as illness or financial woes or broken relationships are facts. But misery is a state of mind, a reaction to the facts, that can be controlled or altered by an act of will.-- Barbara, crippled by arthritis. Pain is a kindly, hopeful thing, a certain proof of life, a clear assurance that all is not yet over, that there is still a chance. But if your heart has no pain -- well, that may betoken health, as you suppose: but are you certain that it does not mean that your soul is dead?... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954) Pain is life - the sharper, the more evidence of life.Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Life's sharpest rapture is surcease of pain.-- Emma Lazarus God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our
conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to
rouse a deaf world. In a sense, it (Christianity) creates rather than solves the problem of pain, for pain would be no problem unless side by side with our daily experience of this painful world, we had received what we think a good assurance that ultimate reality is righteous and loving. C. S. LEWIS, The Problem of Pain No doubt Pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. It removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul. C. S. LEWIS [Pain] removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul. -- C.S. Lewis --The Problem of Pain We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment. --Karl Marx No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.-- William Penn Illness is the most heeded of doctors: to goodness and wisdom we only make promises; pain we obey.-- Proust In the country of pain we are each alone.--May Sarton
The absorption of the individual in the universal is only another term for its destruction.... C. Harold Dodd (1884-1973)
I think. . .I think it's in my basement. . .Let me go upstairs and check. --M.C. Echer Paradox with him was only truth standing on its head to attract attention.-- Richard Le Gallienne writng of Wilde Less is more.- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) : New York Herald Tribune, 1959. If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't. -- Lyall Watson
If your children look up to you, you've made a success of life's biggest job. The only true child experts are those that do not yet have any of their own. During my piano recital, I was on a stage and scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore, - Cindy - age 8 If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.- Katherine Aird The joys of parents are secret, and so are their griefs
and fears: they cannot utter the one, nor will they utter
the other. The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them. Frank A. Clark Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves. -- Marcelene Cox What a mercy was it to us to have parents that prayed for
us before they had us, as well as in our infancy when we
could not pray for ourselves! Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands. - Anne Frank (1929-1945) "The Diary of a Young Girl," 1952. Parents are by no means exempt from the intoxication of dominion. - Samuel Johnson: Rambler #148 Happy is the child whose father acquits himself with credit in the presence of its friends ~ Robert Lynd, The Blue Lion Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning your room, and listening to you tell how idealistic you are. So before you save the rain forest from the bloodsucking parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room. Charles Sykes DUMBING DOWN OUR KIDS. Schoolmasters and parents exist to be grown out of. London Sunday Times [Being a parent] is tough. If you just want a wonderful little creature to love, you can get a puppy.Barbara Walters (1931-____) There are no illegitimate children--only illegitimate parents. -- Leon R. Yankwich
Many are cold, but few are frozen. A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a metaphor? People who live in glass houses shouldn't. Cogito ergo spud. - I think, therefore I yam.-- Graffito reported by Herb Caen If you can start the day without caffeine or pep pills Metaphors be with you! I think bad thoughts therefore I'm man. Those who forget the pasta are condemned to reheat it I heard that if you locked William Shakespeare in a room with a typewriter for long enough, he'd eventually write all the songs by the Monkees A light to lighten the genitals - Graffito by the light switch in an Oxford college lavatory. They came for the smoker, but I didn't smoke, so I said
nothing. When they came for the smokers I kept silent because I don't smoke.When they came for the meat eaters I kept silent because I'm a vegetarian. When they came for the gun owners I kept silent because I'm a pacifist. When they came for the drivers I kept silent because I'm a bicyclist. They never did come for me. I'm still here because there's nobody left in the secret police except sissies with rickets. -- Florence King Gin a body meet a body One man's Mede is another man's Persian --"Saki" (H. H. Munro) I think, therefore Descartes exists. - Saul Steinberg (1914 &endash; 1999)
In every parting there is an image of death. --George Eliot [Marian Evans Cross] (1819-1880) _Scenes of Clerical Life_ [1858], "Amos Barton"
To care passionately for another human creature brings always more sorrow than joy, but one would not be without that experience. - Agatha Christie, 1890 - 1976 If passion rules, how weak does reason prove!--John Dryden (1631-1700)_The Rival Ladies_ [1664] Most marriages recognize this paradox: Passion destroys passion; we want what puts an end to wanting what we want.--John Fowles A man in passion rides a horse that runs away with him. - Thomas Fuller, 1608 - 1661 Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion. - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, 1770 - 1831 Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for a time, leave us the weaker ever after. - Alexander Pope, 1688 - 1744 The ruling passion, be it what it will, The most untutored person with passion is more persuasive than the most eloquent without. - François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, 1613 - 1680 It is difficult to overcome one's passions, and impossible to satisfy them. -- Marguerite de la Sabliere Passion is the quickest to develop, and the quickest to fade. Intimacy develops more slowly, and commitment more gradually still. -Robert Steinberg The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions. --Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) ........everywhere
Patience is a good servant whom all recommend, but few like to employ. I am waiting as fast as I can ! I want patience, and I want it NOW ! If you are patient in one day of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.-- Chinese Proverb Sauri ya haifi nawa? To how many has haste given birth? -- Hausa Proverb, Nigeria. Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city. --Proverbs 16:32 NIV Our patience will achieve more than our force. Edmund Burke There is, however, a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue.--Edmund Burke, Observations on Late Publication on the Present State of the Nation. Vol. i. p. 273. Patience and fortitude conquer all things.-- Ralph Waldo Emerson Fortunately, God suffers fools gladly, I think. It's part of His job, and it's the only explanation I can think of for my own survival. -- Mary Fairchild If they try to rush me, I always say, "I've only got one other speed - and it's slower." Glenn Ford The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it. --Arnold Glasow When God ripens apples, he isn't in a hurry and doesn't make a noise. -- D Jackman Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another
as to remain always cool and unruffled under all
circumstances. Never cut what you can untie.-- Joseph Joubert We are working for the future. We are not concerned with
the seeming victory of the moment but with the final
triumph. With us the question is not what influence we can
exert now but what power we can exercise 50 years hence, not
how few men we have today but how many will arise out of the
younger generation who will be men of our principles. We
know how to practice patience. We know that the fruit cannot
be plucked before the harvest time has arrived. Yet we also
know that the hour of victory will some day come. If God has taken away all means of seeking remedy, there is nothing left but patience.-- John Locke Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for Him. In Hebrew, "Be
silent in God, and let Him mould thee." Keep still, and He
will mould thee to the right shape. Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you, but not in the one ahead.-- Bill McGlashen But patience is more oft the exercise Most things, except agriculture, can wait. - Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 &endash; 1964) You have need of patience; and if you ask, the Lord will give it: but there can be no settled peace till our will is in a measure subdued. Hide yourself under the shadow of His wings; rely upon His care and power; look upon Him as a physician who has graciously undertaken to heal your soul of the worst of sicknesses, sin. Yield to His prescriptions, and fight against every thought that would represent it as desirable to be permitted to choose for yourself.- JOHN NEWTON There are times when God asks nothing of his children except silence, patience and tears. -- C. S. Robinson Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them -- every day begin the task anew.... Francois de Sales (1567-1622) Though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod.-- Shakespeare, Henry V How poor are they that have not patience! --William Shakespeare. Othello. Act ii. Sc. 3. Mercy hath a heaven, and justice a hell, to display itself to eterity, but long-suffering hath only a short-lived earth. HENRY SMITH He who waits on God never waits too long. Chuck Wagner
Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or
bitterness for anyone. True patriotism doesn't exclude an understanding of the patriotism of others. ~Queen Elizabeth II A patriot is he whose publick conduct is regulated by one single motive, the love of his country; who, as an agent in parliament, has, for himself, neither hope nor fear, neither kindness nor resentment,but refers every thing to the common interest. - Samuel Johnson: The Patriot To love their country has been considered as virtue in men, whose love could not be otherwise than blind, because their preference was made without, a comparison; but it has never been my fortune to find, either in ancient or modern writers, any honourable mention of those, who have, with equal blindness, hated their country.- Samuel Johnson, Taxation No Tyranny It is the quality of patriotism to be jealous and watchful, to observe all secret machinations, and to see publick dangers at a distance. The true lover of his country is ready to communicate his fears, and to sound the alarm, whenever he perceives the approach of mischief. But he sounds no alarm, when there is no enemy; he never terrifies his ncountrymen till he is terrified himself. The patriotism, therefore, may be justly doubted of him, who professes to be disturbed by incredibilities... -- Samuel Johnson: The Patriot Still today many subscribe to the infamous assertion of E. M. Forster that, if he had to choose between betraying his country and betraying his friends, he hoped he would have the guts to betray his country. Forgotten is the reality that one is betraying one's friends by betraying one's country. Forgotten, too, is the fact that those who are the friends of tyrants and mass murderers should not be counted as friends. -- Richard John Neuhaus Patriotism is usually stronger than class hatred, and always stronger than internationalism. George Orwell, Selected Essays Some reformers may urge that in the ages distant future, patriotism, like the habit of monogamous marriage, will become a needless and obsolete virtue; but just at present the man who loves other countries as much as he does his own is quite as noxious a member of society as the man who loves other women as much as he loves his wife. Love of country is an elemental virtue, like love of home." --Theodore Roosevelt Our country right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right. ~ Carl Schurz Breathes there the man with soul so dead Brutus: Who is here so vile that will not love his country? --Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
For people who like peace and quiet: a phoneless cord. Do your best and then sleep in peace. God is awake. Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm. I was in Chelsea police station where I was charged with perjury and conspiracy to pervert public justice. I spent the next five hours alone in a police cell while waiting for the various formalities such as finger-printing and photographs. I used that time to pray, to meditate and to read all sixteen chapters of St Mark's Gospel, something I had long meant to do at one sitting. This should have been a time of deep despair. The worst day of my life. Not so. For I had such an overwhelming sense of God's presence in the cell with me that I was at peace. Jonathan Aitken in The Tablet. 12 June 1999 Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace it shouldn't be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice. Corazon Aquino Peace - In international affairs, a period of cheating between two periods of fighting. Ambrose Bierce: Devil's Dictionary Peace purchased at the cost of any part of our national integrity is fit only for slaves, and even when purchased for such a price it is a delusion, for it cannot last. - Wm. E. Borah Peace will not be preserved by pious sentiments."Winston Churchill (1874-1965) Even peace may be purchased at too high a price. --Benjamin Franklin Do not let your peace depend on what people say of you,
for whether they speak good or ill of you makes no
difference to what you are. True peace and joy is to be
found in Me alone. He who is neither anxious to please nor
afraid to displease men enjoys true peace. Who except God can give you peace? Has the world ever been able to satisfy the heart? Gerard Majella We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God. THOMAS MERTON Peace hath her victories If God be our God, He will give us peace in trouble. When there is a storm without, He will make peace within. The world can create trouble in peace, but God can create peace in trouble -- THOMAS WATSON
I am not a perfectionist. My parents were though. Mutum dan tara ne.- Man is a son of nine, i.e. he never has a perfect 10/10 score.- Hausa proverb, Nigeria. Perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things extraordinarlity well. Neglect nothing; the most trivial action may be performed to God.-- Angelique Arnauld. When a man says that he is perfect already, there is only one of two places for him, and that is heaven or the lunatic asylum. --Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) _Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit_ [1887] The greatest of all faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.-- Thomas Carlyle Abandon all hopes of utopia -- there are people involved.-- Clayton Cramer Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. - Salvadore Dali The surest hindrance of success is to have too high a standard of refinement in our own minds, or too high an opinion of the judgement of the public. He who is determined not to be satisfied with anything short of perfection will never do anything to please himself or others.-- Hazlitt (1778-1830) I have no faith in human perfectability. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not more happy - nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago. - Edgar Allan Poe, 1809 - 1849
Parish of enormous hayfields
The Moving Finger writes: and having writ,
In a democracy the majority of citizens is capable of
exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the
minority...and that oppression of the majority will extend
to far great number, and will be carried on with much
greater fury, than can almost ever be apprehended from the
dominion of a single sceptre. Under a cruel prince they have
the plaudits of the people to animate their generous
constancy under their sufferings; but those who are
subjected to wrong under multitudes are deprived of all
external consolation: they seem deserted by mankind,
overpowered by a conspiracy of their whole species. The earnest freethinkers need not worry themselves too
much about the persecutions of the past. Before the Liberal
idea is dead or triumphant, we shall see wars and
persecutions the like of which the World has never seen.
They need not reserve their tears for the victims of Bonner
or Claverhouse [leaders of religious persecution under
Mary Tudor and Charles II]. They may weep for themselves
and their children. When searching for examples of state-sponsored barbarities, intellectuals are quick to point to the Spanish Inquisition or its Protestant imitation, the Witchhunt. How could anyone, modern academics wonder, persecute another for their beliefs? These same intellectuals, ironically, are often the very people who served as cheerleaders for political persecution and mass murder on a scale unmatched in human history. The Spanish Inquisition claimed slightly more than 2,000 lives during its 25-year apex between 1480 and 1505. One would be hard pressed to find any 25-day period in Russia under Stalin, China under Mao, or Cambodia under Pol Pot in which the killing was that slight. Yet it is a Torquemada or Salem that is equated with homicidal intolerance. The crimes of Communismare ignored. Being generous, one might suppose that intellectuals are simplyblinded by the prejudices of our age and are unable to detach themselves and see the killing that has occurred right under their noses. A more cynical perspective might view their amnesia as a self-induced condition brought on as a method to absolve themselves of their own role in supporting murder. --Daniel J Flynn, Ideas Have Consequences... Like Murder, Tyranny, and Repression It is not conclusive proof of a doctrine's correctness that its adversaries use the police, the hangman, and violent mobs to fight it. But it is a proof of the fact that those taking recourse to violent oppression are in their subconsciousness convinced of the untenability of their own doctrines. -- Ludwig von Mises Come down, O Son of God! incestuous gloom
Rome wasn't burned in a day. Who climb with toil, wheresoe'er, Courage and perseverance have a magic talisman, before which difficulties and obstacles vanish into air. John Adams (1767-1848) It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.--Samuel Adams Those who gave thee a body, furnished it with weakness; but He who gave thee Soul, armed thee with resolution. Employ it, and thou art wise; be wise and thou art happy.- Akhenaton, Egyptian pharaoh c 1350 The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is, that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. Henry Ward Beecher Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing until it gets there. Josh Billings And gain is gain, however small.- Robert Browning (1812-1889) To make our way, we must have firm resolve, persistence, tenacity. We must gear ourselves to work hard all the way. We can never let up.Ralph Bunche (1904-1971) A Critical Analysis of the Tactics and Programs of Minority Groups, In "Journal of Negro Education, Jul 1935. Seeing that a Pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness. John Calvin Let us not cease to do the utmost, that we may
incessantly go forward in the way of the Lord; and let us
not despair of the smallness of our accomplishments. Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak. Thomas Carlyle Pablo Casals (1876-1973), the great cellist, when in his 90s, was once asked why he continued to practice on the cello for hours every day. His answer: "Because I think I'm seeing improvement." One man scorned and covered with scars still strove with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable stars; and the world will be better for this.CERVANTES, MIGUEL de (1547-1616,){Don Quixote de la Mancha, 1605-1615} Aim for perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable. However, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than those whose despondency and laziness make them give it up as unattainable. - Philip Dormer Chesterfield (1694-1773) Firmness of purpose is one of the most necessary sinews of character, and one of the best instruments of success. Without it genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies. - Philip Dormer Chesterfield (1694-1773) I learned ... that one can never go back, that one should not ever try to go back - that the essence of life is going forward. Life is really a one-way street, isn't it? Agatha Christie If you're going through hell, keep going. ---Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965 Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never- in nothing great or small, large or petty-never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Winston Churchill 1941--Harrow School Failure is the line of least persistence. - W. A. Clark Pursue one great decisive aim with force and
determination. The greatest glory is not in never failing but in rising up every time we fall. - Confucius. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. Calvin Coolidge To become a champion, fight one more round.-- James J. Corbett Most of us serve our ideals by fits and starts. The
person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his
goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. Ride on! Rough-shod if need be, smooth-shod if that will do, but ride on! Ride on over all obstacles, and win the race! -- Charles Dickens Through perserverence many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure....Benjamin Disraeli The secret of success is constancy of purpose. Disraeli (1804-1881) Nothing can resist the human will that will stake even its existence on its stated purpose.DISRAELI, BENJAMIN Neither place, parts, nay, nor graces, will exempt any man from falling. O believers, what need is there to be watchful and humble!-JAMES DURHAM History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats. B. C. Forbes How you start is important, but it is how you finish that counts. In the race for success, speed is less important than stamina. The sticker outlasts the sprinter.-- B. C. Forbes (1880-1954) In "Reader's Digest," Jan 1991. The only way round is through.-- Robert Frost (1874-1963) In "Barnes & Noble Book of Quotations," by Robert I. Fitzhenry, 1987. In the realm of ideas, everything depends on enthusiasm. In the real world, all rests on perseverance.-- Goethe We will find a way or make one.- Hannibal (247-182BC) It matters if you just don't give up.HAWKING, STEPHEN (1942- ) Heavy blizzards start as a gentle and persistent snow.- Mark Helprin Only a sweet and virtuous soul, Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.... Napoleon Hill It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. Edmund Hillary (1919-____) In "Reader's Digest." There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.- Josiah Gilbert Holland, 1819 - 1881 A man may write at any time, if he will set himself *doggedly* to it. -- Samuel Johnson (Boswell: Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides) When I find that so much of my life has stolen
unprofitably away, and that I can descry by retrospection
scarcely a few single days properly and vigorously employed,
why do I yet try to resolve again? I try, because
reformation is necessary and despair is criminal. I try, in
humble hope of the help of God. Resolve, and keep your resolution; choose, and pursue your choice. If you spend this day in study, you will find yourself still more able to study tomorrow; not that you are to expect that you shall all at once obtain a complete victory. Depravity is not very easily overcome. Resolution will sometimes relax, and diligence will sometimes be interrupted; but let no accidental surprise or deviation, whether short or long, dispose you to despondency. Boswell: Life of Johnson Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Samuel Johnson: Rasselas Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance; yonder palace was raised by single stones, yet you see its height and spaciousness. He that shall walk with vigour three hours a day, will pass in seven years a space equal to the circumference of the globe. Samuel Johnson: Rasselas All the performances of human art, at which we look with
praise or wonder, are instances of the resistless force of
perseverance; it is by this that the quarry becomes a
pyramid, and that distant countries are united with canals.
