Favorite Quotations & Resources (online)

The following are some resources I often use when I write:

Here are some of my favorite quotations or proverbs over the years:

• “Do not refrain from speaking at the crucial time, and do not hide your wisdom. For wisdom is known through speech, and education through the words of the tongue. Never speak against the truth, but be mindful of your ignorance. Do not be ashamed to confess your sins, and do not try to stop the current of a river. Do not subject yourself to a foolish fellow, nor show partiality to a ruler. Strive even to death for the truth and the Lord God will fight for you.” — Sir 4:23-28

• “For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” — 1 Cor 4:7

• “For though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ”. — 2 Cor 10:3-5

· “For what ought be more attractive to us sick men, than grace…by which we are healed; for us lazy men, than grace…by which we are stirred up; for us men longing to act, than grace, by which we are helped?” (St Augustine, Ep. 186, xii, 39)

• “Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another’s statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.” — St. Ignatius of Loyola (Spiritual Exercises, 22)

• · “Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?” (Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man)

•「披心腹，見情素。」(鄒陽)

• «Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate!» (Dante Alighieri)

• “Catholics should abstain from certain appellations which have recently been brought into use to distinguish one group of Catholics from another. They are to be avoided not only as ‘profane novelties of words,’ out of harmony with both truth and justice, but also because they give rise to great trouble and confusion among Catholics. Such is the nature of Catholicism that it does not admit of more or less, but must be held as a whole or as a whole rejected: ‘This is the Catholic faith, which unless a man believe faithfully and firmly; he cannot be saved’ (Athanas. Creed). There is no need of adding any qualifying terms to the profession of Catholicism: it is quite enough for each one to proclaim ‘Christian is my name and Catholic my surname,’ only let him endeavour to be in reality what he calls himself.” (Benedict XV, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum #24)

• »Мир спасёт красота.« (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

• „Die Lügen haben kurze Beine.“

• “Do we condemn Peter because of Judas?” (B. Stanley)

“My daughter, I could confuse the enemies of the Holy Church, but I don’t want to; if I should do so, who would purge my Church? The eyes of the members of the Church are dazzled, especially those in high places of dignity, and they view many things wrongly and go so far as to protect those who feign to be virtuous and to oppress and condemn the truly good. This displeases Me very much, seeing the few real sons of mine under the weight of injustice — those from whom the Church must rise again and to whom I am giving many graces in order to dispose them for this. I see them with their backs against the wall and tied as to impede their movement; this hurts Me so much that I feel Myself infuriated for them.” (Piccaretta Vol. 10: May 16, 1911)

· “Sapientis enim est non curare de nominibus.” (St Thomas Aquinas, Super Sent., lib. 2 d. 3 q. 1 a. 1 co. {cf. B. Lonergan, Verbum, p. 115: n. 51 Super II Sententiarum, d. 3, q. 1, a. 1 sol.})

• „Denn nicht umsonst hat Gott das Licht der Vernunft dem menschlichen Geiste eingepflanzt….“ (Leo XIII, Aeterni Patris, §2)

• 「事實勝於雄辯。」

• “Intolerance of error must not be equated with intolerance of men in error.” (A. Lunn)

· “Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.” (D. Hume)

· “Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Let no one separate; let no one cut himself off. You are the wheat; bear with the chaff until it is winnowed away. Do you want to be driven from the threshing floor[?] Although you are wheat, once outside, the birds of the air shall find you and gobble you up. What is more, that you should leave and fly away is proof that you were but chaff: and because you were without weight, when the wind blew, you were carried off from under the feet of the oxen. But they who are wheat, bear with the treading out. They are happy because they are grain; they grieve amidst the chaff, they wait for Him Whose fan is in His hand, Whom they know is their Redeemer [Qui autem triticum sunt, ferunt trituram; gaudent, quia grana sunt, gemunt inter paleam, exspectant ventilatorem, quem cognoscunt redemptorem].” (St. Augustine, Sermons of the Fathers Vol. 4, p. 531 [Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. cxlix, 3.].)

• “The rural family needs to regain its rightful place at the heart of the social order.” (Benedict XVI, 16 October 2006)

• “A dream is a redistribution of the signifying elements of everyday existence under the impact of desire.” (V. Burgin)

• “[I am] a Zorba of the inner world.” (Elliot Bougis)

· “Why do you question life so fiercely?” (Su. Va. Ho.)

