Saturday, January 29, 2011
If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love’s sake only. Do not say
‘I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day’—
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love’s sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love’s eternity.
— Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet 14
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Friday, January 28, 2011
The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
To the secularists, this was John Paul II’s unforgivable sin – he placed service to God above service to the state. Most politicians view the state, not God, as the supreme ruler on earth. They simply cannot abide a theology that does not comport with their vision of unlimited state power. This is precisely why both conservatives and liberals savaged John Paul II when his theological pronouncements did not fit their goals. But perhaps their goals simply were not godly.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
Friday, January 14, 2011
We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
A blizzard in Boston, as witnessed by a parking meter.
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Truly be yourself — if you do that, there is no competition.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
still plummeting like a sheep learning to fly by jumping out of a tree
Monday, January 10, 2011
Truth is treason in the empire of lies.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Advertising is the modern substitute for argument; its function is to make the worse appear the better.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
I indulge a single hope only, that the choice of President may fall on one who will be a friend of peace, of economy, of the republican principles of our Constitution, and of the salutary distribution of powers made by that between the general and the local governments.
Friday, January 7, 2011
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.
— Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut
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Thursday, January 6, 2011
He who learns must suffer. Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, and against our will, comes wisdom by the awful grace of God.