If a man was to compare the single stroke of the pickaxe, or
of one impression of the spade, with the general design and
the last result, he would be overwhelmed by the sense of
their disproportion; yet those petty operations, incessantly
continued, in time surmount the greatest difficulties, and
mountains are leveled and oceans bounded by the slender
force of human beings. Happy are they ... who shall learn ... not to despair, but shall remember, that though the day is past, and their strength is wasted, there yet remains one effort to be made; that reformation is never hopeless, nor sincere endeavours ever unassisted; that the wanderer may at length return after all his errours, and that he who implores strength and courage from above shall find danger and difficulty give way before him."- Samuel Johnson: Rambler #65 Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.... Michael Jordan No longer diverted by other emotions, I work the way a cow grazes. - Kathe Kollwitz (1867 &endash; 1945) I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards. Abraham Lincoln The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur. - Vincent Thomas Lombardi, 1913 - 1970 Endurance is the crowning quality, No worthy enterprise can be done by us without continual plodding and wearisomeness to our faint and sensitive abilities.-- John Milton. The power of the waterfall is nothing more than a bunch of drips working together. --Theresa Morris Victory belongs to the most persevering. Napoleon (1769-1821) Lack of will power has caused more failure than lack of intelligence or ability. Flower A. Newhouse If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent.-- Isaac Newton God hath work to do in this world; and to desert it because of its difficulties and entanglements, is to cast off His authority. It is not enough that we be just, that we be righteous, and walk with God in holiness; but we must also serve our generation, as David did before he fell asleep. God hath a work to do; and not to help Him is to oppose Him.-- John Owen A river continually fed by a living fountain may as soon end its streams before it come to the ocean, as a stop be put to the course and progress of grace before it issue in glory.- JOHN OWEN Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity. Louis Pasteur (1822-1895 Life has not taught me to expect nothing, but she has taught me not to expect success to be the inevitable result of my endeavors. She taught me to seek sustenance from the endeavor itself, but to leave the result to God." Alan Paton, "The Challenge of Fear," Saturday Review, September 9, 1967 Patience and diligence, like faith, remove mountains. --William Penn (1644-1718) Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little. Plutarch I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. - Christopher Reeve - Still Me To endure is the first thing that a child ought to learn, and that which he will have the most need to know. - Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712 - 1778 I exhort you and beseech you in the bowels of Christ, faint not, weary not. There is a great necessity of heaven; you must have it... Think it not easy; for it is a steep ascent to eternal glory; many are lying dead by the way, that were slain with security. SAMUEL RUTHERFORD (this quotation is from Letter 100) Tough times never last, but tough people do. Robert Schuller There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. Beverly Sills Whatever is done for men or classes, to a certain extent takes away the stimulus and necessity of doing for themselves... Help from without is often enfeebling, but help from within invigorates...... It is not the man of the greatest natural vigour and capacity who achieves the highest results but he who employs his powers with the greatest industry and the most carefully -disciplined skill..... The battle of life is in most cases fought uphill... if there were no difficulties there would be no success, if there was nothing to struggle for there would be nothing to be achieved. All experiences of life seems to prove that the impediments thrown in the way of the human advancement may for the most part be overcome by steady good conduct, honest zeal, activity, perseverance and above all, by a determined resolution to surmount difficulties and stand up manfully against misfortune. Samuel Smiles, "Self Help" We believe in the perseverance of the saints, but many are not saints, and therefore do not persevere. -- C.H. Spurgeon If our religion be of our own getting or making, it will perish; and the sooner it goes, the better; but if our religion is a matter of God's giving, we know that He shall never take back what He gives, and that, if He has commenced to work in us by His grace, He will never leave it unfinished. CHARLES SPURGEON To endure is greater than to dare; to tire out hostile fortune; to be daunted by no difficulty; to keep heart when all have lost it; to go through intrigue spotless; to forego even ambition when the end is gained - who can say this is not greatness? - William Makepeace Thackeray, 1811 - 1863 Don't bother about genius. Don't worry about being clever. Trust to hard work, perseverance and determination. And the best motto for a long march is: "Don't grumble. Plug on!"--- Sir Frederick Treves That which was hard to endure is sweet to remember. - Mark Twain, 1835 - 1910 To achieve great things we must live as if we were never going to die.--Marquis de Vauvenargues When God calls a man, He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do, love one day, and hate another; or as princes, who make their subjects favourites, and afterwards throw them into prison. This is the blessedness of a saint; his condition admits of no alteration. God's call is founded on His decree, and His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out his people's sins, but not their names THOMAS WATSON Do not attempt to do a thing unless you are sure of yourself; but do not relinquish it simply because someone else is not sure of you. --Stewart E. White Genius is divine perseverance. Genius I cannot claim, nor even extra brightness, but perseverance all can have.--Woodrow Wilson: Don't quit when the tide is lowest,
I've never seen a monument erected to a pessimist. Paul Harvey No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land or opened a new heaven to the human spirit. Helen Keller Pessimism wilts everything around it.-- Michael Levine Focus on your potential instead of your limitations. Alan Loy McGinnis Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples, don't count on harvesting Golden Delicious. Bill Meyer The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.--George F. Will (1941- )_The Leveling Wind_ [1994] A pessimist is one who builds dungeons in the air. -Walter Winchell
[Saint] Peter couldn't open his mouth without putting his foot in it. He also had feet of clay.
The philosopher DesCarte was sitting in a Restaurant, he had just eaten. The waitress asked, "Mr. DesCarte, would you like anything else?" He replied, "I think not." And he ceased to exist. I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are very wise and very beautiful; but I never read in either of them: "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. - Augustine (354-430) CARTESIAN, adj. Relating to Descartes, a famous philosopher, author of the celebrated dictum, *Cogito ergo sum* -- whereby he was pleased to suppose he demonstrated the reality of human existence. The dictum might be improved, however, thus: *Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum* -- "I think that I think, therefore I think that I am;" as close an approach to certainty as any philosopher has yet made. --Ambrose Bierce (1842-c.1914) in The Devil's Dictionary (1911) The modern habit of saying, "Every man has a different philosophy; this is my philosophy and it suits me"--the habit of saying this is mere weak mindedness. A cosmic philosophy is not constructed to fit a man; a cosmic philosophy is constructed to fit a cosmos. A man can no more possess a private religion than he can possess a private sun and moon. -- G K Chesterton, from a forward to an edition of the Book of Job, 1907 There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said
it. It (modern philosophy) certainly exacts a surrender of all supernaturalism and fixed dogma and rigid institutionalism with which Christianity has been historically associated. John Dewey No one should pay attention to a man delivering a lecture or a sermon on his "philosophy of life" until we know exactly how he treats his wife, his children, his neighbors, his friends, his subordinates and his enemies. --Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986) There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers. --- William James After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that everything in the uni-verse is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, `I refute it thus.'-James Boswell, _Life of Samuel Johnson_ It is in precisely in knowing its limits that philosophy consists. - Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Critique of Pure Reason 1781 There was an awful rainbow once in heaven: Relativism says it is impossible to be wrong in any way that matters. As such it is the opiate of the people. - Dick Keyes The true function of philosophy is to educate us in the principles of reasoning and not to put an end to further reasoning by the introduction of fixed conclusions.- George Henry Lewes (1817-1878) The Biographical History of Philosophy. If particulars are to have meaning, there must be universals. PLATO His philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools: the Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans - and summed up all three of them in his famous phrase, 'You can't trust any bugger further than you can throw him, and there's nothing you can do about it, so let's have a drink.' -- Terry Pratchett,_Small Gods_ No finite point has meaning without an infinite reference point. JEAN PAUL SARTE There is a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker. --Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000) Without God man has no reference point to define himself. 20th century philosophy manifests the chaos of man seeking to understand himself as a creature with dignity while having no reference point for that dignity. R C. SPROUL
My photographs don't do me justice -they just look like me ~Phyllis Diller.
About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment. Josh Billings (1818-1885) In "Webster's Electronic Quotebase," ed. Keith Mohler, 1994
Proper prior planning prevents poor performance. The best laid schemes o' mice and men Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. - Keane, Roy Let God be the judge of sin Mr Marcham. We are all too eager to think our pleasures must be blessed. - The Tenant of Wildfell H, BBC TV adatptaion of Anne Bronte. (not found in the novel) In everything satiety closely follows the greatest pleasures.--Cicero (B.C. 106-43) True saints have their minds, in the first place, inexpressibly pleased and delighted with the sweet ideas of the glorious and amiable nature of the things of God. And this is the spring of all their delights, and the cream of all their pleasures... JONATHAN EDWARDS - Religious Affections Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook.--THOMAS JEFFERSON Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our
brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by
unexpected sparks. The publick pleasures of far the greater part of mankind are counterfeit. ... The general condition of life is so full of misery, that we are glad to catch delight without enquiring whence it comes, or by what power it is bestowed." -- Samuel Johnson: Idler #18 The pleasures of the world are deceitful; they promise more than they give. They trouble us in seeking them, they do not satisfy us when possessing them, and they make us despair in losing them.--Mad. de Lambert Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure ints healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in asense, on the Enemy's ground. I know we have won many a soulthrough pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula. It is more certain; and it's better style. To getthe man's soul and give him nothing in return--that is what really gladdens our Father's heart.--C. S. Lewis, _The Screwtape Letters_ The first great pleasure of God is his pleasure in the Son. --John Piper _The Pleasures of God_ p. 34 What fools are they who, for a drop of pleasure, drink a sea of wrath. - THOMAS WATSON
These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own. - GKC, _Illustrated London News_ 8-11-28 America's founders were seized by a great liberal vision
-- a country in which people would freely exchange ideas
arising from a plurality of interests. From this dialogue,
truth could be rationally discovered. But in today's
relativistic environment, pluralism no longer means
tolerating competing ideas. It means forced neutrality.
According to this view, no one should express any idea that
could offend someone else. Thus relativism absolutizes pluralism. That is, it takes the clearly observable fact that we have a multitude of views and values and practices in the world‚ - pluralism‚ - and draws the illegitimate conclusion that there is no justifiable way of choosing among them. Truth is merely opinion, goodness only what the majority says it is. Daniel Taylor, Deconstructing the gospel of tolerance., Christianity Today. January 11, 1999 Vol. 43, No. 1, Page 42.
The General ... repeated nearly the whole of Gray's Elegy .... adding, as he concluded, that he would prefer being the author of that poem to the glory of beating the French tomorrow - Written of James Wolfe (1727-59) who died capturing Quebec.
