Here you will find some of the best thoughts, best expressed, by some of our best thinkers. By means of such friends, we too may begin to think more clearly and speak more convincingly about what is true.
Blaise Pascal For an excellent dose of Pascal read Pansees.
Two extremes: to exclude reason, to admit reason only.
The knowledge of God is very far from the love of Him.
The heart has its reasons which reason knows not.
Man’s sensitivity to the little things and insensitivity to the greatest are the signs of a strange disorder.
The last function of reason is to recognize that there are an infinity of things which surpass it.
Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because he shows us both God and our own wretchedness.
A trifle consoles us, for a trifle distresses us.
It was not, then, right that He [God] should appear in a manner manifestly divine, and completely capable of convincing all men; but it was also not right that He should come in so hidden a manner that He could not be known by those who should sincerely seek Him. He has willed to make himself quite recognizable by those; and thus, willing to appear openly to those who seek Him with all their heart, and to be hidden from those who flee from Him with all their heart, He so regulates the knowledge of Himself that He has given signs of Himself, visible to those who seek Him, and not to those who seek Him not. There is enough light for those who only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition.
Soren Kierkegaard To read Kierkaard, start with Provocations, a good sampler, or take up Purity of Heart Is To Will One Thing.
It is so hard to believe because it is so hard to obey.
Wherever there is a crowd there is untruth.
To be a mere observer is actually sin.
Purity of heart is to will one thing.
The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
Once you label me, you negate me.
The crowd is indeed untruth.
Christ was crucified because he would have nothing to do with the crowd (even though he addressed himself to all). He did not want to form a party, an interest group, a mass movement, but wanted to be what he was, the truth, which is related to the single individual.
Where am I? Who am I? How did I come to be here? What is this thing called the world? How did I come into the world? Why was I not consulted? And If I am compelled to take part in it, Where is the director? I want to see him.
It happenedthat a fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to inform the public. They thought it was just a jest and applauded. He repeated his warning, they shouted even louder. So I think the world will come to an end amid general applause from all the wits, who believe that it is a joke.
I should like the clergy to have is a tenfold increase in salary. I am afraid that neither the world nor the clergy would understand this punishment.
G. K. Chesterton His Orthodoxy is a fine kick in the head. Superb!
Just going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.
Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all.
Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.
There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people.
Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.
The fairy tale utterance always is, ‘You may live in a palace of gold if you do not say the word cow’; or ‘You may live happily with the King’s daughter if you do not show her an onion.’ The vision always hangs on a veto. All the dizzy and colossal things conceded depend upon one small thing withheld. All the wild and whirling things that are let loose depend on one thing that is forbidden.
Here, again in short, Christianity got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites, by keeping them both, and keeping them both furious. The Church was positive on both points. One can hardly think too little of one’s self. One can hardly think too much of one’s soul
Thrive! 