Quote of the day

[Nunzio]

from Thomas Paine in The American Crisis:

"These are the times that try men’s souls. the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly; ’tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."

[glassonion]

From Dean Koontz newsletter

When you accept your talent, not as something to take pride in but as something for which to be grateful, you remove ego. You are freed from the desire to impress.

[lee_merrill]

There is never a crack in the ivory tower
Or a hinge to groan in the house of gold
Or a leaf of the rose in the wind to wither
And she grows young as the world grows old.
A Woman clothed with the sun returning
to clothe the sun when the sun is cold.


The light is bright on the Tower of David,
The evening glows with the morning star
In the skies turned back and the days returning
She walks so near who had wandered far
And in the heart of the swords, the seven times wounded,
Was never wearied as our hearts are.

G.K. Chesterton, The Towers of Time

[lee_merrill]

But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ.
EPHESIANS 2:4-5

We may hate ourselves when we come to realize failings we have not recognized before, and feel that there are probably others which we do not yet see as clearly as other people see them, but this kind of impatience for our perfection is not felt by those who love us, I am sure. It is one's greatest comfort to believe that it is not even felt by God. just as a mother would not love her child the better for its being turned into a model of perfection at once, but does love it the more dearly every time it tries to be good, so I do hope and believe our Great Father does not wait for us to be good and wise to love us, but loves us, and loves to help us in the very thick of our struggles with folly and sin.
JULIANA H. EWING

(from Joy and Strength, by Mary Wilder Tileston)

[lee_merrill]

The secret of true obedience—let me say at once what I believe it to be—is the clear and close personal relationship to God. All our attempts after full obedience will be failures until we get access to His abiding fellowship. It is God’s holy presence, consciously abiding with us, that keeps us from disobeying Him.

Andrew Murray, The School of Obedience

[Teluog]

"I am he is you are he is you are me and we are all together."

I Am The Walrus, The Beatles

[lee_merrill]

"Hammer this truth out on the anvil of experience-this truth that the loving thoughts of God direct and perfect all that concerns us; it will bear to be beaten out to the uttermost. The pledged word of God to man is no puffball to break at a touch and scatter into dust. It is iron. It is gold, that most malleable of all metals. It is more golden than gold. It abides imperishable forever. If we wait till we have clear enough vision to see the expected end before we stay our mind upon Him who is our Strength, we shall miss an opportunity that will never come again: we shall never know the blessing of the unoffended (Mt. 11:6). Now is the time to say, 'My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise,' even though as we say the words there is no sense of exultation. 'It is possible to gather gold, where it may be had, with moonlight,' by which I understand something less helpful than daylight would be in the search and the finding of gold. By moonlight, then, let us gather our gold." (Amy Carmichael)

[Kelp]

Behold, through the truth of Christian humility you will be able to achieve victory over every vice, that is by attributing to God rather than to yourself the fact that you have won.--St. Martin of Braga

[Teluog]

Behold, through the truth of Christian humility you will be able to achieve victory over every vice, that is by attributing to God rather than to yourself the fact that you have won.--St. Martin of Braga

According to FredFlanders, humility gets you all the girls.

One of my favourites:

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Jim Elliot

[Teluog]

"The best things in life aren't things." From an artpiece at DeviantArt, from a photo of a sign.

[Kelp]

Faith and love which are gifts of the Holy Spirit are such great and powerful means that a person who has them can easily, and with joy and consolation, go the way Jesus Christ went. Besides this, the Holy Spirit gives man the power to resist the delusions of the world so that although he makes use of earthly good, yet he uses them as a temporary visitor, without attaching his heart to them. But a man who has not got the Holy Spirit, despite all his learning and prudence, is always more or less a slave and worshipper of the world.--St. Innocent of Alaska

[NeilUnreal]

William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!

Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!

Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!

Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons (film version)

[Methuselah]

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep for that which he cannot lose" Jim Elliot

[Teluog]

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep for that which he cannot lose" Jim Elliot

I just posted that quote 3 or 4 posts ago

Welcome to T-Web, btw!

[Pilgrim]

In honor of john Hughes:

"And these children that you spit on as the try to change their world are immune to your consultations, they are quite aware of what they're going through..." David Bowie from the opening title of "The Breakfast Club."