One reason why George Washington Hall's Laws of Politics: Headline: Bear takes over Disneyland in Pooh D'Etat! Revolution is an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. The voters have spoken, the bastards. Guy Fawkes -- the only man who ever entered Parliament with honest intentions. Politicians, like diapers, should be changed regularly, and for much the same reasons. There is no worse heresy then that the office sanctifies the holder of it. -- Lord Acton These bickerings of opposite parties, and their mutual reproaches their declamations, their sing-song, their triumphs and defiances, their dismals and prophecies, are all delusion.-- John Adams to Abigail; Jul 16, 1774 I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate."- John Adams I agree with you that in politics the middle way is none at all. - John Adams (1767-1848) In "Adam," no. 299, "Samples from Almost Illegible Notebooks," 1962. Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences."-- Susan B. Anthony I may be president of the United States, but my private life is nobody's damned business.- Chester A. Arthur(1830-1886) US president: Responding to a visitor asking him about his expensive tastes. Man is by nature a political animal.-- Aristotle The best political community is formed by citizens of the middleclass. Aristotle Those with a more liberal viewpoint such as Mr. Weeks rarely esteem those to their social and theological right as compassionate. JB The politician is an acrobat; he keeps his balance by doing the opposite of what he says. Marice Barres (1862 &endash; 1923); You don't have to fool all the people all of the time; you just have to fool enough to get elected. Gerald Barza The British electors will not vote for a man who does not wear a hat.-- Lord Beaverbrook Even Napoleon had his Watergate.-- Yogi Berra POLITICS: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary (1911) - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary (1911) The Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men. Dan. 4:17 Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable . . . the art of the next best.--Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) Remark to Prince Meyer von Waldeck, 11 Aug 1867 People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.-Otto von Bismarck The fight for liberty is one in which we ought to be willing to engage. It goes without saying that Christians who judge the battle to be one that requires active participation are required to fight in accordance with the appropriate application of Christian "just war" criteria. In the political arena, the rule of civility is top of the list. - John Bolt, A Free Church, A Holy Nation: Abraham Kuyper's American Public Theology, Eerdmans, 2001 p.384 In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.-- Napoleon Bonaparte In politics, merit is rewarded by the possessor being raised, like a target, to a position to be fired at.-- Christian Nevell Bovee No wonder that, when a political career is so precarious, men of worth and capacity hesitate to embrace it. They cannot afford to be thrown out of their life's course by a mere accident.-- James Bryce (1838-1922) "The American Commonwealth," vol. 2, ch. 58, 1888. Too bad all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair. George Burns I have no consistency, except in politics; and that probably arises from my indifference to the subject altogether.-- Lord Byron Sometimes in politics one must duel with skunks, but no one should be fool enough to allow the skunks to choose the weapons.-Joe Cannon (R-IL) Vain hope, to make people happy by politics.~ Thomas Carlyle 1795 - 1881, Journal, (Oct 10, 1831) If there is one eternal truth of politics, it is that there are always a dozen good reasons for doing nothing.-- John le Carre We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles. Jimmy Carter (1924-____) Vain hope to make men happy by politics! -- Thomas Carlyle, _Journal_, 1831 In politics, there is no use looking beyond the next fortnight. - Joseph Chamberlain (1836 &endash; 1914) There is little place in the political scheme of things for an independent, creative personality, for a fighter. Anyone who takes that role must pay a price.- Shirley Chisholm (1924-____) In "Words of Women Quotations for Success," by Power Dynamics Publishing, 1997 No part of the education of a politician is more indispensable than the fighting of elections.-- Winston Churchill I would have been glad to have lived under my woodside, and to have kept a flock of sheep, rather than to have undertaken this government. --Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)_To Parliament_ [1658] What this country needs is more unemployed politicians. - Angela Davis (1944 &endash; ) A man that would expect to train lobsters to fly in a year is called a lunatic; but a man that thinks men can be turned into angels by an election is a reformer and remains at large.-- Finley Peter Dunne An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry. George Eliot For the whole of my political life, Labour has espoused a view of human nature which is simply wrong. The self-regarding side has been ignored or suppressed" All the cant that we paraded on stilts, the notion that we were only motivated by altruism, must have left the punters bewildered and angry: it is just not how the world works. "Our job now is to show how self-interest &endash; a natural and wholesome instinct, the greatest driving force in all of us &endash; can also promote the common good.The last government failed to distinguish between self-interest and selfish greed. If people are worrying about their future, their children's future, the care of their elderly parents, they won't have time or sympathy for more vulnerable people. Our aim must be to make them so happy that we can win their support for other people less fortunate. Frank Field The United States has not sent troops to the Saudi desert to preserve democratic principles. The Saudi monarch is a feudal regime that does not even allow women to drive cars. Surely it is not American policy to make the world safe for feudalism. This is about money, about protecting governments loyal to America and punishing those that are not, and about who will set the price of oil. ~ Thomas L. Friedland, 'Washington's Vital Interests', NY Times. Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.-John Kenneth Galbraith There exists no politician in India daring enough to attempt to explain to the masses that cows can be eaten. Indira Gandhi In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country of the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.-- Charles De Gaulle In the tumult of men and events, solitude was my temptation; now it is my friend. What other satisfaction can be sought once you have confronted History? - Charles De Gaulle (1890-1970) "War Memoirs," vol. 3, ch. 7, 1959. So why did I join? (The Christian Peoples Alliance) Well, when I came to the UK I saw it was a Christian country - its Christian foundations were the reason for tolerant and compassionate asylum regime. Over time I realised that Christianity underpinned both law and our political institutions. Yet today it is under threat. Truly we are witnessing a clash of cultures - not Christianity versus Islam, but religious world views against secular fundamentalisms. What are we to do about it? For me, the CPA is a means to renew the consent for the Christian world view in public life and policy. When our opponents talk of 'pluralism', I find thisÝis a mask for an agenda to privatise Christianity. They oppose the idea that Christianity should remain public truth in the public square. They want it to be one choice among many. How often are we told "You can have that view, but keep it to yourself"? "- Ram Gidoomal "Karma, Politics and the Holy Spirit" - A Review of the CPA's Future, Address to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Group, Saturday June 19th 2204, Friends House, Euston Nothing that is morally wrong can be politically right. - William E. Gladstone (1809 &endash; 1898) How small, of all that human hearts endure, There's nothing left . . . but to get drunk. - Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) When asked what a President should do after leaving office; in "Rutherford B. Hayes and His America," by Harry Barnard, p 503, 1954. The two major political parties can be summed up this way: There are two parties, one is the Stupid Party and the other is the Evil Party. Occasionally these two parties create legislation that is both stupid and evil. This is called bi-partisianship. -- Andrew Grooms The best party is but a kind of conspiracy against the rest of the nation.-- Lord Halifax, 1750 In political matters feeling often decides more correctly than reason. -- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 173 To err is human. To blame someone else is politics. The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.-- HUMPHREY, HUBERT HORATIO (1911-1978, ) The concentrating [of powers] in the same hands is precisely the definition of despotic government. It will be no alleviation that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one.-- Thomas Jefferson How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of Negroes? Johnson: Taxation No Tyranny Politicks are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. With this sole view do men engage in politicks, and their whole conduct proceeds upon it.- Samuel Johnson (Boswell: Life of Johnson) Faction seldom leaves a man honest, however it might find him.- Samuel Johnson: Milton (Lives of the Poets) Why, Sir, most schemes of political improvement are very laughable things. - Samuel Johnson (Boswell: Life of Johnson) Why, Sir, most schemes of political improvement are very laughable things. -- Samuel Johnson (Boswell: Life of Johnson) Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.-- Henry Kissinger Anyone in his position needs to be whiter than white.-- Dame Jill Knight MP on Nelson Mandela, BBC Radio Ulster, 1990. Politicophobia is not calvinistic, is not Christian, is
not ethical. The more I see of the representatives of the people, the more I admire my dogs.- Alphonse de Lamartine Many Christians are reluctant to become involved in public affairs be cause politics is a "dirty business", but the same people are generally quite happy to go into business life, which is in its way just as "dirty". If the dubious practices and moral compromises of every walk of life were dissected and made known with the glare of publicity which shines on the activities of politicians, then those who like to think that they can keep their hands clean would have very few professions to choose from. John Lawrence, Hard Facts [1958] I once said cynically of a politician, "He'll double-cross that bridge when he comes to it.--Oscar Levant To be happy at home, said Johnson, is the end of all human endeavour. As long as we are thinking only of natural values we must say that the sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal, or two friends talking over a pint of beer, or a man alone reading a book that interests him; and that all economics, politics, laws, armies, and institutions, save in so far as they prolong and multiply such scenes, are a mere ploughing the sand and sowing the ocean, a meaningless vanity and vexation of spirit. ... But do not let us mistake necessary evils for good. The mistake is easily made. Fruit has to be tinned if it is to be transported, and has to lose thereby some of its good qualities. But one meets people who have learned actually to prefer the tinned fruit to the fresh. A sick society must think much about politics, as a sick man must think much about his digestion: to ignore the subject may be fatal cowardice for the one as for the other. But if either comes to regard it as the natural food of the mind - if either forgets that we think of such things only in order to be able to think of something else - then what was undertaken for the sake of health has become itself a new and deadly disease.--C. S. Lewis "Membership" Sobernost #31 (June 1945) Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies.-- Groucho Marx Does a political party have no greater priority than its selfish self-perpetuation? G Maurie I voted for the Democrats because I didn't like the way the Republicans were running the country. Which is turning out to be like shooting yourself in the head to stop your headache.--Jack Mayberry Being in politics is like being in a football game. You have to be smart enough to know the game and stupid enough to think it important.-- Senator Eugene McCarthy (D-MN) You can be a rooster one day and a feather duster the next ~Frank McManus, on political life, Sydney Morning Herald 28 Dec 1974 God is a Republican, and Santa Claus is a Democrat. --H. L. Mencken Advertisement: African Grey Parrot for sale. Good talker. Owner no longer shares political opinions.-- The News Quiz BBC Radio 4 I reject the cynical view that politics is inevitably, or even usually, a dirty business. ~ Richard M. Nixon (August 1973) A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows. O'Henry As any politician will tell you: you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time -- and usually that's enough. - Robert Orben Politics should be limited in scope to war, protection of property, and the occasional precautionary beheading of a member of the ruling class. P.J. O'Rourke Political language...is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.-- George Orwell We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are perpetual and eternal and those interests it is our duty to follow. --Lord Palmerston, 1848 Public office is the last refuge of the incompetent. - Boies Penrose (1860 &endash; 1921) US senator (PA) Life is primarily political because politics is inevitably religious and has as its 'raison d'etre', its entire rationale, the administration of the law of an ultimate authority, i.e. a god, in the totality of life. In this sense, therefore, we can say that Christianity is the only 'true' politics. All other political ideologies are false, i.e. idolatrous.The body of Christ, as the 'polis' (the city) of God, whose 'demos' (people) constitute the 'ekklesia' (the body politic), is a political organism, and all other political organisms are apostate and in rebellion against God, their rightful King. Stephen Perks ,'Christianity As A Political Faith' 'Christianity & Society', April 2004 Sir, At midnight the Nanny State will truly have arrived:
we will all have to have our meat cut up for us. The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. -- Plato One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. Plato A little nonsense now and then is not a bad thing. Where would we politicians be if we were not allowed to talk it sometimes? Enoch Powell 1964 For a politician to complain about the press is like a ship's captain complaining about the sea. Enoch Powell Guardian article, 1984 I was born a Tory, am a Tory and shall die a Tory. I never yet heard that it was any part of the faith of a Tory to take the institutions and liberties, the laws and customs which this country has evolved over centuries and merge them with those of eight other nations into a new-made artificial state, and what is more to do so without the willing approbation and consent of the nation. Enoch Powell February 1974 No one is forced to be a politician. It can only compare
with fox hunting and writing poetry. These are two things
that men do for sheer enjoyment, too. All politics are based on the indifference of the majority.-- James Reston Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realise that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. REAGAN, RONALD (1911-) The Conservative Party is a broad church....The problem is that we don't have enough worshippers at the moment.-- John Redwood 6.5.97 All politics are based on the indifference of the majority.--James Reston, _New York Times_ [June 12, 1968] He who lives by demogoguery shall die by tabloid poisoning. -- Joe Rogaly Democrats are the only reason to vote for Republicans.--Will Rogers Kuyper's simple yet profound Christian vision was based
upon a deep faith as Christ as the King over the entire
cosmos. The exercise of this Christian vision in public
affairs can be called "political spiritualiy" - the ability
to discern the directions sin and grace take in public
affairs. Politial spirituality is an integrated Christian
attitude which enriches both thought and action. ...This
attitude of political spirtiuality must not be confused with
Kuyper's political tactics. Tactics change as times and
situations differ, "political spiritualiy" remains a part of
a Christian's obligations to do all things to the glory of
God. The attitude of christians towards a secularised
society determines what they think and do. One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny. Bertrand Russell People vote their resentment, not their appreciation. The average man does not vote for anything but against something. Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) A politician should have three hats. One for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected.-- Carl Sandberg For socialists, not just the wealth, but the guilt, must be redistributed. Andrew Sandlin ....the difference between the west and the rest is that western societies are governed by politics;the rest are ruled by power.- Roger Scruton, The West and the Rest, ISI Books, 2002, p 7 The art of government is the organisation of idolatry. G B Shaw Some day a politician will arise who will be so devoted to truth that he will follow it, knowing that by doing so, he will go down to defeat. That day will be the restoration of politics as principles; it will also be the rebirth of a nation. --Fulton John Sheen (1895-1979) _Way to Inner Peace_ [1955] Wherever I go in this country, people know there is a problem.-- Billy Snedden, leader of the Australian Liberal Party, campaigning in 1974. Five decades? Six? Seven? How long should it take to understand that the life of a community cannot be reduced to politics or wholly encompassed by government? The time in which we live has unfathomable depths beneath it. Our age is a mere film on the surface of time. --Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, _November 1916_ "crisis": any situation you want to change Politics! You can wrap it up in fancy ribbons, but you can't hide the smell.-- Norman Spinrad I will make a bargain with the Republicans. If they will stop telling lies about Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them. Adlai Stevenson This woman is headstrong,obstinate and dangerously self-opinionated.-- ICI personnel report 1948 rejecting a job application from Margaret Thatcher You can't fool too many of the people too much of the time. James Thurber Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent,hard-working, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percentthat get all the publicity. But then we elected them.~ Lily Tomlin You might think that, I couldn't possibly comment -- Francis Urquhart in Michael Dobbs' "House Of Cards" (TV screenplay) As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it. - Martin Van Buren (1782 &endash; 1862) Politicians fascinate because they constitute such a paradox; they are an elite that accomplishes mediocrity for the public good. - George Will
The "right to be offended," at virtually any time and under nearly any set of circumstances, is considered to be one of the more sacrosanct contributions of political correctness. -- DONALD DEMARCO, Acting Niggardly Because I am a man, my opinion regarding the role of women in society no longer counts. Not because I'm not properly briefed regarding women's issues, but because I am a Christian, conservative, white male. Yes sir, I'm the new millennium's latest whipping boy … the receptacle of all society's ills … the pariah of postmodernism … the spawn of all societal sewage. - Doug Giles, Day Dreamin' Anti-Dude Dames, http://www.townhall.com/columnists/douggiles/dg20040424.shtml Political correctness is just tyranny with manners.--Charlton Heston, Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts March 28, 2000 We want to create a sort of linguistic Lourdes, where
evil and misfortune are dispelled by a dip in the waters of
euphemism. People find victimhood appealing because they believe it absolves them of their own misdeeds; it imbues them witha sense of righteousness. -- Wendy Kaminer Political correctness is the natural continuum from the party line. What we are seeing once again is a self-appointed group of vigilantes imposing their views on others. It is a heritage of communism, but they don't seem to see this.--Doris Lessing Remember, I live in Oregon. I am aware of the attitudes.
