Quotes of the Day

Some wonderful quotes from the day's reading. These are in no particular order, and with no particular theme, but did in their own right inspire me.

George Santayana, The Irony Of Liberalism:

"But freeing the people from what? From the consequences of freedom."

"No one in office can be a true statesmen, because a true statesman is consistent, and public opinion will never long support consistent course."

Santayana, A Brief History of My Opinions:

"All is a tale told, if not by an idiot, at least a dreamer; but it is far from signifying nothing. Sensations are rapid dreams: perceptions are dreams sustained and developed at will; sciences are dreams abstracted, controlled, measured, and rendered scrupulously proportional to their occasions. Knowledge accordingly always remains a part of imagination in terms and in its seat; yet by virtue of its origin and intent it becomes a memorial and a guide to the fortunes of man in nature"

(How wonderfully Nietzsche)

Ralph Adams Cram, Why We do not Behave as Human Beings.

"....there never has been a time when out of the darkness did not flame into light bright figures of men and women who in character and capacity were a glory to the human race."

There was a theme of Sophrosyne today while reading, which I enjoyed immensely. It has served as a call to memory. The term rises, a spectre of former self, to confront my current life and ask: have you been living well? The answer, I'm sad to say, is almost. I feel quite satisfied with the majority of my actions. I hold myself to no one's standard but my own, I strive to better myself each day, and strive to love others as myself and learn about the teachings of Christ and Buddha. However, one glaring failure persists, always my failing. Luxury, always luxury. I have fallen into the ease, the seductive nature of the society in which we live, the nearly silent whispers of temptation to go against my inner voice, the blaring racket of consumerist enticement. God preserve me, help me to resist, always resist, the temptation that seems so against the nature of my soul yet comes so easily to practice.

Quite a paragraph there... so much philosophizing, so little actually accomplished. How easily words come to tongue, yet action always lags behind. Such a sad existence. So much power, motive force, yet it so rarely translates to the world. It is a shame.