Hasidic saying

Be the master of your will and the slave of your conscience. -Hasidic saying

Great, as long as your conscience is well formed.

Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (1623-1662)

We are usually convinced more easily by reasons we have found ourselves than by those which have occurred to others. -Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (1623-1662)

And rightly so. If we have found a reason ourselves, we know the process that led to it, but we don't immediately know the process by which another developed his or her reason.

Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, moralist (1613-1680)

Absence diminishes commonplace passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and kindles fire. -Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, moralist (1613-1680)

I can't say that my experience ratifies the statement, but I love the analogy!

Albert Camus, writer, philosopher, Nobel laureate (1913-1960)

But what then is capital punishment but the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated it may be, can be compared? For there to be equivalence, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him and who, from that moment onward, had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private life. -Albert Camus, writer, philosopher, Nobel laureate (1913-1960)

Camus's view is limited to the criminal himself and tries to elicit sympathy for him. Left out of consideration is the criminal's victims, not past victims but potential future victims. Not that capital punishment is justified in every case, but there is more to be considered than the feelings of the condemned man.

Robert Cecil, British prime minister (1830-1903)

By a free country, I mean a country where people are allowed, so long as they do not hurt their neighbours, to do as they like. I do not mean a country where six men may make five men do exactly as they like. -Robert Cecil, British prime minister (1830-1903)

The latter condition is "the tyranny of the majority," as bad as any other tyranny and a constant danger in a democracy.

Jean Cocteau, author and painter (1889-1963)

Take a commonplace, clean it and polish it, light it so that it produces the same effect of youth and freshness and originality and spontaneity as it did originally, and you have done a poet's job. The rest is literature. -Jean Cocteau, author and painter (1889-1963)

A very good, even inspiring, description of the poet's work.

Josh Billings, columnist and humorist (1818-1885)

Don't mistake pleasure for happiness. They're a different breed of dog. -Josh Billings, columnist and humorist (1818-1885)

Good one!

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1742-1799)

The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth. -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1742-1799)

Very true.

Bob Monkhouse, comedian (1928-2003)

They laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian. They're not laughing now. -Bob Monkhouse, comedian (1928-2003)

Very clever double meaning.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (1900-1945)

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (1900-1945)

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."  Prov 29:18 (KJV)

Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (1917-1986)

Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times; few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (1917-1986)

And the purpose of Christian education, however it comes, is to let the light of Christ shine in those dark corners.

Kahlil Gibran, poet and artist (1883-1931)

He who listens to truth is not less than he who utters truth. -Kahlil Gibran, poet and artist (1883-1931)

Listen here means more than just hear, but includes openness and acceptance.

Jorge Luis Borges, writer (1899-1986)

A writer -- and, I believe, generally all persons -- must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art. -Jorge Luis Borges, writer (1899-1986)

From a Christian perspective one would say that all these aspects of life are given to us by God so that by His grace we can shape our lives as works of art fit for eternal life.

Nelson Mandela

A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. -Nelson Mandela, activist, South African president, Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1918)

I think we have to hedge this a bit. Sometimes we have to take away someone's freedom, or at least reduce it, in order to protect the innocent. After all, not everyone in South Africa's prisons was there unjustly.

Leonardo da Vinci

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. -Leonardo da Vinci, painter, engineer, musician, and scientist (1452-1519)

My first reaction to this quote was, "Yes, I agree." But after a moment I began to question myself. Isn't this a matter of style? Were all the clever people of the Baroque period, for example, unsophisticated?

John Irving, novelist

Religious freedom should work two ways: we should be free to practice the religion of our choice, but we must also be free from having someone else's religion practiced on us. -John Irving, novelist (b. 1942)

This is true. However, in our day, the second way is often interpreted in such a way that simply expressing one's religious beliefs is considered an offense!

Frances Wright

Equality is the soul of liberty; there is, in fact, no liberty without it. -- Frances Wright

But equality in what sense? Equal standing before the law is probably the very definition of liberty as Wright is using the word, but there are other aspects of life in which equality is illusory. This reality often seems to be lost sight of in public discourse these days.

Jean de la Bruyere, essayist and moralist (1645-1696)

Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think. -Jean de la Bruyere, essayist and moralist (1645-1696)

I believe this is true, but in our day, for the true sense of it to come through, a couple of words should be added: Life is a tragedy for those who only feel, and a comedy for those who truly think.

Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924)

It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel. -Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924)

It is the certainty that they know the truth that leads men to believe they can pontificate about what makes men cruel.

Galileo Galilei

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer (1564-1642)

This is a great attitude to have. I must try to cultivate it in myself.

A.J.P. Taylor, historian (1906-1990)

There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the Establishment - and nothing more corrupting. -A.J.P. Taylor, historian (1906-1990)

Reading "the Establishment" as what the Bible calls "the world," I would definitely agree.

Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989)

Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination. -Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989)

On the contrary, I would say that disbelief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination, an inability, or perhaps refusal, to imagine anything beyond sense data.