Political correctness is more righteous than the
righteousness of God. God is to blamed not worshipped. This
is the state that gives terminally ill people the right to
commit suicide, will pour out onto the beaches to save a
whale and will march for the right to abortion. You must take it as your sworn duty to do your utmost to prevent people from printing, voicing, writing or otherwise disseminating any communication which is either unfavorable to or not in agreement with Leftwing Liberal dogma and you must also strictly enforce Political Correctness, while at the same time doing your best to muzzle and silence those who don't agree with you. Tell adversaries to "Do as I say, and I'll do as I please!" This is not censorship, hypocrisy or Double Standards, but rather, "Freedom of Speech" an important Constitutional Amendment written to give Leftwing Liberals their God-given rights, even if they renounce and don't believe in God and even if they think rights are only for Leftwing Liberals. ~ The Official Leftwing Liberal Handbook ~ http://alohahawaii.home.att.net/leftwing.html Being Politically Correct means always having to say you're sorry. --Charles Osgood Considering "niggard" a racist word makes no more sense than saying that women personstruate. - Tom Parsons EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE A VICTIM. And the paradox is that victim status accrues precisely to those who can acquire enough clout to make others afraid of them. Victimhood has become one of the fruits of power. Anyone can be an underdog; the trick is to be a registered, pedigreed underdog. - Joseph Belloc Sobran
My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. Proverbs 1:10 The most damaging kind of pornography - and I'm talking from hard, real, personal experience - is that which involves violence and sexual violence. The wedding of those two forces - as I know only too well - brings about behavior that is too terrible to describe. - Ted Bundy The Hugh Hefner Curve: You start a magazine proclaiming that sex; so far from being dirty, is not even serious, it's just good clean fun. A few decades later you have massive abortions, vast numbers of illegitimate children born to teenagers from the poorest strata of society, and a delightful organisation named the "North American Man Boy Love Association" going on national T.V. to explain that your basic paedophile is not a pervert and child molester, but rather a lonely boy's best friend. David Carlin The use of pornography by its very nature isolates individuals-making them more intent on satisfying selfish needs. Once addicted, they could not throw off their dependence on the material by themselves despite many negative consequences such as divorce, and problems with the law. Being immersed in their fantasies, they tend to have an increasing sense that "everybody does it" and this gave them permission to also do it, even though the activity was possibly illegal and contrary to their previous moral beliefs. Afterwards, "they tend to act out sexually the behaviors viewed in the pornography, including compulsive promiscuity, exhibitionism, having sex with minor children, rape, and inflicting pain on themselves or a partner during sex.. This behavior grew into sexual addiction, which they found themselves locked into-no matter what the negative consequences were in their life. - Dr. Cline Pornography is the orchestrated destruction of women's bodies and souls; rape, battery, incest, and prostitution animate it; dehumanization and sadism characterize it; it is war on women, serial assaults on dignity, identity, and human worth; it is tyranny. Each woman who has survived knows from the experience of her own life that pornography is captivity -- the woman trapped in the picture used on the woman trapped wherever he's got her.--Andrea Dworkin What is at stake is civilization and humanity, nothing less. The idea that 'everything is permitted', as Nietzsche put it, rests on the premise of nihilism and has nihilistic implications. I will not pretend that the case against nihilism and for civilization is an easy one to make. We are here confronting the most fundamental of philosophical questions, on the deepest levels. In short, the matter of pornography and obscenity is not a trivial one, and only superficial minds can take a bland and untroubled view of it.- Irving KRISTOL, "Pornography, Obscenity and the Case for Censorship" from "On the Democratic Idea in America" New York: Harper & Row, 1972. In the United States, pornography is the third largest money-maker for organized crime - after drugs and gambling - an $8 - 10 billion per year enterprise. In response to the FBI's questions on the subject, 81 percent of serial killers surveyed said that hard-core pornography was their highest sexual interest. - William Marshall Catering to a sex craze sweeping across our world, authors, publishers, and movie moguls continue to reap the commercial benefits of their selfish pursuits. Gratification and graft have a hammer lock on many, many young minds and lives and have choked out needed spiritual awareness. Evil is out in the open. Sin has gained the privileged position. James Massey How do I know pornography depraves and corrupts? It depraves and corrupts me. Malcolm Muggeridge Vice is a monster of so frightful mein The victoms of pornography are boys and girls that have lost their innocence by viewing pornography at an early age. Wives of men preoccupied with pornography and the sex industry. Women who are being treated with disrespect and sexually abused. Young women trapped in an industry that exploits them and uses them as mere sex objects. Children used for the sexual satisfaction of fathers, stepfathers, and men they trusted. Young men exposed to a false image of sexuality. Men who just can't stop using pornography or stimulating themselves while recalling those images. A society that has become desensitized and dependent upon sex-charged images. Neighborhoods that have increased crime and decreased property values because of the proliferation of pornography in their communities. - Harry Schaumburg Pornography tells lies about women. But pornography tells the truth about men.--John Stoltenberge What good is an obscenity trial except to popularize literature? Rex Stout
All things are possible, except for skiing through a revolving door. The greatest waste in the world is the difference between what we are and what we could become.--Ben Herbster There is no heavier burden than a great potential. --Linus, "Peanuts"
Though volumes have been written both for and against deconstruction, not all critics agree that it deserves so much attention. If we suppose its basic premise that texts are only self-referential is true, then deconstruction self-destructs.....After all, the assertion that 'all texts are self-referential and refer to nothing outside the text,' if true, could only refer to itself; it would apply to no external texts whatsoever." -- Adam Devore The postmodern worldview denies that there is such a thing as truth: historical, moral, or otherwise. It denies that truth exists independently of our perspectives and interests. - Mark Earley, BreakPoint 08/13/2002 But the Left has truly mastered this art [of misrepresentation], perhaps because they get so much practice in university English departments. After all, if you can reduce the millions of pages of the Western canon into a bumper sticker of racism, sexism, and homophobia, how hard can it be to make a conservative sound racist when he talks about a "colorblind society" or "equal opportunity"?-- Jonah Goldberg We are the first generation bombarded with so many stories from so many "authorities," none of which are our own. The parable of the postmodern mind is the person surrounded by a media center: three television screens in front of them giving three sets of stories; fax machines bringing in other stories; newspapers providing still more stories. In a sense, we are saturated with stories; we're saturated with points of view. But the effect of being bombarded with all of these points of view is that we don't have a point of view and we don't have a story. We lose the continuity of our experiences; we become people who are written on from the outside. - Sam Keen (Story Lore) Perhaps it is being nostalgic for the 1960s, but occasionally I find much more noble existentialism's avowal of meaninglessness followed by despair than postmodernism's embrace of meaninglessness, followed by play, and ideological manipulations of the text. In a word, postmodernism reminds us that while God speaks an infallible authoritative word, our ability to interpret it is not without error. In other words, while the Bible itself comes from "above the sun," interpretation is an "under the sun" activity-- Tremper Longman III, READING THE BIBLE POSTMODERNLY There are no facts, only interpretations.... Frederick Wilhelm Nietzsche, (1844-1900) Postmodernism is the most fertile source of academic waffle since Aristotle; it has given a grateful world such completely incomprehensible and basically useless concepts as "deconstruction", "intertextuality" and indeed "postmodernism" itself. For self-styled cultural commentators bankrupt of particularly original ideas postmodern is a handy label to attach to anything in order to create he impression that one is saying something really radical. All this is helped by the fact that essentially no-one understands what postmodernism means, and therefore anything remotely contemporary can be tagged "postmodern." from Postmodern Culchie Base Camp Each of them (Foucault,Derrida,Rorty) owes his reputation to a kind of religious faith: faith in the relativity of all opinions, including this one. - Roger Scruton, The West and the Rest, ISI Books, 2002, p 75
I have taken a vow of poverty. To annoy me send money. Come away; poverty's catching. - Aphra Behn (1640 &endash; 1689) ..if the death of Christ on the cross is the true meaning of the Incarnation, then there is no gospel without the cross. Christmas by itself is no gospel. The life of Christ is no gospel. Even the resurrection, important as it is in the total scheme of things, is no gospel by itself. For the good news is not just that God became man, nor that God has spoken to reveal a proper way of life for us, or even that death, the great enemy, is conquered. Rather, the good news is that sin has been dealt with (of which the resurrection is a proof); that Jesus has suffered its penalty for us as our representative, so that we might never have to suffer it; and that therefore all who believe in him can look forward to heaven. ...Emulation of Christ s life and teaching is possible only to those who enter into a new relationship with God through faith in Jesus as their substitute. The resurrection is not merely a victory over death (though it is that) but a proof that the atonement was a satisfactory atonement in the sight of the Father (Rom 4:25); and that death, the result of sin, is abolished on that basis. Any gospel that talks merely of the Christ-event, meaning the Incarnation without the atonement, is a false gospel. Any gospel that talks about the love of God without pointing out that his love led him to pay the ultimate price for sin in the person of his Son on the cross is a false gospel. The only true gospel is of the one mediator (1 Tim. 2:5-6), who gave himself for us. Finally, just as there can be no gospel without the atonement as the reason for the Incarnation, so also there can be no Christian life without it. Without the atonement the Incarnation themeeasily becomes a kind of deification of the human and leads to arrogance and self advancement. With the atonement the true message of the life of Christ, and therefore also of the the life of the Christian man or woman, is humility and self sacrifice for the obvious needs of others. The Christian life is not indifference to those who are hungry or sick or suffering from some other lack. It is not contentment with our own abundance, neither the abundance of middle class living with home and cars and clothes and vacations, nor the abundance of education or even the spiritual abundance of good churches, Bibles, Bible teaching or Christian friends and acquaintances. Rather, it is the awareness that others lack these things and that we must therefore sacrifice many of our own interests in order to identify with them and thus bring them increasingly into the abundance we enjoy...We will live for Christ fully only when we are willing to be impoverished, if necessary, in order that others might be helped.--JAMES MONTGOMERY BOICE, Foundations of the Christian Faith A greater poverty than that caused by money is the poverty of unawareness. Men and women go about the world unaware of the goodness, the beauty, the glories in it. Their souls are poor. It is better to have a poor pocketbook than to suffer from a poor soul. Thomas Dreier The poor man wishes to conceal his poverty, and the rich man his wealth: the former fears lest he be despised, the latter lest he be plundered. - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach Give, Sympathise, Control - T S Eliot, The Wasteland I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasn't poor, I was needy. Then they told me it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy. I was deprived. (Oh not deprived but rather underprivileged) Then they told me that underprivileged was overused. I was disadvantaged. I still don't have a dime. But I have a great vocabulary. Jules Feiffer Neither great poverty nor great riches will hear reason. Henry Fielding I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means.I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. - Benjamin Franklin, in "The Encouragement of Idleness," 1766 The poor on the borderline of starvation live purposeful lives. To be engaged in a desperate struggle for food and shelter is to be wholly free from a sense of futility.--Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)_The True Believer_ [1951] The inevitable consequence of poverty is dependence. Samuel Johnson: Dryden (Lives of the Poets) Poverty will enforce dependence, and invite corruption; it will almost always produce a passive compliance with the wickedness of others; and there are few who do not learn by degrees to practise those crimes which they cease to censure.- Samuel Johnson: Rambler #57 What signifies, says some one, giving halfpence to beggars? they only lay it out in gin or tobacco. "And why should they be denied such sweeteners of their existence (says Johnson)? it is surely very savage to refuse them every possible avenue to pleasure, reckoned too coarse for our own acceptance. Life is a pill which none of us can bear to swallow without gilding; yet for the poor we delight in stripping it still barer, and are not ashamed to shew even visible displeasure, if ever the bitter taste is taken from their mouths." -- Hester Thrale Piozzi: Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson He that pines with hunger, is in little care how others shall be fed.The poor man is seldom studious to make his grandson rich. - Samuel Johnson: Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads
and empty hearts can do that. You can't get rid of poverty by giving people money. P. J. O'Rourke As society advances, the standard of poverty rises. - James Reston (1909 &endash; 1995) Poverty is the only load which is the heavier the more loved ones there are to assist in bearing it. - Jean Paul Richter And the mistake of the best men through generation after generation, has been that great one of thinking to help the poor by almsgiving, and by preaching of patience or of hope, and by every other means, emollient or consolatory, except the one thing which God orders for them, justice. --John Ruskin, "Unto This Last" Poor and content is rich and rich enough. William Shakespeare. Othello. Act ii. Sc. 3. Let us celebrate the poor, There's market for their pain, Let us celebrate the Poor. Their ills, their sins, their faulty diction, Their hopes and struggles and agonies, The line between hunger and anger is a thin line.--John E. Steinbeck, "The Grapes of Wrath" We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. - Mother Teresa, 1910 - 1997 We still have to find some way of combining Christian charity with sensible social policy-- Margaret Thatcher, The Path to Power, Harper Collins,1995, p11 The more is given the less people will work for
themselves, and the less they work the more their poverty
will increase. Who, being loved, is poor?- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
The four most miserable years of my life. - John Adams (1735 &endash; 1826) US President (2), on the Presidency When a man is intoxicated by alcohol, he can recover, but when intoxicated by power, he seldom recovers. - James F. Byrnes (1879 &endash; 1972) Power without responsibility - the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages~ Rudyard Kipling 1931. ..power is not really good or bad; it is neutral. Power itself is not negative or positive, although our feelings about it may be. Power is the potential to influence others for good or evil, to be a blessing or a scourge. Like nuclear energy, it can provide the electricity to light a city, or it can fuel the bomb that destroys it. -Blaine Lee Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. -- Abraham Lincoln Power worship blurs political judgement because it leads, almost unavoidably to the belief that the present trends will continue. Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible. ~ George Orwell, James Burnham and The Managerial Revolution (1946) Power is responsibility: it is service, not privilege. -- John Paul II [Karol Wojtyla] (1920- ) _An Invitation to Joy_ [1999] If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure - Harry Sherer We must never delude ourselves into thinking that physical power is a substitute for moral power, which is the truth sign of national greatness. --Adlai E. Stevenson (1900-1965) (Speech at Hartford, Connecticut [September 18, 1952])
Look upon the rainbow, and praise him who made it. Sirach 43:11 Let us go and wake up the universe .. and sing his praises. Mariam Baouard But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in
your salvation. \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/
\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ ...a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Isa. 61:3 Were the holiest heart upon earth enlarged to the vast comprehension of this great world's wideness; nay, made capable of all the glorious and magnificent hallelujahs and hearty praises offered to Jehovah, both by all the militant and triumphant church, yet would it come infinitely short of sufficiently magnifying, admiring, and adoring the inexplicable mystery and bottomless depth of this free, independent mercy, and love to God, the Fountain and First Mover of all our good. - ROBERT BOLTON I praise loudly, I blame softly Catherine the Great (1729-1796) Russian empress: Letter, 23 Aug 1794 Do not trust the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you or I were going to be hanged.--Oliver Cromwell referring to a cheering crowd.1654 Who Said What When; Chronological Dictionary of Quotations. If I was a nightingale I would sing like a nightingale; if a swan, like a swan. But since I am a rational creature my role is to praise God. --Epictectus Praise shall conclude that work which prayer began.-- William Jenkyn Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity. - Dr Samuel Johnson, 1709 - 1784 He has great tranquillity of heart who cares neither for the praises nor the fault-finding of men. He will easily be content and pacified, whose conscience is pure. You are not holier if you are praised, nor the more worthless if you are found fault with. What you are, that you are; neither by word can you be made greater than what you are in the sight of God.- Thomas à Kempis, Of the Imitation of Christ I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to "rejoice" as much as by anything else. -- C. S. Lewis, _The Problem of Pain_, 1944 God's quest to be glorified and our quest to be satisfied reach their goal in this one experience: our delight in God overflows in praise. For God, praise is the sweet echo of His own excellence in the heartsof this people. For us, praise is the summit of satisfaction that comes from living in fellowship with God. JOHN PIPER One day all Christians will join in a doxology and sing God's praises with perfection. But even today, individually and corporately, we are not only to sing the doxology, but to be the doxology. Francis A. Schaeffer, No Little People Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like angels. -- THOMAS WATSON
