Come Out Swinging
[Simone] Weil’s critique of Marx is impressive in its sweep, its remorseless logic, and its passion, recalling the contemporary writing of Berdiaev. –David McLellan/ Utopian Pessimist: The Life and Thought of Simone Weil, 77
Category: Philosophy
Today’s One-Liner (#289)
While I thought that there was some element of madness in her projects, I recall that after having seen her I was even more convinced than before that she was some sort of saint. –Simone…
Readiness Is All
Every time I re-read a book of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, or Aquinas, I shake my head and wonder why I had not seen that before. The answer is most likely that I was not ready…
Today’s One-Liner (#282)
Every human being is free and is confronted with decisions on a daily and hourly basis. –Edith Stein,The Science of the Cross, 162
Virtue’s Greatness
Fortitude appears to excel among the virtues. Virtue is concerned with things difficult and good. But fortitude is concerned with difficulty; hence it is the greatest of the virtues. To this we must reply: the…
Simplify!
Simplify your life by throwing out all the things you have that you don’t need, all that’s not virtuous, useful, or pleasant. Don’t do anything for any other reason, e.g., because “everybody’s doing it” or…
Today’s One-Liner (#276)
A good man is not one who has a good intellect but one who has a good will. ––Saint Thomas Aquinas, in Josef Pieper, The Human Wisdom of St. Thomas, #240
The Rules of Memorizing
St. Thomas proposes four rules: (1) To set in order what one wants to rememberbach; (2) to apply the mind deeply to it; (3) to think over it often; (4) when one wants to recollect…
Today’s One-Liner (#262)
What is necessary every moment is to be where we ought to be and to do the thing that matters. –AG Sertillanges, O.P., The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods, trans. Mary Ryan, 242
Today’s One-Liner (#259)
Jesus came to blind those who have clear sight and to give sight to the blind; to heal the sick and let the healthy die; to call sinners to repentance and justify them, and to…