Milton Friedman

The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit. -- Milton Friedman

I believe that Milton Friedman is a very smart economist, but this seems like a very naïve statement. There are, after all, a lot of crooks out there engaging in exchanges that are not technically robbery but are such in effect.

Jonathan Swift

It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into. -Jonathan Swift, satirist (1667-1745)

I think the great Mr. Swift is wrong this time. It is not an easy matter, but reasonable people do sometimes overcome their prejudices.

Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, novelist and journalist (1808-1890)

Every man possesses three characters: that which he exhibits, that which he really has, and that which he believes he has. -Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, novelist and journalist (1808-1890)

And it is the work of a lifetime to make these all match his true character, the character that God knows.

George Wharton James, journalist, author, and speaker (1858-1923)

What a pitiable thing it is that our civilization can do no better for us than to make us slaves to indoor life, so that we have to go and take artificial exercise in order to preserve our health. -George Wharton James, journalist, author, and speaker (1858-1923)

This seems an odd way to express this thought. I agree that the need to devise artificial means to get physical exercise is a peculiar feature of modern life, but James sounds like he thinks there is some kind of entitlement involved!

George Wharton James, journalist, author, and speaker (1858-1923)

What a pitiable thing it is that our civilization can do no better for us than to make us slaves to indoor life, so that we have to go and take artificial exercise in order to preserve our health. -George Wharton James, journalist, author, and speaker (1858-1923)

This seems an odd way to express this thought. I agree that the need to devise artificial means to get the physical exercise we need is a peculiar feature of modern life, but James sounds like he thinks there is some kind of entitlement involved!

Confucius

The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell. -- Confucius

J. K. Rowling

"Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve." --J. K. Rowling

I wonder what she means? This is obviously not literally true. No matter how much nerve I have I can't fly like a bird, or like Harry Potter.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman philosopher

A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient; nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in a fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient; and looking upon them only as sick and extravagant. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher (BCE 3-65 CE)

This betrays a very haughty attitude, unless it includes the recognition that the wise man is more like other men than different from them, which means that his judgment that other men are sick is recognized as provisional.

Nitin Nohria, Dean, Harvard Business School

"That which is striking and beautiful is not always good; but that which is good is always beautiful." -- Nitin Nohria, Dean, Harvard Business School

Excellent!

Bertrand Russell

Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines. -Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970)

"Enlightened" philosophers have been saying this for three hundred years or more, and no sign of it happening yet!

Franklin Jones

"What makes resisting temptation difficult for many people is they don't want to discourage it completely." -- Franklin Jones

Sad, but very true.

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William Hazlitt, essayist (1778-1830)

Perhaps the best cure for the fear of death is to reflect that life has a beginning as well as an end. There was a time when you were not: that gives us no concern. Why then should it trouble us that a time will come when we shall cease to be? To die is only to be as we were before we were born. -William Hazlitt, essayist (1778-1830)

Hazlitt's little argument has no force. In fact the thought of death does trouble us. We recognize death as an offense, something that shouldn't happen. We know ourselves as transcendent beings. Death troubles us when we are not confident about what will come after.

James Anthony Froude, author and editor (1818-1894)

Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself. -James Anthony Froude, author and editor (1818-1894)

And only to certain kinds of men in fact.

Jonathan Swift, satirist (1667-1745)

Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own, which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it. -Jonathan Swift, satirist (1667-1745)

This raises an interesting question in my mind: When someone is unexpectedly not offended by satire, is he or she demonstrating a magnanimous or an obtuse spirit?

Pierre Bayle, philosopher and writer (1647-1706)

There is not less wit nor less invention in applying rightly a thought one finds in a book, than in being the first author of that thought. -Pierre Bayle, philosopher and writer (1647-1706)

This is a pleasant thought. Too bad it isn't true. The skill to use another's thought well should not be denigrated but the originality of the author is in fact an additional skill.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

What??!! Those who have burned, suppressed, and expunged through the centuries haven't thought so, and I think Emerson is wildly optimistic here. It is true that in the long run, the eternal perspective, God's truth will be vindicated, but nevertheless evil is still evil and has its effects. I don't believe there is any mysterious spiritual ether in which a suppressed truth "reverberates through the earth."

Ben Hecht, screenwriter, playwright, novelist, director, and producer (1894-1964)

Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock. -Ben Hecht, screenwriter, playwright, novelist, director, and producer (1894-1964)

I think this is a good insight. To really understand what is going on in the world, one needs perspective. One needs to stand back a bit in time to see the trends. In our digital age this is perhaps even more to the point.

John Ruskin, author, art critic, and social reformer

What we think, or what we know, or what we believe, is in the end, of little consequence. The only thing of consequence is what we do. -John Ruskin, author, art critic, and social reformer (1819-1900)

This seems odd to me. Surely what we do is the consequence of what we think, know, and believe!

Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author

Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

I don't often find myself agreeing with Thoreau, but this time I do. As a society we need to cultivate a much greater respect for life in general. It comes, after all, from God, and man cannot create it.

Will Durant, historian (1885-1981)

Inquiry is fatal to certainty. -Will Durant, historian (1885-1981)

To my mind inquiry is rather an antidote to doubt.