Pray today. If you have nothing else to pray about, pray for me! I need the prayer, and you need the practice! If you can't sleep, don't count sheep. Talk to the Shepherd. Seven prayerless days make one weak. As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools. Prayer is not a last extremity, it's a first necessity. Prayer: don't bother to give God instructions; just report for duty. God answers knee mail. A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing. The most powerful position on earth is kneeling before the Lord of the universe. A day hemmed in prayer is less likely to unravel. To influence others for God, intercede with God for others. Put everything in God's hand and eventually you will see God's hand in everything. Now I sit me down in school If Scripture now the class recites, Our hair can be purple, orange or green, For praying in a public hall We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks, We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen, We can get our condoms and birth controls, It's scary here I must confess, I am deep in prayerful contemplation Your mind is wandering slightly He's sleeping through the sermon again! Prayer begins where human capacity ends.-- Marian Anderson (1897-1993) In "The Speaker's Electronic Reference Collection," AApex Software, 1994. The (TV) interviewer had asked him about the vows of celibacy and, said the cardinal: "I felt the blood drain from my body . . . I had no idea where this would lead. I said a quiet prayer to the Holy Ghost and waited for my inevitable execution. " 'Imagine,' he said, 'that you were in a crowded room and suddenly . .the most beautiful woman you had ever seen walked into that room. What would your feelings be as a man - not as a bishop or a priest?' "It was then that the Holy Ghost took a firm hold. I replied: ' I hope you're as happily married to your wife as I am to the Church. So the only way I can think of answering your question is by inviting you to imagine yourself standing next to your beloved wife in a crowded room when suddenly the most beautiful woman you have ever seen .' I didn't have to finish. There was spontaneous applause from the studio audience." NEIL BALFOUR on Basil Hume in The Times January 14 1999 True prayer is asking God what He wants. --William Barclay Prayer is a wine which makes glad the heart of man.-- Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153) The evidence of God's "Expect more" message is evident even within the short time frame of the New Testament. For example, Jesus never mentioned "giving thanks" in the Lord's Prayer. But Paul did! In Phil. 4:6, Paul not only advised Christians to pray with thanksgiving, but to "pray about everything!" Jesus didn't ask us to ask God for "wisdom" when we pray; but James did! [Jas 1:5] Jesus' model prayer never included the provision for asking God to heal the sick. But James 5:13 gives us sanction to do exactly that in our prayers. And no Christian, praying with a burden for others, to my knowledge, has ever hesitated over whether he should ask for God's help in doing a hundred other tasks, just because Jesus' Model Prayer never instituted it.- William D Blake The last and highest result of prayer is not the securing of this or that gift, the avoiding of this or that danger. The last and highest result of prayer is the knowledge of God -- the knowledge which is eternal life -- and by that knowledge, the transformation of human character, and of the world. ... George John Blewett There are whole periods when you are neither at the bottom of the sea nor at the top of the peak, when you have to do something about praying, and that is the period when you cannot pray from spontaneity but you can pray from conviction.-Anthony Bloom I have often felt things in study so plainly given me, not at all like the products of my own skill, that this is the way in which I account for them. The Lord sends them because of people praying for me. - Andrew Bonar s journal: DECEMBER 18, 1846 Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?... Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983) The great danger facing all of us... is not that we shall make an absolute failure of life, nor that we shall fall into outright viciousness, nor that we shall be terribly unhappy, nor that we shall feel [that] life has no meaning at all -- not these things. The danger is that we may fail to perceive life's greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to tender the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God -- and be content to have it so -- that is the danger: that some day we may wake up and find that always we have been busy with husks and trappings of life and have really missed life itself. For life without God, to one who has known the richness and joy of life with Him, is unthinkable, impossible. That is what one prays one's friends may be spared -- satisfaction with a life that falls short of the best, that has in it no tingle or thrill that comes from a friendship with the Father. Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Sermons The best and sweetest flowers of Paradise God gives to his people when they are upon their knees. Prayer is the gate of heaven, a key to let us in to Paradise.- Thomas Brooks God looks not at the elegancy of your prayers, to see how neat they are; nor yet at the geometry of your prayers, to see how long they are; nor yet at the arithmetic of your prayers, to see how many they are; nor yet at the music of your prayers, nor yet at the sweetness of your voice, nor yet at the logic of your prayers; but at the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are. There is no prayer acknowledged, approved, accepted, recorded, or rewarded by God, but that wherein the heart is sincerely and wholly. The true mother would not have the child divided. God loves a broken and a contrite heart, so He loathes a divided heart. God neither loves halting or halving.- Thomas Brooks Prayer is nothing but the breathing that out before the Lord, that was first breathed into us by the Spirit of the Lord.- Thomas Brooks Believer, closet prayer will be found to be but a lifeless, comfortless thing, if you do not enjoy communion with God in it. That should be the very soul of all your closet duties, therefore press after it, as for life; when you go into your closet banish every thing that can hinder your enjoyment of Christ. - THOMAS BROOKS Though our private desires are ever so confused, though our private requests are ever so broken, and though our private groanings are ever so hidden from men, yet God eyes them, records them, and puts them upon the file of heaven, and will one day crown them with glorious answers and returns.- THOMAS BROOKS When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words be without heart.- John Bunyan He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find him the rest of the day. John Bunyan Pray often; for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan. -- John Bunyan You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.-- John Bunyan Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.-- John Bunyan Prayer opens the heart to God, and it is the means by which the soul, though empty, is filled by God.-- John Bunyan And O! be sure to fear the Lord alway, I have made it a rule to go out and sit . . . at four o'clock every morning and ask the good Lord what I am to do that day. Then I go ahead and do it. - Carver, George Washington. There is a communion of men with God by which, having entered the heavenly sanctuary, appeal to him in person concerning his promises in order to experience, where necessity so demands, that what they believed was not in vain, although he had promised it in word alone. John Calvin God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us -- as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray. John Calvin (1509-1564) As a physician, I have seen men, after all other therapy has failed, lifted out of disease and melancholy by the serene effort of prayer. It is the only power in the world that seems to overcome the so-called "laws of nature"; the occasions on which prayer has dramatically done this have been termed "miracles". But a constant, quieter miracle takes place hourly in the hearts of men and women who have discovered that prayer supplies them with a steady flow of sustaining power in their daily lives. -- Alexis Carrel (1873-1944) I have had prayers answered - most strangely sometimes - but Ithink our heavenly Father's loving kindness has been even more evident in what He has refused me. ~ Lewis Carroll You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.- G. K. Chesterton Keep praying, but be thankful that God's answers are wiser than your prayers. ~ William Culbertson For those who have hidden fellowship with God,life is a continuous feast. --S G Degraff Promise and Deliverance vol 3,p 153 I throw myself down in my chamber, and I call in, and invite God, and his Angels thither, and when they are there, I neglect God and his Angels, for the noise of a fly, for the rattling of a coach, for the whining of a door. -- John Donne Once as I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737,
having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my
manner commonly had been to walk for divine contemplation
and prayer, I had a view that for me was extraordinary, of
the glory of the Son of God. As near as I can judge, this
continued about an hour; and kept me the greater part of the
time in a flood of tears and weeping aloud. I felt an
ardency of soul to be what I know not otherwise how to
express, emptied and annihilated; to love Him with a pure
and holy love; to serve and follow Him; to be perfectly
sanctified and made pure with a divine and heavenly
purity. I would exhort those who have entertained a hope of their being true converts--and who since their supposed conversion have led off the duty of secret prayer, and ordinarily allow themselves in the omission of it--to throw away their hope. If you have left off calling upon God, it is time for you to leave off hoping and flattering yourselves with an imagination that you are the children of God.-- Jonathan Edwards Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is of life.-- Jonathan Edwards Conversation between God and mankind in this world, is maintained by God's Word on his part, and by prayer on ours. By the former, he speaks and expresses his mind to us; by the latter, we speak and express our minds to him. Sincere friendship towards God, in all who believe him to be properly an intelligent, willing being, does most apparently, directly, and strongly incline to prayer; and it no less disposes the heart strongly to desire to have our infinitely glorious and gracious Friend expressing his mind to us by his word, that we may know it. -- Jonathan Edwards God is always present, always available. At whatever moment in which one turns to him the prayer is received, is heard, is authenticated, for it is God who gives our prayer its value and its character, not our interior dispositions, not our fervor, not our lucidity. The prayer which is pronounced for God and accepted by him becomes, by that very fact, a true prayer.... Jacques Ellul, Prayer and Modern Man, p.17 [1973]. The air which we breathe, the bread which we eat, the heart which throbs in our bosoms, are not more necessary for man that he may live as a human being, than is prayer for the Christian that he may live as a Christian. John Eudes There are some favors the Almighty does not grant either the first, or the second, or the third time you ask him, because he wishes you to pray for a long time and often. He wills this delay to keep you in a state of humility and self-contempt and make you realize the value of his graces. John Eudes There are some favors the Almighty does not grant either the first, or the second, or the third time you ask him, because he wishes you to pray for a long time and often. He wills this delay to keep you in a state of humility and self-contempt and make you realize the value of his graces. John Eudes Oh, study your hearts, watch your hearts, keep your hearts! Away with empty names and vain shows; away with unprofitable discourse and bold censures of others. Turn in upon yourselves, get into your closets, and now resolve to dwell there. You have been strangers to this work too long; you have kept other vineyards too long; you have trifled about the borders of religion too long. Will you now resolve to look better to your hearts? Will you hate and come out of the crowds of business and clamors of the world and retire yourselves more than you have done? Oh, that this day you would resolve upon it! - JOHN FLAVEL I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live,
the more convincing proofs I see of this truth--that God
governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall
to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an
empire can rise without his aid? --Benjamin Franklin,
debates in the Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, June 28, 1787.&emdash;James Madison, Journal
of the Federal Convention, ed. E. H. Scott Prayer...the key of the day and the lock of the night- Thomas Fuller I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; Those blessings are sweetest that are won with prayers and worn with thanks.-- Thomas Goodwin The quiet hour of prayer is one of the most favorable opportunities he has in which to speak to us seriously. In quietude and solitude before the face of God, our souls can hear better than at any other time." - O.Hallesby It is not necessary to maintain a conversation when we are in the presence of God. We can come into His presence and rest our weary souls in quiet contemplation of Him. Our groanings, which cannot be uttered, rise to Him and tell Him better than words how dependent we are upon Him.... O. Hallesby, Prayer [1931] A godly father, sitting on a draught The reverent man, though at the first dismayed, If a church wants a better pastor, it can get one by praying for the one it has. Robert E. Harris It is ours to offer what we can, His to supply what we cannot. -- . Jerome I have now spent fifty-five years in resolving: having, from the earliest time almost that I can remember, been forming plans of a better life. I have done nothing. The need of doing, therefore, is pressing, since the time of doing is short. O GOD, grant me to resolve aright, and to keep my resolutions, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Samuel Johnson Madness frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world. My poor friend Smart showed the disturbance of his mind, by falling upon his knees, and saying his prayers in the street, or in any other unusual place. Now although, rationally speaking, it is greater madness not to pray at all, than to pray as Smart did, I am afraid there are so many who do not pray that their understanding is not called in question.- Samuel Johnson (Boswell: Life of Johnson) It is enough if we have stated seasons of prayer; no matter when. A man may as well pray when he mounts his horse, or a woman when she milks her cow, as at meals; and custom is to be followed.- Samuel Johnson (Boswell: Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides) Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness. This is our Lord's will, ... that our prayer and our trust be, alike, large. For if we do not trust as much as we pray, we fail in full worship to our Lord in our prayer; and also wehinder and hurt ourselves. The reason is that we do not know truly that our Lord is the ground from which our prayer springeth; nor do we know that it is given us by his grace and his love. If we knew this, it would make us trust to have of our Lord's gifts all that we desire. For I am sure that no man asketh mercy and grace with sincerity, without mercy and grace being given to him first.-- Juliana of Norwich (1342?-1417), Revelations of Divine Love Prayer can no more be divorced from worship than life can be divorced from breathing. If we follow his impulse, the Holy Spirit will always lead us to pray. When we allow him to work freely, he will always bring the Church to extensive praying. Conversely, when the Spirit is absent, we will find excuses not to pray. We may say, "God understands. He knows I love him. But I'm tired . . . I'm so busy . . . It's just not convenient now . . ." When the Spirit is absent, our excuses always seem right, but in the presence of the Spirit our excuses fade away K. T. Kendall There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him. --William Law (1686-1761) We don't pray to change God. We pray to change ourselves. --C S Lewis., 'The Pilgrim's Regress' I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go. -- Abraham Lincoln The prayer of faith is the instrument which releases the mighty acts of the risen Christ in history.- Richard Lovelace, (Dynamics of Spiritual Life, p. 156) Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference. ~ Max Lucado Pray, and let God worry. Martin Luther Whenever I happen to be prevented by the press of duties from observing my hour of prayer, the entire day is bad for me. MARTIN LUTHER All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask; yet they will obtain something greater and more glorious than they had dared to ask. ... Martin Luther (1483-1546) 'When Luther's puppy [n. 116, Luther's dog
Tölpel is mentioned again and again in the Table
Talk.] happened to be at the table, looked for a morsel
from his master, and watched with open mouth and motionless
eyes, he [Martin Luther] said, "Oh, if I could only
pray the way this dog watches the meat! All his thoughts are
concentrated on the piece of meat. Otherwise he has no
thought, wish, or hope. I have so much to do (today) that I should spend the first three hours in prayer. ... Martin Luther (1483-1546) Hunger may drive the runaway child home, and he may or may not be fed at home; but he needs his mother more than his dinner. Communion with God is the one need of the soul beyond all other need: prayer is the beginning of that communion, and some need is the motive of that prayer... So begins a communion, a talking with God, a coming-to-one with Him, which is the sole end of prayer, yea, of existence itself in its infinite phases. We must ask that we may receive; but that we should receive what we ask in respect of our lower needs, is not God's end in making us pray, for He could give us everything without that: to bring His child to His knee, God withholds that man may ask.... George MacDonald (1824-1905), "The Word of Jesus on Prayer" Rose early to seek God and found Him whom my soul loveth.
Who would not rise early to meet such company?' If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.... Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813-1843) God will either give you what you ask, or something far better.... Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813-1843) The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.--F.B. Meyer Every evening I turn my troubles over to God - He's going to be up all night anyway. -- Donald J. Morganp I can hardly recollect a single plan of mine, of which I have not since seen reason to be satisfied, that had it taken place in season and circumstance just as I proposed, it would, humanly speaking, have proved my ruin; or at least it would have deprived me of the greater good the Lord had designed for me. We judge of things by their present appearances, but the Lord sees them in their consequences, if we could do so likewise we should be perfectly of His mind; but as we cannot, it is an unspeakable mercy that He will manage for us, whether we are pleased with His management or not; and it is spoken of as one of his heaviest judgments, when He gives any person or people up to the way of their own hearts, and to walk after their own counsels. JOHN NEWTON How great and honorable is the privilege of a true believer! That he has neither wisdom nor strength in himself is no disadvantage, for he is connected with infinite wisdom and almighty power. John Newton, letter: 23.2.1775 "What Thou wilt, when Thou wilt, how Thou wilt." I had rather speak these three sentences from my heart in my mother tongue than be master of all the languages in Europe.-- John Newton, letter: 23. 4.1779 The discussion of prayer is so great that it requires the Father to reveal it, His firstborn Word to teach it, and the Spirit to enable us to think and speak rightly of so great a subject.... Origen (c.185-c.254) No heart can conceive that treasury of mercies which lies in this one privilege, in having liberty and ability to approach unto God at all times, according to His mind and will. John Owen (1616-1683) He who prays as he ought will endeavour to live as he prays. ... John Owen (1616-1683) A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more. JOHN OWEN If we would talk less and pray more about them, things would be be better than they are in the world; at least, we should be better enabled to bear them. JOHN OWEN We implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave us at peace in our vices, but that He may deliver us from them.... Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) Perhaps one reson God delays His answers to our prayers is because He knows we need to be with Him far more than we need the things we ask of Him. ~ Ben Patterson Nothing is too great and nothing is too small to commit into the hands of the Lord. ... A. W. Pink (1886-1952) Happiest are they who mix prayer and toil, until God answers the one and rewards the other. --Irenaeus Prime A sinning man will stop praying. A praying man will stop sinning. - Leonard Ravenhill God may not always come when you call Him, but He's ALWAYS right on time. --Sydney Redoble Let prayer be the key of the day, and the bolt of the night.-- Jean Paul Richter. Dry wells send us to the fountain. Samuel Rutherford I have been benefited by praying for others; for by making an errand to God for them I have gotten something for myself.- S. Rutherford Fear not because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor. Jesus can understand you. Just as a mother understands the first lispings of her infant, so does the blessed Savior understand sinners. He can read a sigh, and see a meaning in a groan. ... J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), "A Call to Prayer" Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to the body. How a person can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a person can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too. ... J. C. Ryle, "A Call to Prayer" To be prayerless is to be without God, without Christ, without grace, without hope, and without heaven. ... J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), "A Call to Prayer" ray not for lighter burdens but for stronger backs.- Theodore Roosevelt, 1858 - 1919 The essence of prayer does not consist in asking God for something but in opening our hearts to God, in speaking with Him, and living with Him in perpetual communion. Prayer is continual abandonment to God. Prayer does not mean asking God for all kinds of things we want; it is rather the desire for God Himself, the only Giver of Life. Prayer is not asking, but union with God. Prayer is not a painful effort to gain from God help in the varying needs of our lives. Prayer is thedesire to possess God Himself, the Source of all life. The true spirit of prayer does not consist in asking for blessings, but in receiving Him who is the giver of all blessings, and in living a life of fellowship with Him... Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929) How often we say about our earthly friends, 'I really would like to have a good quiet settled talk with them so that I can really get to know them.' And shouldn't we feel the same about our Heavenly Friend, that we may really get to know Him? These thoughts have taught me the importance of the children of God taking time to commune daily with their Father, so that they may get to know His mind and to understand better what His will is." -Hannah Whitall Smith, (1832-1911), journal entry of 7/6/1859[M.E. Dieter, ed. CHRISTIAN'S SECRET OF THE HOLY LIFE: UNPUBLISHED PERSONAL WRITINGS OF HANNAH WHITALL SMITH (Zondervan, 1994), p.21] [to his 12 yr. old son, Charles] Dear boy, I should like you to preach, but it is best that you pray. Many a preacher has proved a castaway, but never one person who had truly learned to pray. C. H. Spurgeon. Letters, p.103 Frequently we pray that God would not forsake us in the hour of trial and temptation, but we too much forget that we have need to use this prayer at all times. There is no moment of our life, however holy, in which we can do without His constant upholding. Whether in light or in darkness, in communion or in temptation, we alike need the prayer, "Forsake me not, O Lord." "Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.--C. H. Spurgeon Meditation for This Morning Monday, May 25 Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the Kingdom. --Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) Oh, I wish that God had not given me what I prayed for! It was not so good as I thought! - Johanna Spyri (1827 &endash; 1901) Battering the gates of heaven with storms of prayer. - Tennyson, Alfred, Lord (1809 - 1892) St Simeon Stylites More things are wrought by prayer The truth is that God always answers the prayer that accords with His will as revealed in the Scriptures, provided the one who prays is obedient and trustful. Further than this we dare not go. --A. W. Tozer Prayer is never an acceptable substitute for obedience.
