You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.
—Walter Hooper, quoting C.S. Lewis, in his preface to On Stories.
The City
Here I know the trees will whisper to me, and the water laughs and sings all day, and the bird make their music for me; but I can imagine no loneliness on earth that will begin to compare with being among the crowds and crowds of a large city where no one has a word or look for you.
—Gene Stratton-Porter, The Harvester, ch XVI.
—Gene Stratton-Porter, The Harvester, ch XVI.
Nonetheless
People are irrational, vindictive, and self-centered. Love them nonetheless. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good nonetheless. When you are kind, you will be mocked and ridiculed. Be kind nonetheless. When you are generous, you will be accused of selfish motives. Be generous nonetheless. Those who need help the most will appreciate it the least. Help them nonetheless. What you spend years building will be destroyed overnight. Build nonetheless. Honesty and sincerity makes you vulnerable. Be honest and sincere nonetheless. Give the best you have and it will never be enough. Give your best nonetheless. Perseverance in doing good is foolishness to the world. Persevere nonetheless. Because in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
—After Lucinda Vardey, Mother Teresa: A Simple Path, and Kent Keith, Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments. First seen here.
—After Lucinda Vardey, Mother Teresa: A Simple Path, and Kent Keith, Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments. First seen here.
Seeing Yourself
We moved in—I was not at all conscious whither—but at some turn we suddenly encountered another party approaching from the opposite direction. I noted them and for the fraction of a moment believed them all strangers, thus receiving an impartial impression of their appearance. [But then I knew I faced ourselves in a great mirror.]
Thus for the first, and perhaps only time in my life I enjoyed the 'gift' of seeing myself as others see me. No need to dwell on the result. It brought a jar of discord, a pang of regret; it was not flattering, yet, after all, I ought to be thankful: it might have been worse.
—Charlotte Brontë, Villette Ch. XX: The Concert
Thus for the first, and perhaps only time in my life I enjoyed the 'gift' of seeing myself as others see me. No need to dwell on the result. It brought a jar of discord, a pang of regret; it was not flattering, yet, after all, I ought to be thankful: it might have been worse.
—Charlotte Brontë, Villette Ch. XX: The Concert
Accidentally on Purpose
They mean to tell us all was rolling blind
Till accidentally it hit on mind
Never believe it. At the very worst
It must have had a purpose from the first
Whose purpose was it, His or Hers or Its?
Let's leave that to the scientific wits.
Grant me intention, purpose and design -
That's near enough for me to the divine.
And yet with all this help of head and brain,
How happily instinctive we remain.
—Robert Frost, In the Clearing, 1962
Till accidentally it hit on mind
Never believe it. At the very worst
It must have had a purpose from the first
Whose purpose was it, His or Hers or Its?
Let's leave that to the scientific wits.
Grant me intention, purpose and design -
That's near enough for me to the divine.
And yet with all this help of head and brain,
How happily instinctive we remain.
—Robert Frost, In the Clearing, 1962
He who Overcomes
He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.
But I will give him the morning star.
He will be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
I will grant him to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.
I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
To him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.
To him I will give some of the hidden manna, and a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.
I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
—Revelation 2-3.
But I will give him the morning star.
He will be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
I will grant him to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.
I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
To him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.
To him I will give some of the hidden manna, and a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.
I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
—Revelation 2-3.
The Casket
I could not go in: too resistless was the delight of staying with the wild hour, black and full of thunder, pealing out such an ode as language never delivered to man—too terribly glorious, the spectacle of clouds, split and pierced by white and blinding bolts.
I did long, achingly, then and for four-and-twenty hours afterwards, for something to fetch me out of my present existence, and lead me upwards and onwards. This longing, and all of a similar kind, it was necessary to knock on the head, which I promptly tried to do.
—Charlotte Brontë, Villette, Ch XII The Casket.
I did long, achingly, then and for four-and-twenty hours afterwards, for something to fetch me out of my present existence, and lead me upwards and onwards. This longing, and all of a similar kind, it was necessary to knock on the head, which I promptly tried to do.
