A Pile of Quotes

Sometimes quotes begin to stack up on my desk. This is me unloading them upon you. And yes, they are unrelated.

“This offspring of the legitimate marriage between theological ignorance and religious intolerance, blessed by a sleep-walking philosophy, succeeds in making itself so completely ridiculous that it renders any serious reply unnecessary.” – D.F. Strauss

“A capitalist system that privatizes profits in good times and socializes losses in bad times needs some fixes.” – Milton Friedman

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” – Epictetus

“Truly it is an evil to be full of faults but it is still a greater evil to be full of them, and to be unwilling to recognize them.” – Blaise Pascal

“From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, spare us, O Lord.”- Teresa of Avila

 

Quotes

Some quotes that have been piling up on my desk:

“The amateur can afford to lose; the expert is the man who stays put.” – Marshall MacLuhan

“Be anything you like, be madmen, drunks, and bastards of every shape and form, but at all costs avoid one thing: success. … If you have learned only how to be a success, your life has probably been wasted. If a university concentrates on producing successful people, it is lamentably failing in its obligation to society and to the students themselves.”  – Thomas Merton . . . Thanks for this one, Paul.

“We assume miracles arrive like bolts from the blue. But most real miracles are built arduously, stone by stone, and only when seen from the perspective of the whole are they revealed to be miraculous. For this reason, we tend to miss the wonders happening right next to us, because they are occurring in slow motion and rendered invisible by the filter of our expectations.” ~ Celeste Fremon, journalist . . . Thanks for passing this onto me Jennie.

Even after all this time
the sun never says
to the earth,
“you owe me.”
Look what happens
to a love like that,
it lights up the whole
sky.
 
- Hafiz (early 1300s, Persian, I think)

The Sabbath

A few quotes regarding the Sabbath that I wish to share with you.

“To the biblical mind, however, labor is the means toward an end, and the Sabbath as a day of rest, as a day of abstaining from toil, is not for the purpose of recovering one’s lost strength and becoming fit for the forthcoming labor. The Sabbath is a day for the sake of life. Man is not a  beast of burden, and the Sabbath is not for the purpose of enhancing the efficiency of his work. ‘Last in creation, first in intention,’ the Sabbath is ‘the end of the creation of heaven and earth.’” – Abraham Joshua Heschel

 ”The requirement of Sabbath observance invites us to stop. It invites us to rest. It asks us to notice that while we rest the world continues without our help. It invites us to find delight in the world’s beauty and abundance.” – Norman Wirzba

“In [the Jewish] view, Sabbath observance is what we work toward. As our most important and all-encompassing goal, it frames and contextualizes our planning, much as the desire to achieve a specific objective – a championship, a masterful performance, an exquisite meal or party – will require that we take the proper steps all along the way. Sabbath frames our entire life, helping us set priorities and determine which of our activities and aspiration bring honor to God.” – Norman Wirzba