The sovereign Lord accepts no offering from His creatures
that is not accompanied by obedience. Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late -- and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) Anyone can lead a "prayer-life" -- that is, the sort of reasonable devotional life to which each is called by God. This only involves making a suitable rule and making up your mind to keep it however boring this may be.... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) Jesus Christ was more willing to go to the cross, than we are to the throne of grace. Thomas Watson Go to bed seasonably, and rise early. Redeem your precious time: pick up the fragments of it, that not one moment of it may be lost. Be much in secret prayer. Converse less with man, and more with God. GEORGE WHITEFIELD Venture daily upon Christ, go out in His strength, and He will enable you to do wonders.-George Whitefield , letter: 26 July 1741
Dear Lord, please protect me from your followers.- Bumper Sticker The Prayer of an American Civil War Soldier I asked God for strength that I might achieve . . . She had been teaching her three-year-old daughter, the Lord's Prayer. She listened with pride as the little girl carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer. "Lead us not into temptation," she prayed, "but deliver us some e-mail. Amen." O direct my life towards thy commandments, 0 Lord our God, grant us grace to desire Thee with our whole heart; that, so desiring, we may seek, and seeking find Thee; and so finding Thee may love Thee; and loving Thee, may hate those sins from which Thou hast redeemed us. Anselm (1033-1109) I have no hope at all but in thy great mercy. Grant what thou commandest and command what thou wilt. Thou dost enjoin on us continence...Truly by continence are we bound together and brought back into that unity from which we were dissipated into a plurality. For he loves thee too little who loves anything together with thee, which he does not love not for thy sake. O love that ever burnest and art never quenched! O Charity, my God, enkindle me! Thou commandest continence. Grant what thou commandest and command what thou wilt. AUGUSTINE, Confessions(X,40) Give me a stout heart to bear my own burdens. Give me a willing heart to bear the burdens of others. Give me a believing heart to cast all burdens upon Thee, O Lord. ... John Baillie (1886-1960) I pray you, noble Jesus, that as you have graciously granted me joyfully to imbibe the words of Your Knowledge, so You will also of Your bounty grant me to come at length to Yourself, the fount of all wisdom, and to dwell in Your presence forever.- Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, translated by Benjamin Webb O Lord, who didst this day discover the snares of death
that were laid for us, and didst wonderfully deliver us from
the same; Be thou still our mightly Protector. We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen. BCP Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. BCP From plague, pestilence and famine, good Lord, deliver us. -- Book of Common Prayer 1662 Grant, Almighty God, as at the present time thou dost deservedly chastise us for our sins, according to the example of thine ancient people, that we may turn our face to thee with true penitence and humility: May we throw ourselves suppliantly and prostrately before thee; and, despairing of ourselves, place our only hope in thy pity which thou hast promised. J. Calvin. O Lord, the faith thou didst give to St. Paul, I cannot ask; the mercy thou didst show to St. Peter; I dare not ask; but Lord, the grace thou didst show unto the dying robber, that, Lord, show to me. -- Copernicus, epitaphof his own composition Keep us, Lord, so awake in the duties of our callings that we may sleep in Thy peace and wake in Thy glory.--John Donne (1573-1631) Grant unto me, my Lord, that with peace in mind I may face all that this new day is to bring. Grant unto me grace to surrender myself completely to Thy holy will. Instruct and prepare me in all things for every hour of this day. Whatsoever tidings I may receive during the day, do Thou teach me to accept them calmly, in the firm conviction that all eventualities fulfill Thy holy will. Govern Thou my thoughts and feelings in all I do and say. When things unforseen occur, let me not forget that all cometh down from Thee. Teach me to behave sincerely and reasonable toward every member of my family and all other human beings, that I may not cause confusion and sorrow to anyone. Bestow upon me, my Lord, strength to endure the fatigue of the day and to bear my share in all its passing events. Guide Thou my will and teach me to pray, to believe, to hope, to suffer, to forgive, and to love. Amen. -- "The Jesus Prayer" Eastern Orthodox morning prayer. Almighty and most merciful Father, I again appear in Thy presence the wretched misspender of another year which Thy mercy has allowed me. O Lord let me not sink into total depravity, look down upon me, and rescue me at last from the captivity of sin. Impart to me good resolutions, and give me strength and perseverance to perform them. Take not from me Thy Holy Spirit, but grant that I may redeem the time lost, and that by temperance and diligence, by sincere repentance and faithful obedience I may finally attain everlasting happiness, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) Almighty and most merciful Father, I am now about to commemorate once more in Thy presence, the redemption of the world by our Lord and Savior Thy Son Jesus Christ. Grant, O most merciful God, that the benefit of His sufferings may be extended to me. Grant me faith, grant me repentance. Illuminate me with Thy Holy Spirit. Enable me to form good purposes, and to bring these purposes to good effect. Let me so dispose my time, that I may discharge the duties to which Thou shalt vouchsafe to call me, and let that degree of health, to which Thy mercy has restored me, be employed to Thy Glory. O God, invigorate my understanding, compose my perturbations, recall my wanderings, and calm my thoughts, that having lived while Thou shalt grant me life, to do good and to praise Thee, I may when Thy call shall summon me to another state, receive mercy from Thee, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Easter, 1771 Teach us, good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deservest: My Heavenly Father, I thank You, through Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, that You have protected me, by Your grace. Forgive, I pray, all my sins and the evil I have done. Protect me, by Your grace, tonight. I put myself in your care, body and soul and all that I have. Let Your holy angels be with me, so that the evil enemy will not gain power over me. Amen. MARTIN LUTHER, Evening Prayer Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart. Martin Luther O Christ, my life, possess me utterly. O God, forgive the poverty and the pettiness of our prayers. Listen not to our words but to the yearnings of our hearts. Hear beneath our petitions the crying of our need. Peter Marshall , prayer, 2 Mar 1948 Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change; and when we are right, make us easy to live with. ... Peter Marshall (1902-1949) There are three small but succinct prayers that can see
me through any difficult situation. God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed; Give us courage to change what should be changed; Give us the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971): "The Serenity Prayer," 1934. Thanks be to thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which Thou hast given us; for all the pains and insults which Thou hast borne for us. O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother, may we know thee more clearly, love Thee more dearly, and follow Thee more nearly; For Thine own sake.... Richard of Chichester (1197-1253) The Lord grant that in this house there may be kept up a gracious succession. May pious sons follow godly fathers, and may the King of our hearts have servants in this family as long as the world stands. Amen. -- Spurgeon
Sermonettes make Christianettes I don't care what people say, Pastor. I like your sermons. The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed. O Preacher, leave the rhetorician's arts; I preached as never sure to preach again, Screw the truth into men's minds.- RICHARD BAXTER (on preaching) He doth preach most that doth live best. - JOHN BOYS He preaches well that lives well, quoth Sancho; that's all the divinity I understand.--Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) _Don Quixote_ I may not practice what I preach, but God forbid that I preach what I practice. G K Chesterton A hot iron, though blunt, will pierce sooner than a cold one, though sharper.- JOHN FLAVEL The deeds you do today may be the only sermon some people will hear today. . Francis of Assisi I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; Judas heard all Christ's sermons.-- Thomas Goodwin The preachers were the true authors of that advance, and
among the preachers those were far from being the least
influential who mainly devoted themselves to setting forth
the Puritan way of life by precept, image and example in
pulpit and press rather than to agitation against defiance
of law. They and not the doctrinaire controversialists or
the martyrs of persecution were the men who did the most in
the long run to prepare the temper of the Long Parliament
and to spread among their countrymen the characteristic
Puritan version of the age-old epic of man's spiritual
striving. The worst speak something good; if all want sense, Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all. Boswell: Life of Johnson A good life is a maine Argument. Far too many relied on the classic formula of a
beginning, a muddle, and an end. If the preaching of the gospel is not practical, it is not true preaching. - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Unless the gospel is preached with contemporary relevance it has not been preached. MARTIN LUTHER A good preacher should have these qualities and virtues: first, to teach systematically; second, he should have a ready wit; third, he should be eloquent; fourth, he should have a good voice; fifth, a good memory; sixth, he should know when to make an end; seventh, he should be sure of his doctrine; eighth, he should venture and engage body and blood, wealth and honor, in the world; ninth, he should suffer himself to be mocked and jeered of everyone.... Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table-Talk A sermon is not made with an eye upon the sermon, but with both eyes upon the people and all the heart upon God. - JOHN OWEN The preacher and the writer may seem to have an... easy task. At first sight, it may seem that they have only to proclaim and declare; but in fact, if their words are to enter men's hearts and bear fruit, they must be the right words, shaped cunningly to pass men's defenses and explode silently and effectually within their minds. This means, in practice, turning a face of flint toward the easy cliche, the well-worn religious cant and phraseology -- dear, no doubt, to the faithful, but utterly meaningless to those outside the fold. It means learning how people are thinking and how they are feeling; it means learning with patience, imagination and ingenuity the way to pierce apathy or blank lack of understanding. I sometimes wonder what hours of prayer and thought lie behind the apparently simple and spontaneous parables of the Gospel.... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Making Men Whole [1952] Whatever subject I preach, I do not stop until I reach the Savior, the Lord Jesus, for in Him are all things. CHARLES SPURGEON There is a limit, for "The Lord knoweth them that are His," but in the preaching of the Gospel we are not bound by the decree which is secret, but by our marching orders, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved. He who bade me preach to every creature did not bid me exempt one soul from my message. CHARLES SPURGEON We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum. --A. W. Tozer Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the Living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such a way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.-A. W. Tozer (1879- I wonder if you realize that in many ways the preaching of the Word of God is being pulled down to the level of the ignorant and spiritually obtuse; that we must tell stories and jokes and entertain and amuse in order to have a few people in the audience? We do these things that we may have some reputation and that there may be money in the treasury to meet the church bills....In many churches Christianity has been watered down until the solution is so weak that if it were poison it would not hurt anyone, and if it were medicine it would not cure anyone! - A.W. Tozer in I Talk Back to the Devil When the judge is giving the charge on the bench, all attend. When the Word is preached, the great God is giving us his charge. Do we listen to it as to a matter of life and death? This is a good sign that we love the Word. THOMAS WATSON [Concerning the Word preached:] "Do we prize it in our judgments? Do we receive in into our hearts? Do we fear the loss of the Word preached more than the loss of peace and trade? Is it the removal of the ark that troubles us? Again, do we attend to the Word with reverential devotion? When the judge is giving the charge on the bench, all attend. When the Word is preached, the great God is giving us his charge. Do we listen to it as to a matter of life and death? This is a good sign that we love the Word. - THOMAS WATSON We can preach the Gospel of Christ no further than we have experienced the power of it in our own hearts.- George Whitefield journal: 1739 Indeed we are all in peril if the flawed messenger invalidates the message.~ Philip Yancey, Soul Survivor (2001)
Predestination was doomed from the start. When they inquire into predestination, they are penetrating the sacred precincts of divine wisdom. If anyone with carefree assurance breaks into this place, he will not succeed in satisfying his curiosity and he will enter a labyrinth from which he can find no exit. For it is not right for man unrestrainedly to search out things that the Lord has willed to be hidden in Himself; nor is it right for him to investigate from eternity that sublime wisdom, which God would have us revere but not understand, in order that through this also He should fill us with wonder. He has set forth by His Word the secrets of His will that He has decided to reveal to us. These He decided to reveal in so far as He foresaw that they would concern and benefit us. ... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion (III, xxi, 1) For Scripture is the school of the Holy Spirit, in which,
as nothing is omitted that is both necessary and useful to
know, so nothing is taught but what is expedient to know.
Therefore we must guard against depriving believers of
anything disclosed about predestination in Scripture, lest
we seem either wickedly to defraud them of the blessing of
their God or to accuse and scoff at the Holy Spirit for
having published what it is in any way profitable to
suppress. But for those who are so cautious or fearful that they desire to bury predestination in order not to disturb weak souls--with what colour will they cloak their arrogance when they accuse God indirectly of stupid thoughtlessness, as if he had not foreseen the peril that they feel they have wisely met? Whoever, then, heaps odium upon the doctrine of predestination openly reproaches God, as if he had unadvisedly let slip something hurtful to the church. -- Calvin Institutes III. 21. 4 Predestination! how remote and dim When God calls a man, He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do, love one day, and hate another; or a princes, who make their subjects favourites, and afterwards throw them into prison. This is the blessedness of a saint; his condition admits of no alteration. God's call is founded on His decree, and His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out his people's sins, but not their names. THOMAS WATSON
The proof of Trotsky's farsightedness is that not one of his predictions has yet come true Isn't it strange that the same people that laugh at gypsy fortune tellers take economists seriously? Q: How can you make God laugh? A: Tell Him your plans for the future. I've gone to hundreds of fortune-tellers' parlours, and have been told thousands of things, but nobody ever told me I was a policewoman getting ready to arrest her. New York City Detective
No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking. - Ruth Benedict (1887-1948) "Patterns of Culture," ch. 1, 1934 he eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. -- Henri Bergson Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among stones." - Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre Who needs debate, the Left rationalizes, when those who disagree are bigoted, homophobic, sexist pigs? Dealing with their arguments is a just a waste of time. In this model, dissenters begin to look less and less like members of society with a right to their own opinions and more and more like speed bumps on the road to social change. -- Tammy Bruce, _The New Thought Police_, 2001 Birds are taken with pipes that imitate their own voices, and men with those sayings that are most agreeable to their own opinions. Samuel Butler People only see what they are prepared to see.... Ralph Waldo Emerson There is no way of proving your point to someone whose income or position depends on believing the contrary. ~Sidney Harris, "Pieces of Eight" What we perceive and understand depends upon what we are. --Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) _Ends and Means_ [1937], "Beliefs" I'm not going to disguise the fact that I despise Ronald
Reagan. Too many of our prejudices are like pyramids upside down. They rest on tiny, trivial incidents, but they spread upward and outward until they fill our minds. - William McChesney Martin, 1906 - 1998 How strange it is to see with how much passion People see things only in their own fashion~Jean Molière, The School for Wives : A Comedy in Five Acts (1662) Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.--Montaigne, _Essays_ Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices -- just recognize them. -- Edward R. Murrow We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.- Anais Nin (1903 &endash; 1977) Prejudice is one of the world's greatest labor-saving devices; it enables you to form an opinion without having to dig up the facts. ~ Laurence Peter The only man who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measure anew each time he sees me, while all the rest go on with their old measurements and expect them to fit me. -- George Bernard Shaw We want the facts to fit the preconceptions. When they don't, it is easier to ignore the facts than to change the preconceptions. Jessamyn West Nature's noblemen are everywhere, in town and out of town, gloved and rough-handed, rich and poor. Prejudice against a lord because he is a lord, is losing the chance of finding a good fellow, as much as prejudice against a ploughman because he is a ploughman.-- Nathaniel Parker Willis, 19thC
I started life as a Presbyterian, where "You may be seated" is one of the most exciting part of those services QUESTION: What's the difference between a Presbyterian
and a Baptist? He advised that Methodists be accepted as jurymen because their religious emotions can be transmuted into love and charity; but warned against taking Presbyterians because they knew right from wrong. -- Harry Golden, _For 2¢ Plain_ (ON CLARENCE DARROW)
If thou shalt remain faithful and zealous in labour, doubt not that God shall be faithful and bountiful in rewarding thee. It is thy duty to have a good hope that thou wilt attain the victory: but thou must not fall into security lest thou become slothful or lifted up. Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471)
The mind of modern man is a curious mixture of decayed Calvinism and diluted Buddhism; and he expresses his philosophy without knowing that he holds it. We [i.e., Catholics] say what it is natural for us to say; but we know what we are saying; therefore it is assumed that we are saying it for effect. He says what it is natural for him to say; but he does not know what he is saying, still less why he is saying it . . . He is just as partisan; . . . just as much depending on one doctrinal system as distinct from another. But he has taken it for granted so often that he has forgotten what it is. So his literature does not seem to him partisan, even when it is. But our literature does seem to him propagandist, even when it isn't. G K Chesterton {The Thing, NY: Sheed & Ward, 1929, p. 120} The discussions of every age are filled with the issues on which its leading schools of thought differ. But the general intellectual atmosphere of the time is always determined by the views on which the opposing schools agree. They become the unspoken presuppositions of all thought, and common and unquestioningly accepted foundations on which all discussion proceeds. - F.A. Hayek Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.-- Thomas Henry Huxley Assumptions based on faith are apparently an ever-present
component in any system of belief -- whether these
assumptions include the existence of a personal God, or
whether they begin with non-rational directionally-emergent
forces governed by statistical probabilities. Our argument
does not claim that evidences are so clear that faith is not
needed. We do intend to imply, however, that the choice of a
set of assumptions is a moral choice. Adherence to an
epistemology is not something which merely "happens to" a
person, but instead it reflects a component of his moral
development. In some sense he is, in my judgement, morally
responsible for adopting an epistemology even though it can
be neither proved nor disproved to the satisfaction of those
who oppose it. We have no right to assume that any physical laws exist, or if they have existed up until now, that they will continue to exist in a similar manner in the future. - Max Planck (1858-1947) The Universe in the Light of Modern Physics. On seeing two women arguing across the street-"They will never agree. They are arguing from different premises. Sydney Smith We want the facts to fit the preconceptions. When they don't, it is easier to ignore the facts than to change the preconceptions. Jessamyn West
Pride is what we have. Vanity is what others have. A man is usually as young as he feels, but seldom as important. Pride is the deadliest of sins, but I was bursting with pride. Jonathan Aitken in The Tablet. 12 June 1999 'I will cut out the cancer of bent and twisted journalism with the simple sword of truth'. These were insensitive words of pride which came back to haunt me. Jonathan Aitken in The Tablet. 12 June 1999 Other sins find their vent in the accomplishment of evil deeds, whereas pride lies in wait for good deeds, to destroy them.---Augustine (354-430) There is nothing so agonizing to the fine skin of vanity as the application of a rough truth. --Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton Spiritual pride in its own nature is so secret, that it
is not so well discerned by immediate intuition on the thing
itself, as by the effects and fruits of it; some of which I
would mention, together with the contrary fruits of pure
christian humility. Spiritual pride disposes to speak
ofother persons' sins, their enmity against God and his
people, the miserable delusion of hypocrites, and their
enmity against vital piety, and the deadness of some saints,
with bitterness, or with laughter and levity, andan air of
contempt; whereas pure christian humility rather disposes,
either to be silent about them, or to speak of them with
grief and pity. Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect
others; whereas an humble saint is most jealous of himself;
he is so suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his
own heart. The spiritually proud person is apt to find fault
with other saints, that they are low in grace; and to be
much in observing how cold and dead they are; and being
quick to discern and take notice of their deficiencies. But
the eminently humble Christian has so much to do at home,
and sees so much evil in his own heart, and is so concerned
about it, that he is not apt to be very busy with other
hearts; he complains most of himself, and complains of his
own coldness and lowness in grace. He is apt to esteem
others better than himself, and is ready to hope that there
is nobody but what has more love and thankfulness to God
than he, and cannot bear to think that others should bring
forth no more fruit to God's honour than he. Some who have
spiritual pride mixed with high discoveries and great
transports of joy, disposing them in an earnest manner to
talk to others, are apt, in such frames, to be calling upon
other Christians about them, and sharply reproving them for
their being so cold and lifeless. There are others, who in
their raptures are overwhelmed with a sense of their own
vileness; and, when they have extraordinary discoveries of
God's glory, are all taken up about their own sinfulness;
and though they also are disposed to speak much and very
earnestly, yet it is very much in blaming themselves, and
exhorting fellow-Christians, but in a charitable and humble
manner. Pure christian humility disposes a person to take
notice of every thing that is good in others, and to make
the best of it, and to diminish their failings; but to gave
his eye chiefly on those things that are bad in himself, and
to take much notice of every thing that aggravates them. There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians ever imagine that they are guilty themselves....The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil; Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind...As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you...~ C.S Lewis, Mere Christianity The vice I am talking about is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility. You may remember, when I was talking about sexual morality, I warned you that the centre of Christian morals did not lie there. Well, now we have come to the centre. According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea-bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind. ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. -- Thomas Merton (1915-1968), No Man Is An Island (1955) God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. D L Moody Pride is a blossom of ashes. Bitter in the mouth, sharp to the nose,stinging to the eyes, and blown away on the first wind from themountains. Plant no pride, lest you harvest shame.-- character Esmay Suiza in Elizabeth Moon's _Once a Hero_, (1997) A heap of dust alone remains of thee. If killed, pride revives. If buried, it bursts the tomb. You may hunt down this fox and think you have destroyed it, and lo, your very exultation is pride. --Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) _Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit_ [1883] Pride is the shirt of the soul, put on first and put off last.GEORGE SWINNOCK Huddled in dirt the reasoning engine lies There is such a thing as a man too proud to fight.-Woodrow Wilson reacts to the sinking of the Lusitania on 7 May 1915
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them. Conviction and pragmatism are not incompatible. - Brenda Maddox, Maggie the First Lady, p130 Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others. -- Grouch Marx
The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life coming flowing in. C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) No one can maintain more than three priorities. If you have a job you care about, that's a priority. If you have a family, that's a priority. Which leaves one more. Maybe it's staying in shape, maybe it's volunteering at your church. Most people understand this intuitively. But they keep overcommiting themselves and overcomplicating their lives. So my advice is simple: figure out what your priorities are, and say "no" to everything else. --Elaine St. James Never let the urgent crowd out the important... Kelly Catlin Walker
The personal life of every individual is based on secrecy, and perhaps it is partly for that reason that civilized man is so nervously anxious that personal privacy should be respected. Anton Chekhov If you would be known and not know, vegetate in a village. If you would know and not be known, live in a city. Charles Caleb Colton We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times; where there are no secrets from government. -William G. Douglas I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be left alone.' There is all the difference. Greta Garbo Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade the sphere of private life.- Viscount Melbourne The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the force of the Crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storms may enter, the rain may enter, - but the King of England cannot enter; all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement! William Pitt
Heisenberg may have slept here.
