To underline: the moral crusader filled with righteous indignation proceeds obsessively, not calmly or with clarity; and his efforts are sterile, ineffective, undermined by his own lack of self-awareness. Only contemplative attention that reflects things…
Believe me–to write books of piety, to compose sublime poems, all this is not worth as much as the smallest act of renunciation. –Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, in Francis Broome, The Little Way for Every…
“He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It…
Every time he said this word monsieur, with his gently solemn, and heartily hospitable voice, the man’s countenance lighted up. Monsieur to a convict, is a glass of water to a man dying of thirst…
We must dare to be love in a world that does not know how to love. –Charles de Foucauld, cited in Isaac Slater, OCSO, “Do Not Judge Anyone”: Desert Wisdom for a Polarized World
What have we accomplished? Good new poetry, that oughta be enough. –Jack Kerouac, in The Letters, by Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, edited by Bill Morgan and David Stanford, 472
Everybody should simply make a vow of kindness and let it go at that, try to stay sober too—start new party Vow of Kindness party. –Jack Kerouac, in The Letters, by Jack Kerouac and Allen…
Where there is no love, it is for you to bring love. –Saint John of the Cross, cited in Saints Are Not Sad, 266
For I felt that I was still the captive of my sins, and in my misery I kept crying ’How long shall I go on saying “tomorrow, tomorrow”? Why not now? Why not make an…
If it’s this emotionally exhausting and morally overwhelming to be aware of what’s happening in Iran from the outside, can you just imagine what it must be like to be on the inside? –Elica Le…