· “For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God.” (St Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, bk. 4, ch. 20)

• “Memento mori.”

• “Peter has no need of our lies or flattery. Those who blindly and indiscriminately defend every decision of the Supreme Pontiff are the very ones who do most to undermine the authority of the Holy See—they destroy instead of strengthening its foundations.” (Melchior Cano, cf. this post)

· “小人立恆志，君子恆立志。”

· “Everything comes to those who wait and wait.” (Claude Choules, 1901-2009)

· “The stronger one is, the longer one can be patient.” (C. Burckhardt)

• “Hold on tightly, let go lightly.” (Croupier)

• “Is not this a time of strange providences? … Has not all our misery, as a Church, arisen from people being afraid to look difficulties in the face? They have palliated acts, when they should have denounced them. … And what is the consequence? that our Church has … ever been sinking lower and lower, till good part of its pretensions and professions is a mere sham, though it be a duty to make the best of what we have received. Yet, though bound to make the best of other men’s shams, let us not incur any of our own. The truest friends of our Church are they, who say boldly when her rulers are going wrong, and the consequences; and (to speak catachrestically) they are most likely to die in the Church, who are, under these black circumstances, most prepared to leave it. … I am very sanguine … that our prayers and our alms will come up as a memorial before God, and that all this miserable confusion tends to good.” (John Henry Newman, letter written at Christmas 1841)

• “I did not rob a bank… I tried to rob a bank.” / “Danny, I don’t pay no birds that don’t work.” (W. Allen)

• “Cool it with the anti-Semitic remarks.” (Patrick Bateman)

• “Vivere militare est.” (Seneca,  Moralische Briefe an Lucilius, XVI, XCVI, 5)

· “…ut per rivulos, non statim in mare, eligas introire, quia per faciliora ad difficiliora oportet devenire.  … Tardiloquum te esse iubeo et tarde ad locutorium accedentem.” (~Aquinas, De modo studendi [English])

• “Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence.” (J.W. Krutch, The Modern Temper [?])

• »On rencontre sa destinée souvent par des chemins qu’on prend pour l’éviter.« (J. de la Fontaine (1621–1695), Book VIII (1678–1679), fable 16 (The Horoscope))

• “Train heavy. If you don’t train heavy, you might as well give it up.” (Brooks Kubik)

• “Men will not enjoy what they dare not defend.” (G. K. Chesterton)

• “You are what you love, not what loves you.” (Charlie Kaufman)

• “I’m a pessimist about pessimism, and skeptic about skepticism.” (Elliam Fakespeare)

• “Nihil minus est hominis occupati quam uiuere. … [U]iuere tota uita discendum est et, quod magis fortasse miraberis, tota uita discendum est mori.” (Seneca, De brevitate vitae ad Paulinum §7 [English])

• “Mens sana in corpore sano. Νοῦς ὑγιὴς ἐν σώματι ὑγιεῖ.” (Thales, as per Juvenal, Satire X, 356 –> orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano. / fortem posce animum mortis terrore carentem, / qui spatium uitae extremum inter munera ponat
naturae, qui ferre queat quoscumque labores, / nesciat irasci, cupiat nihil et potiores / Herculis aerumnas credat saeuosque labores / et uenere et cenis et pluma Sardanapalli. / monstro quod ipse tibi possis dare; semita certe / tranquillae per uirtutem patet unica uitae.)

· “Custodite vos a simulacris.” (I John 5:2)

• “The first draft of anything is shit.” (E. Hemingway)

· “There is always an easy solution to every human problem–neat, plausible, and wrong.” (H. L. Mencken)

• “We are measured by what it takes to discourage us.” (B. Johnson)

1 Response to Favorite Quotations & Resources (online)

  1. Irenaeus of New York says:
    October 21, 2013 at 09:29

    Wow! Thanks for the link and compliment!

    P.S. Just as an fyi. If you want to highlight verses when you reference something in a post, you can add the verse numbers to the end of the url. It will highlight those verses in blue. For instance, the url below will highlight verses 1,2,3,4,10,11.

    http://www.credobiblestudy.com/roman/en/catholic-bible-douay-rheims-nt-book-i-peter-i-pet-chapter-5/67/5/1-4,10-11

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