A good scapegoat is nearly as welcome as a solution to the problem. I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated. Paul Anderson You must live with people to know their problems, and live with God in order to solve them. --Peter Taylor Forsyth (1848-1921) The solution of every problem is another problem. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Don't duck the most difficult problems. That just insures
that the hardest part will be left when you're most tired.
Get the big one done- it's downhill from then on. When you solve a problem, you ought to thank God and go on to the next one. - Dean Rusk (1909-____) On the Cuban missile crisis, in "Look," 6 Sep 1966.
Never put off until tomorrow what you can put off indefinitely. The hardest work in the world is that which should have been done yesterday. Someday is not a day of the week. We don't have anything as urgent as manyana in Ireland --Stuart Banks They said procrastination was Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried. Defer not till to-morrow to be wise, As he that lives longest lives but a little while, every man may be certain that he has no time to waste. The duties of life are commensurate to its duration, and every day brings its task, which if neglected, is doubled on the morrow. But he that has already trifled away those months and years, in which he should have laboured, must remember that he has now only a part of that of which the whole is little; and that since the few moments remaining are to be considered as the last trust of heaven, not one is to be lost. -- Samuel Johnson, Rambler #71 Procrastination: Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always pays off now. -- Larry Kersten To-morrow is the day when idlers work, and fools reform, and mortal men lay hold on heaven. --Persius No problem is too big it can't be run away from. Linus While we are postponing, life speeds by. Seneca (B.C. 3-65 A.D.) Procrastination is the thief of time:
Profanity is the attempt of a lazy and feeble mind to express itself forcefully. Profanity is the weapon of the witless. In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer. Mark Twain
Do you know what the largest room in the world is? The room for improvement. As of 1945 -- the year in which more people were killed violently, more buildings destroyed, more homes burned than any other year in history -- World Wars 1 and 2 had made a mockery of the nineteenth-century idea of progress, the notion that things were getting better and would continue to do so.-- Stephen E. Ambrose, "Citizen Soldiers If you don't like my opinion of you, you can always improve - BRILLIANT, ASHLEIGH (1933-) I am afraid I believe we delude ourselves if we think that humanity is becoming ever more civilised, ever more sophisticated and ever more reasonable. It's simply not the case. --Charles, Prince of Wales It is necessary to try to surpass oneself always; this occupation ought to last as long as life. -- Christina, Queen of Sweden If there is no struggle there is no progress. -- Frederick Douglass Exactly a week before the final treaty with England was signed, Franklin saw Paris's first balloon ascension at the Champ-de-Mars... What good, some skeptic asked, could a balloon be? What good, Franklin replied, was a new-born baby? "Benjamin Franklin" by Carl van Doren The progress of mankind has always depended upon those who, seemingly isolated and powerless in their own day, have seen their vision and remained true to it. In the darkening corridors of time, they preserved integral their vision of the daylight at the end. This is a matter not of calculation but of faith. Our work may be small and its results invisible to us. But we may rest assured it will come to fruition in God's good time.- John Ferguson, The Enthronement of Love All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance. -- Edward Gibbon One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. Andre Gide Is it progress if a cannibal uses a fork? Stanislaw J. Lec, UnkemptThoughts (1962 We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn, and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. C.S. Lewis I will go anywhere, provided it is forward. David Livingstone Slumber not in the tents of your fathers. The world is advancing. - Giuseppe Mazzini (1805 &endash; 1872) Every step in human progress, from the first feeble stirrings in the abyss of time, has been opposed by the great majority of men. Every valuable thing that has been added to the store of man's possessions has been derided by them when it was new, and destroyed by them when they had the power. They have fought every new truth ever heard of, and they have killed every truth-seeker who got into their hands. -- H.L. Mencken Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress ... Alfred A. Montapert "Why is there not national like individual progression? Does it not seem as if the greatest amount of progress would be secured by the *same* nation continuing to carry its own on, and profiting by its own experience? It cannot be a law that all nations shall fall after a certain number of years. God does not work in that sort of way: they must have broken some law of nature which has caused them to fall. But are all nations to sink in that way? As if national soil, like the soil of the earth, must lie fallow after a certain number of crops. And will England turn into Picts again, after a certain number of harvest years, as Egypt has turned into Arabs? Or will a nation find out at last the laws of God by which she may make a steady progression? -- Florence Nightingale, 1850 The victory of Christianity over paganism was the greatest psychic revolution in the history of our culture. It has become fashionable today to say that, for better or worse, we live in "the post-Christian age." Certainly the forms of our thinking and language have largely ceased to be Christian, but to my eye the substance often remains amazingly akin to that of the past. Our daily habits of action, for example, are dominated by an implicit faith in perpetual progress which was unknown either to Greco-Roman antiquity or to the Orient. It is rooted in, and is indefensible apart from, Judeo-Christian teleology. The fact that Communists share it merely helps to show what can be demonstrated on many other grounds: that Marxism, like Islam, is a Judeo-Christian heresy. We continue today to live, as we have lived for about 1,700 years, very largely in a context of Christian axioms.- F A Schaeffer, The Church at the End of the 20th Century, Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog. Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement.-- Snoopy When I was a child, Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is? Frank Scully Stop this Progress! --Theotocopulos in the H. G. Wells movie _Things to Come_
God Promises a safe landing, but not a calm passage. - Bulgarian Proverb He that thirsts after grace is already entitled to the well of life and fullness of heavenly bliss, by a promise from God's own mouth. . . (Rev. 21:6) - ROBERT BOLTON Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honour, and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure, and pays with pain; he promises profit, and pays with loss; he promises life, and pays with death. But God pays as he promises; all his payments are made in pure gold.- Thomas Bolton Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honour, and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure, and pays with pain; he promises profit, and pays with loss; he promises life, and pays with death. But God pays as he promises; all his payments are made in pure gold.--THOMAS BROOKS God promises to deliver us from the penalty of sin (justification), the power of sin (sanctification) and the presence of sin (glorification). DAVE BROWN What a fool, quoth he, am I, thus to lie in a stinking dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a key in my bosom, called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle. J Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress God's promises are like the stars; the darker the night the brighter they shine. David Nicholas
The Hebrew word, nabi, translated "prophet" in English Bibles, has the connotation of "message bearer". The prophets were men called by God to serve as His messengers to a stubborn and unheeding people. They were always careful to point out that they were not voicing their own wisdom. Their warnings, entreaties, and promises were always prefaced by the awesome proclamation: "Thus says the Lord..." When the prophets did engage in prognostication, they usually were concerned with events which were fairly close at hand, such as the Assyrian conquest of Israel and the Babylonian conquest of Judah (both of which they foretold with deadly accuracy). But occasionally a prophet's vision ranged farther into the future, to the day when God would enter into a new covenant with his rebellious children. The hope of reconciliation was often linked with the coming of a very particular person, a Messiah or Savior. What made the prophets so sure that they had a right -- nay, a duty, to speak in the name of God? It is clear from their writings that they were not megalomaniacs who confused their own thoughts with the voice of God. On the contrary, they were humble men, awe-stricken by the responsibilities thrust upon them... The prophets minced no words in their indictments of the sins of Israel and Judah, and they trod especially hard on the toes of the rich, the powerful, and the pious. The Establishment responded then as some church members are wont to respond now when a preacher speaks out on controversial public issues: "One should not preach of such things!" (Micah 2:6). ... Louis Cassels (1922-1974), Your Bible [1967] In my eyes, both Adolf Hitler and my grandfather were false prophets of the 20th century. ~Sophie Freud, interview in Manfred Becker doco, Neighbours: Freud And Hitler In Vienna (2003) The well-adjusted make poor prophets. -- Eric Hoffer If you keep saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet. - Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1904 - 1991
All sunshine makes desert.--Arab Proverb Prosperity does not promote piety for a full belly stands secure and neglects ~God - Puritan Proverb Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. Francis Bacon. 1561-1626. Is it, then, an exaggerated statement, that a time like the present is one of more danger than the time of oppression and persecution? We verily believe that, splendid as is the grace which carries the martyr to the stake, and sustains him in his baptism of fire, glorious as is the display of Divine power, in a church down-trodden but indomitable, persecuted but not consumed; the grace which would carry a church through such a season of continued prosperity and carnal ease as we are now experiencing, without a decay of spirituality, would be still more mighty. The church has often enjoyed the former grace; she has not yet attained unto the latter. R.L. Dabney Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) Affliction has slain her thousands but prosperity her ten thousands. - C H Spurgeon How soon are we broken on the soft pillow of ease! Adam in paradise was overcome, when Job on the dunghill was a conqueror. - THOMAS WATSON Wherever riches have increased, the essence of religion has decreased in the same proportion. Therefore I do not see how it is possible in the nature of things for any revival of religion to continue long. For religion must necessarily produce both industry and frugality, and these cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase, so will pride, anger, and love of the world in all its branches. John Wesley
Let the libertine reflect a moment on the situation of that woman who, being forsaken by her betrayer, is reduced to the necessity of turning prostitute for bread, and judge of the enormity of his guilt by the evils which it produces. It cannot be doubted but that numbers follow this dreadful course of life with shame, horror, and regret; but where can they hope for refuge? 'The world is not their friend, nor the world's law.' Their sighs, and tears, and groans are criminal in the eye of their tyrants, the bully and the bawd, who fatten on their misery, and threaten them with want or a gaol, if they show the least design of escaping from their bondage.- Samuel Johnson: Rambler #107 (March 26, 1751) Sir, a man will not, once in a hundred instances, leave his wife and go to a harlot, if his wife has not been negligent of pleasing. -- Samuel Johnson (Boswell: Life of Johnson)
ALL THINGS WORK FOR GOOD God writes straight with crooked lines. Spanish proverb To the holy his ways are straight, just as they are obstacles to the wicked. Sirach 39:24 When all Thy mercies, O my God, Thy Providence my life sustained, To all my weak complaints and cries Unnumbered comforts to my soul When in the slippery paths of youth Through hidden dangers, toils, and deaths, O how shall words with equal warmth Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss Ten thousand thousand precious gifts When worn with sickness, oft hast Thou Through every period of my life When nature fails, and day and night Through all eternity to Thee How are Thy servants blest, O Lord! In foreign realms, and lands remote, When by the dreadful tempest borne The storm is laid, the winds retire, From all our griefs and fears, O Lord, In midst of dangers, fears and death, Our life, while Thou preservest life, What God chooses for us children of men is always the best. -- Karl Barth Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things--a chance word, a tap on the shoulder, or a penny dropped on a newstand--I am tempted to think...there are no little things.--Bruce Barton There are no accidents in the life of the Christian. ROWLAND BINGHAM Every experience God gives us, every person he puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation for the future that only he can see."--Corrie Ten Boom The rain it raineth on the just If God speaks to us at all other than through such
official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think
that he speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if
we keep our hearts and minds open as well as our ears, if we
listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply
and honestly, then I think we can come to recognize, beyond
all doubt, that, however little we may understand of it, his
word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond
telling. The cruel question was asked him. 'Do you know them' His son's head and hands which were very fair, being a man of fair complexion like himself.' He kissed them saying, 'I know them, I know them. They are my son's, my own dear son's. It is the Lord. Good is the will of the Lord, Who cannot wrong me nor mine, but has made goodness and mercy to follow us all our days.' Alan Cameron, Covenanter. Happy the man who sees a God employed in all the good and ill that chequers life. WILLIAM COWPER No one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going. --Oliver Cromwell. on personal fortunes. A near-hit bolt of lightning can create a lot more Christian thinking than a long-winded sermon.~Duane Dewel The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitoes and silly people. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can arise without His aid?... I... believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and byword down to future ages. And, what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, and conquest. -- Benjamin Franklin, addressing the Constitutional Congress, quoted in _Benjamin Franklin_, Carl van Doren The almighty and everywhere present power of God;
whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs
heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass,
rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink,
health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things
come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand. The preacher and the writer may seem to have an... easy task. At first sight, it may seem that they have only to proclaim and declare; but in fact, if their words are to enter men's hearts and bear fruit, they must be the right words, shaped cunningly to pass men's defenses and explode silently and effectually within their minds. This means, in practice, turning a face of flint toward the easy cliche, the well-worn religious cant and phraseology -- dear, no doubt, to the faithful, but utterly meaningless to those outside the fold. It means learning how people are thinking and how they are feeling; it means learning with patience, imagination and ingenuity the way to pierce apathy or blank lack of understanding. I sometimes wonder what hours of prayer and thought lie behind the apparently simple and spontaneous parables of the Gospel.... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Making Men Whole [1952] Whenever tragedy strikes and people ask, "Why did this have to happen to me?" I always want to say to them, "Why not you? Are you so much different from the rest of the human race?"--Winnie May Johnson (1893-1990) There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from. -- Elizabeth Kubler Ross, MD. Romanists, Lutherans, Arminians, and Libertines have ever charged against Calvinism that its absolute doctrine of predestination, culminating in the perseverance of the saints, must necessarily result in a too easy conscience and a dangerous laxity of morals. But Calvinism answers this charge, not by opposing reasoning against reasoning, but by putting a fact of world-wide reputation over against this false deduction of fictitious consequences. It simply asks: "What rival moral fruits have other religions to oppose if we point to the high moral earnestness of the Puritans?" "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" is the old diabolical whisper which the evil spirit hurled against the Holy Apostle himself in the childhood of the Christian Church. -Abraham Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism (1898) When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.--C.S. Lewis , letter: 3 Aug 1959 We're not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be. -- C.S. Lewis, "Letters of C.S. Lewis", 29 April, 1959, para. 1, pg. 285. We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good; if bad, because it works in us patience, humility, contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.- C.S. Lewis I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth--that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? --Benjamin Franklin, debates in the Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 28, 1787. &emdash;James Madison, _Journal of the Federal Convention_, ed. E. H. Scott To the dim and bewildered vision of humanity, God's care
is more evident in some instances than in others; and upon
such instances men seize, and call them providences. It is
well that they can; but it would be gloriously better if
they could believe that the whole matter is one grand
providence. Even in the wildest storms the sky is not all dark; and so in the darkest dealings of God with His children, there are always some bright tokens for good. - Robert Murray McCheyne letter FEBRUARY 6, 1839 People don't ever seem to realize that doing what's right's no guarantee against misfortune. William McFee (1881-1966) I can depend less and less on my own power and sense of direction...It is so strange to advance backwards and get where you are going in a totally unexpected way - Thomas Merton wrote in a letter July 28, 1960 Knowing that I am not the one in control gives great encouragement. Knowing the One who is in control is everything. Alexander Michael ALL is best, though we oft doubt, We serve a gracious Master who knows how to overrule even
our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage. God often takes a course for accomplishing His purposes
directly contrary to what our narrow views would prescribe.
