A summer evening, 2008, we’re shmoozing at Coffee Cartel. All these years later, Nava, I remember you telling me at one point, totally matter-of-fact, no trace of irritation, “You know, you’re very one-sided.” I acknowledged,…
We must endure what is hard to endure and persevere in that which is hard to persevere in. –Tempo Roshi, quoted in Eido T. Shimano, Endless Vow: The Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa
The work of extending your goodness and correcting your faults must never stop. –Liu Wenmin, J. C. Cleary, Worldly Wisdom: Confucian Teachings of the Ming Dynasty
He that has read Shakespeare with attention will perhaps find little new in the crowded world. –Dr. Samuel Johnson, dedication in Mrs. Lennox’ Shakespeare Illustrated, 1753, cited in A Johnson Sampler, edited by Henry Darcy…
“[God] has always given me what I desired, or rather He has made me desire what He wishes to give.” –Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul
Sohrab Ahmari, The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ Wendell Berry, Blessed are the Peacemakers: Christ’s Teachings of Love, Compassion, and Forgiveness…
Fortitude is the key to any great endeavor, and the only way to earn it is one small step at a time. –Lila Rose, Fighting for Life: Becoming a Force for Change in a Wounded…
Neglect of things which are profitable and necessary and undue concern with those which are irrelevant and harmful, are great folly. –Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
The more man plans, the harder God laughs. –Sholem Aleichem, Tevye the Dairyman, translated by Hillel Halkin
Success in every order is always attained on the same conditions: to reflect at the start, to begin at the beginning, to proceed methodically, to advance slowly, to give out all one’s strength. But the…