To be innocent is to bear the weight of the entire universe. It is to throw away the counterweight.
Every new development for the last three centuries has brought men closer to a state of affairs in which absolutely nothing would be recognized in the whole world as possessing a claim to obedience except the authority of the State. The majority of people in Europe obey nothing else.
If we concentrate our attention on trying to solve a problem of geometry, and if at the end of an hour we are no nearer to doing so than at the beginning, we have nevertheless been making progress each minute of that hour in another more mysterious dimension. Without knowing or feeling it, this apparent barren affort has brought more light into the soul.
Affliction hardens and discourages us because, like a red hot iron, it stamps the soul to its very depths with the scorn, the disgust, and even the self-hatred and sense of guilt that crime logically should produce but actually does not.
All those who possess in its pure state the love of their neighbour and the acceptance of the order of the world, inclucing affliction-all those, even should they live and die to all appearances atheists, are surely saved.
Education-whether its object be children or adults, individuals or an entire people-consists in creating motives.
When science, art, literature, and philosophy are simply the manifestation of personality, they are on a level where glorious and dazzling achievements are possible, which can make a man's name live for thousands of years. But above this level, far above, separated by an abyss, is the level where the highest things are achieved. These things are essentially anonymous.
What hope is there for innocence if it is not recognized?
One does not play Bach without having done scales. But neither does one play a scale merely for the sake of the scale.
No human being escapes the necessity of conceiving some good outside himself towards which his thought turns in a movement of desire, supplication, and hope.
Love consents to all and commands only those who consent. Love is abdication. God is abdication.
Death. An instantaneous state, without past or future. Indispensable for entering eternity.
Science is voiceless; it is the scientists who talk.
The speed with which bureaucracy has invaded almost every branch of human activity is something astounding once one thinks about it.
More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic.
Attachment is a manufacturer of illusion and whoever wants reality ought to be detached.
The poet produces the beautiful by fixing his attention on something real.
The beautiful is the experimental proof that the incarnation is possible.
Beauty always promises, but never gives anything.
Contradiction itself, far from always being a criterion of error, is sometimes a sign of truth.
One must always be ready to change sides with justice, that fugitive from the winning camp.
prayer consists of attention. It is the orientation of all the attention of which the soul is capable towards God. The quality of the attention counts for much in the quality of the prayer. Warmth of heart cannot make up for it.
The simultaneous existence of opposite virtues in the soul like pincers to catch hold of God.
Friendship is a miracle by which a person consents to view from a certain distance, without coming any nearer, the very being who is as necessary to him as food.
Every perfect life is a parable invented by God.
Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Every day we present the best quotes! Improve yourself, find your inspiration, share with friends
or simply: