Today’s One-Liner (#112)
“He knows how to read better than any one; he gets at the substance of a book directly; he tears out the heart of it.” –Mrs. Knowles, on Samuel Johnson, in James Boswell, The Life…
Month: February 2025
Today’s One-Liner (#111)
When you come to a fork in the road, take it. –Yogi Berra
Advice from 1921
Therefore, be slow to speak and slow to go to those places where people speak, because in many words the spirit is poured out like water; by your amiability to all, purchase the right really…
Today’s One-Liner (#110)
The temple of truth has never suffered so much from the woodpecker on the outside as from the termites within. –Vance Havner, quoted in Karen Hall, The Sound of Silence: The Life and Canceling of…
Today’s One-Liner (#109)
Keep an eye primarily on yourself and admonish yourself instead of your friends. –Thomas á Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
Back to Bach
Listen to certain Preludes of Bach. They do not say much; there is a short motif repeated; then insistent variations in no higher relief than that of a medal by Roty. But what a level…
A Note from Natalie Long
I’m reading “The Sayings of the Desert Fathers”. This excerpt, recounted in the section on Abba Poemen, reminded me of Father Zossima. 34. Another brother questioned him in these words: What does, “See that none…
Today’s One-Liner (#108)
Nothing is more difficult to overcome than the problems we thought were already overcome.–Alexis de Tocqueville, via my friend Suzanne Renard
Today’s One-Liner (#107)
I laughed at all of your jokes, my love, you didn’t need to coax. –Rod Stewart, “Maggie May”
Today’s One-Liner (#106)
Instead of reading myths in the light of the Gospels, people have always read the Gospels in light of myths. –Rene Girard, Maxim #104, in All Desire Is a Desire for Being: Essential Writings, edited…