—Charlotte Brontë, Villette, Ch XII The Casket.
Little Willie
Little Willie in the best of sashes
Fell in the fire and was burnt to ashes.
Latter on the room grew chilly
But no one cared to poke poor Willie.
—Misquoted from Harry Graham, Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes, http://www.ruthlessrhymes.com/ruthless_rhymes/tenderheartedness.html
Little Willie in a fit of spite
Hung himself in his Ma's boudoir
Appalled, she cried, in the morning light,
"You've gone and spoiled my peignoir!"
Fell in the fire and was burnt to ashes.
Latter on the room grew chilly
But no one cared to poke poor Willie.
—Misquoted from Harry Graham, Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes, http://www.ruthlessrhymes.com/ruthless_rhymes/tenderheartedness.html
Little Willie in a fit of spite
Hung himself in his Ma's boudoir
Appalled, she cried, in the morning light,
"You've gone and spoiled my peignoir!"
A good Book
There is nothing like a good book to put you to sleep with the illusion that life is rich and meaningful.
—Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men, p. 108.
—Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men, p. 108.
A brass-bound Idealist
Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud. There is always something.
My only crime was being a man and living in the world of men, and you don't have to do special penance for that. The crime and the penance, in that case, coincide perfectly. They are identical.
—Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men, p. 268, 464.
My only crime was being a man and living in the world of men, and you don't have to do special penance for that. The crime and the penance, in that case, coincide perfectly. They are identical.
—Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men, p. 268, 464.
Professor You-know-who
A sudden understanding, a pity mixed with horror, welled up in Bilbo's heart: a glimpse of endless unmarked days without light or hope of betterment, hard stone, cold fish, sneaking and whispering.
—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Accidents
If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life of this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of man was an accident too. If so, then all our thought processes are mere accidents – the accidental byproducts of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and the astronomers as well as for anyone else. But if their thoughts – of materialism and astronomy – are merely accidental byproducts, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give account for all of the other accidents.
–C.S. Lewis, The Business of Heaven, 1984.
–C.S. Lewis, The Business of Heaven, 1984.
Light vs Darkness
We are the torch of Christ's glory, shining on the sleeping world. And the world of this present darkness hates us for it. John 1:5.
—Pastor Paul Browne, 7/25/2010.
—Pastor Paul Browne, 7/25/2010.
The Corruption of Democracy
In early democracies all individual human rights were granted on the ground that man is God's creature. That is, freedom was given to the individual conditionally, in the assumption of his constant religious responsibility. It would have seemed quite impossible, in America, that an individual be granted boundless freedom with no purpose, simply for the satisfaction of his whims.
Subsequently, however, a total emancipation occurred from the moral heritage of Christian centuries with their great reserves of mercy and sacrifice. The West has finally achieved the rights of man, and even excess, but man's sense of responsibility to God and society has grown dimmer and dimmer. All the celebrated technological achievements of progress do not redeem the twentieth century's moral poverty.
If, as claimed by humanism, man were born only to be happy, he would not be born to die. We have placed too much hope in politics and social reforms, only to find out that we are being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life.
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn's commencement address, Harvard University, 1978, quoted in The Wall Street Journal, 8/6/2010.
Subsequently, however, a total emancipation occurred from the moral heritage of Christian centuries with their great reserves of mercy and sacrifice. The West has finally achieved the rights of man, and even excess, but man's sense of responsibility to God and society has grown dimmer and dimmer. All the celebrated technological achievements of progress do not redeem the twentieth century's moral poverty.
If, as claimed by humanism, man were born only to be happy, he would not be born to die. We have placed too much hope in politics and social reforms, only to find out that we are being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life.
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn's commencement address, Harvard University, 1978, quoted in The Wall Street Journal, 8/6/2010.
Something Deep and Bright
It was talking to something deep in me that never got talked to, that hardly even had words.