He brings a death upon our feelings, wishes and prospects
when He is about to give us the desire of our hearts. Though troubles assail MADAM, - Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you. I received your Ladyship's letter, in the which I perceive your case in this world smelleth of a fellowship and communion with the Son of God in His sufferings. Ye cannot, ye must not, have a more pleasant or more easy condition here, than He had, who 'through afflictions was made perfect' (Heb. 2.10). We may indeed think, Cannot God bring us to heaven with ease and prosperity? Who doubteth but He can? But His infinite wisdom thinketh and decreeth the contrary; and we cannot see a reason for it, yet He hath a most just reason. We never with our eyes saw our own soul; yet we have a soul. We see many rivers, but we know not their first spring and original fountain; yet they have a beginning. Madam, when ye are come to the other side of the have set down your foot on the shore of glorious eternity, and look back again to the waters and to your wearisome journey, and shall see, in that clear glass of endless glory, nearer to the bottom of God's wisdom, ye shall then be forced to say, 'If God had done otherwise with me than He hath done, I had never come to the enjoying of this crown of glory.' It is your part now to believe, and suffer, and hope, and wait on; for I protest, in the presence of that all-discerning eye, who knoweth what I write and what I think, that I would not want the sweet experience of the consolations of God for all the bitterness of affliction. Nay, whether God come to His children with a rod or a crown, if He come Himself with it, it is well. Welcome, welcome, Jesus, what way soever Thou come, if we can get a sight of Thee! And sure I am, it is better to be sick, providing Christ come to the bedside and draw by the curtains, and say, 'Courage, I am thy salvation ', than to enjoy being lusty and strong, and never to be visited of God - Samuel Rutherford, Letters , V. To LADY KENMURE ANWOTH, June 26, 1630. Let us be faithful, and care for our own part, which is to do and suffer for Him, and lay Christ's part on Himself, and leave it there. Duties are ours, events are the Lord's. When our faith goeth to meddle with events, and to hold a court (if I may so speak) upon God's providence, and beginneth to say, 'How wilt Thou do this and that?' we lose ground. We have nothing to do there. It is our part to let the Almighty exercise His own office, and steer His own helm. There is nothing left to us, but to see how we may be approved of Him, and how we may roll the weight of our weak souls in well-doing upon Him who is God Omnipotent: - Samulel Rutherford, Letters, XXI. To MR WILLIAM DALGLEISH, ABERDEEN The world's a stage, where God's omnipotence, His justice, knowledge, love, and providence do act the parts. --Guillaume de Salluste (1544-1590) _Divine Weeks and Works_ [1578], "First Week, First Day" Whatsoever is good for God's children they shall have it; for all is theirs to help them towards heaven; therefore if poverty be good they shall have it; if disgrace or crosses be good they shall have them; for all is ours to promote our greatest prosperity. - RICHARD SIBBES No frost can freeze providence. - Spurgeon's Proverbs God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.--Charles Spurgeon God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. Laurence Sterne: Sentimental Journey. RULE. Hold this as a fixed verity, that that is best which God wills. All that have come to God believe this, else they would have not come; for what could draw the heart from all its good but that which is greater than all? But though this is habitually in them, yet they do not always actually believe it; for what should be the cause of their excursions and deviations but because at present they think it better to walk in another way than the way of God.- JOSEPH SYMONDS Through all the changing scenes of life, Of His deliverance I will boast, O magnify the Lord with me, Their drooping hearts were soon refreshed, Behold,they say,Behold the man The hosts of God encamp around O make but trial of His love; Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then While hungry lions lack their prey, [St. Paul] has pointed to the only thing that can destroy our faith in Providence, which is our disbelief in the love of God, our distrust of God, our fear of His wrath, our hatred of his Presence, our conception of Him as a tyrant who condemns us, and our feeling of sin and guilt. It is not the depth of our suffering, but the depth of our separation from God, which destroys our faith in Providence.Paul Tillich,"The Shaking of the Foundations," Scribners, copyright 1948. A firm faith in the universal providence of God is the solution of all earthly problems. It is almost equally true that a clear and full apprehension of the universal providence of God is the solution of most theological problems. B. B. WARFIELD [St. Paul] has pointed to the only thing that can destroy our faith in Providence, which is our disbelief in the love of God, our distrust of God, our fear of His wrath, our hatred of his Presence, our conception of Him as a tyrant who condemns us, and our feeling of sin and guilt. It is not the depth of our suffering, but the depth of our separation from God, which destroys our faith in Providence.Paul Tillich,"The Shaking of the Foundations," Scribners, copyright 1948. The Lord can clear the darkest skies 'I (Ramsey MacDonald) perhaps am prejudiced by the immediate harm he ( the former Edward VIII) has done, and when the future open up I shall see, as indeed I believe, that it was all for the good. Still, one does not so much respect as be thankful for the tools of Providence.' By ' tools of Providence.', MacDonald presumably meant Wallis Simpson.- Susan Williams, The People's King, p.240
Do not compute the totality of your poultry population until all the manifestations of incubation have been entirely completed. William Jennings Bryan (1860 &endash; 1925) All maxims have their antagonist maxims; proverbs should be sold in pairs, a single one being but a half truth. --William Mathews Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it. -- George Santayana, _The Life of Reason_
The richest endowments of the mind are temperance, prudence, and fortitude. Prudence is a universal virtue, which enters into the composition of all the rest; and where she is not, fortitude loses its name and nature. Vincent Voiture (1597-1648)
A psychiatrist is a fellow who asks you a lot of expensive questions your wife asks for nothing. -- Joey Adams Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.-- Aeschylus To assume that either conversation or drugs --or a combination of both-- could solve all the problems of human existence and make every life fulfilled and complete is the kind of magical and wishful thinking that has made one class of our citizenry, the therapeutic community, successful and wealthy; and another class, their clients, more miserable and unsettled than they were before they began placing their hopes on the promissory note that someone else could tell them what to think and how to live, and thereby make them happy.---------- Robert A. Baker, American psychologist, from his book, "Mind Games: are we obsessed with therapy?";1996. A wonderful discovery, psychoanalysis. Makes quite simple people feel they're complex. --S. N. Behrman [Children who have undergone divorce counseling] have beentold how to feel and what to think about themselves by psychologists who are paid by their parents to make the whole thing work out as painlessly for the parents as possible. This, it seems, is a part of no-fault divorce. If ever there was a conflict of interest, this isfast are the sworn enemies of guilt. And they have an artificial language for the artificial feelings with which they equip children. Prosthesis for spiritual amputees, which unfortunately does not permit them to get a firm grip on anything." --Allan Bloom, 1985 In California, everyone goes to a therapist, is a therapist, or is a therapist going to a therapist.-- TRUMAN CAPOTE (1924-1984) Psychiatry's chief contribution to philosophy is the discovery that the toilet is the seat of the soul. ~Alexander Chase , Perspectives. Psychoanalysis will fade away just as mesmerism and phrenology did, and for the same reason - its exploded pretensions will deprive it of recruits Frederick Crews Man has discovered that to kneel before God at least is more dignified than to lie down before a psychiatrist. --William A. Donaghy (1909-1975) When there is no explanation, they give it a name, which immediately explains everything. --Martin H. Fischer (1879-1962) _Fischerisms_ Sure you can psychoanalyze, but, why bother to sort garbage. -- Martin H. Fischer 1965 youth, with casual flippancy, calls psychoanalysis
"the examination of the id by the odd." To be honest, as a humanist I don't much like the idea of sin. But given the choice of being powerless in the face of God or an impotent client of a therapist, I side with the Church. Therapeutic definitions of addiction elevate the sense of human powerlessness to a level unimaginable in mediaeval times. From the standpoint of our therapeutic culture, powerlessness becomes not merely an episode in one's biography but its defining condition. From this fatalistic perspective, treatment acquires a passive, even fatalistic, character. Addicts are told that they will never be completely cured. We have recovering sex addicts, recovering religious addicts and recovering alcoholics. No one ever really changes. That's why I say bring back the idea of transcendence. Frank Furedi, "Making a virtue of vice" The Spectator 12 Jan 2002 Of all the seven deadly sins, pride is the only one that has been completely rehabilitated. That is why pride is never diagnosed as a disease. The American sociologist Joel Best has observed that it is the absence of pride that constitutes a serious psychological problem. These days virtually every social and psychological problem is blamed on low self-esteem. The solution to poor educational performance, teenage pregnancy, anorexia, crime or homelessness is to raise the self-esteem of the victim. In our self-oriented world, society continually incites people to take themselves far too seriously. That is why pride has become one of the prime virtues of our time. - Frank Furedi, "Making a virtue of vice" The Spectator 12 Jan 2002 It should be noted that the therapeutic imperative alters the concept not only of sin but also of virtue. In the Middle Ages, practising the seven contrary virtues &emdash; humility, kindness, abstinence, chastity, patience, liberality, diligence &emdash; was believed to protect one against temptation towards the seven deadly sins. Today, people who practise some of these virtues are just as liable to be offered counselling as those who are tempted by sin. Kindness? Too much kindness may lead to compassion-fatigue. Diligence is sometimes dismissed as the act of someone suffering from a 'perfectionist complex'. Humble people lack self-esteem, and chastity is just another sexual dysfunction. Virtue is not so much its own reward as a condition requiring therapeutic intervention. - Frank Furedi, "Making a virtue of vice" The Spectator 12 Jan 2002 Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined.--Samuel Goldwyn Psychology: The theory that the patient will probably get well anyhow, and is certainly a damned fool.-- H. L. Mencken The field of psychology today is literally a mess. There are as many techniques, methods, and theories around as there are researchers and therapists. I have personally seen therapists convince their clients that all of their problems come from their mothers, the stars, their bio-chemical makeup, their diet, their lifestyle, and even the "kharma" from their past lives. -- Roger Mills Good theology makes good psychology ~ M.Scott Peck The science of Psychiatry is now where the science of Medicine was before germs were discovered.-- Malcolm Rogers Psychoanalysis is an attempt to examine a person's self-justifications. Hence it can be undertaken only with the patients cooperation and can succeed only when the patient has something to gain by abandoning or modifying his system of self- justification. ~ Thomas Szasz, The Second Sin (1975) It [psychology] is not merely a religion that pretends to be science, it is actually a fake religion that seeks to destroy true religion. ... psychotherapy is a modern, scientific-sounding name for what used to be called the "cure of souls" ... with the decline of religion and the growth of science in the eighteenth century, the cure of (sinful) souls, which had been an integral part of the Christian religions, was recast as the cure of (sick) minds, and became an integral part of medicine. Thomas Szasz I stick to simple themes. Love. Hate. No nuances. I stay away from psychoanalyst's couch scenes. Couches are good for one thing. John Wayne (1907-1979) In "Reader's Digest," 1 Sep 1970. A vigorous five mile walk will do more good for an unhappy, but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.--Paul Dudley White A good pun is its own reword.
Punctuality is a virtue, if you don't mind being lonely. The only good thing about punctuality is that it usually gets you an apology. Punctuality is the art of guessing how late the other fellow is going to be. A professor who arrives ten minutes late is more than unusual -- he is in a class by himself. The early bird would never catch the worm if the dumb worm slept late. Punctuality is the stern virtue of men of business, and the graceful courtesy of princes.-- Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton One way to make sure everyone gets to work on time would be to have 95 parking spaces for every 100 employees. ~Michael Iapoce. I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them. E.V. Lucas I've been on a calendar, but never on time. Marilyn Monroe Punctuality is the virtue of the bored. - Evelyn Waugh
The idea that the sole aim of punishment is to prevent crime is obviously grounded upon the theory that crime can be prevented, which is almost as dubious as the notion that poverty can be prevented. H.L. Mencken One is punished by the very things by which he sins. WISDOM OF SOLOMON (11:16)
God has placed two ways before us in His Word: salvation by faith, damnation by unbelief (Mark 16:16). He does not mention purgatory at all. Nor is purgatory to be admitted, for it obscures the benefits and grace of Christ. - Martin Luther Table Talk.
My ancestors were Puritans from England. They arrived here in 1648 in the hope of finding greater restrictions than were permissible under English law at that time. - Garrison Keillorp Nearly every association which now clings tot he word puritan has to be eliminated when we are thinking of the early Protestants. Whatever they were, they were not sour, gloomy, or severe; nor did their enemies bring any such charge against them... For More, a Protestant was one "dronke of the new must of lewd lightness of minde and vayne gladness of harte."... Protestantism was not too grim, but too glad,to be true. CS Lewis Asceticism is far more characteristic of Catholicism than of the Puritans. Celibacy and the praise of virginity are Catholic; the honour of the marriage bed is Puritan. CS Lewis What was it that obliged Jerome to write his book,
Concerning Illustrious Men? It was the common reproach of
old cast upon Christians, 'That they were all poor, weak,
unlearned men.' The sort of men sometime called 'Puritans'
in the English nation have been reproached with the same
character. . . But when truth shall have liberty to speak,
it will be known that Christianity never was more expressed
unto the life than in the lives of the persons that have
been thus reproached. What the Puritans gave the world was not thought, but action. Wendell Phillips. 1811-1884. Speech, Dec. 21, 1855 Puritanism in England was essentially a movement within the established church for the purifying of that church&emdash;for ministers godly and able to teach, for a simplifying of ritual, for a return to the virtues of primitive Christianity. There was nothing revolutionary about the main body of its doctrine. It accepted the medieval view of a world in which man was the center, and though it may have said that man was made in God's image it tended to think, rather, of a God made in man's. It believed literally in the two "cities" of God and the devil and in the constant struggle waged between them and made apparent in the human struggle between body and soul. It believed that man having fallen through Adam was redeemed through Christ. Its innovating principle was in the idea that the Bible, rather than any established religious hierarchy, was the final authority. Therefore every man, every individual, had direct access to the word of God. It was the Puritan's aim to reconstruct and purify not only the church, but individual conduct and all the institutions men live by. -- Bradford Smith, Bradford of Plymouth.
Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't. - Richard Bach (1936 &endash; ) The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going. ---Ralph Waldo Emerson Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. I have read and heard many attempts at a systematic account of it, from materialism and theosophy to the Christian system or that of Kant, and I have always felt that they were much too simple. I suspect that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of, or can be dreamed of, in any philosophy. That is the reason why I have no philosophy myself, and must be my excuse for dreaming. J.B.S. Haldane Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing? Stephen Hawking To have a grievance is to have a purpose in life. - Eric Hoffer It is the absence of immediate and compelling goals that leads to boredom, low energy, pessimism, depression and despair, among a heap of other unpleasant conditions. `` The worst affliction in life is neither pain, nor poverty, nor misfortune, nor the perfidy of others, because all of these have been met and defeated by those with a determination to do so. `` The ultimate scourge is purposelessness -- a pervading realization that one's life has no value to the world. Fortunately, it afflicts only those who *choose* to have no purpose.... Joe Klock, Like Klockwork: The Whimsy, Wit, and (sometime) Wisdom of a Key Largo Curmudgeon by Joe Klock We are not powerless specks of dust drifting around in the wind, blown by random destiny. We are, each of us, like beautiful snowflakes -- unique, and born for a specific reason and purpose. -- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, from "To Live Until You Say Goodbye" Jenny, God has made me for a purpose - for China; but he has also made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure.-- ERIC LIDDELL, Chariots of Fire Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind. - Seneca The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. The Shorter Catechism 1646 |
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