"Like when the wind blows the clouds across the moon and the grass whispers along the road and all the trees pull like balloons at their trunks and one star comes out and says 'Come' and the ground says 'Stay' and part of you tries to go and it hurts—"
Like when you're standing at the edge of the ocean at sunset in a rising fury of tempest and the wind beats against you and the waves smash and tear at your feet and the clouds drive like screeching eagles to bar you forever from the utter West—
Like when the piano's silvery tones swell up like moonlight on deep waters and your heart rises with them and you feel you can almost touch the eternal Music until you hit a wrong note and crash in futility back to earth—
Like when the gentle breeze of a warm summer evening carries the night-music of the meadows to your ears and the fireflies mingle with the stars and all you can do is watch and wait—
—after Zenna Henderson, Something Bright, in The Anything Box, p 52.
"Like when the wind blows the clouds across the moon and the grass whispers along the road and all the trees pull like balloons at their trunks and one star comes out and says 'Come' and the ground says 'Stay' and part of you tries to go and it hurts—"
Like when you're standing at the edge of the ocean at sunset in a rising fury of tempest and the wind beats against you and the waves smash and tear at your feet and the clouds drive like screeching eagles to bar you forever from the utter West—
Like when the piano's silvery tones swell up like moonlight on deep waters and your heart rises with them and you feel you can almost touch the eternal Music until you hit a wrong note and crash in futility back to earth—
Like when the gentle breeze of a warm summer evening carries the night-music of the meadows to your ears and the fireflies mingle with the stars and all you can do is watch and wait—
—after Zenna Henderson, Something Bright, in The Anything Box, p 52.
To Prevent
To Prevent.
It has two meanings, depending on the time period of usage: to make something happen; to keep something from happening. An ironic semantic drift.
To Rule is to Prevent.
—Rich Coffeen, the Discipling of Mytra, p. 417.
It has two meanings, depending on the time period of usage: to make something happen; to keep something from happening. An ironic semantic drift.
To Rule is to Prevent.
—Rich Coffeen, the Discipling of Mytra, p. 417.
Consanguinity
'There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose.' 'The first mistaken impulse of an undisciplined heart.' 'My love was founded on a rock.'
—Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. XLV, p. 591.
—Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. XLV, p. 591.
Turn the Page
Turn the page! Believe again! You have forgotten how to believe in anything beyond your chosen treadmill. You have grown out of the fairy tale age, you say. But what have you grown into? Do you like it? ...
They have forgotten. Let me forget too. Surely it must be easier to forget that there is a page to be turned than to know it's there and not be able to turn it! How long? How long must I remember? ...
... forever after ... forever after ...
—Zenna Henderson, Turn the Page, in The Anything Box, p. 158.
They have forgotten. Let me forget too. Surely it must be easier to forget that there is a page to be turned than to know it's there and not be able to turn it! How long? How long must I remember? ...
... forever after ... forever after ...
—Zenna Henderson, Turn the Page, in The Anything Box, p. 158.
David Copperfield
The man who reviews his own life had need to have been a good man, indeed, if he would be spared the sharp consciousness of many talents neglected, many opportunities wasted, many erratic and perverted feelings constantly at war within his breast, and defeating him. I do not hold one natural gift, I dare say, that I have not abused. My meaning simply is that whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well.... Never to put one hand to anything on which I could throw my whole self; and never to affect depreciation of my work, whatever it was; I find, now, to have been my golden rules. How much of the practice I have just reduced to precept I owe to Agnes I will not repeat here.
—Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. XLII, p. 539-540.
—Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. XLII, p. 539-540.
The Pilgrim's Wants
The Pilgrim's Wants
I want that adorning divine,
Thou, only, my God, canst bestow;
I want in those beautiful garments to shine,
Which distinguish thy household below.
Col. 3:12-17
I want, oh! I want to attain
Some likeness, my Savior, to thee:
That longed-for resemblance once more to regain.
Thy comeliness put upon me.
1 John 3:2,3
I want to be marked for thy own;
Thy seal on my forehead to wear;
To receive that "new name" on the mystic white stone,
Which only thyself canst declare.
Revelation 2:17
I want every moment, to feel
That the Spirit does dwell in my heart;
That his power is present to cleanse and to heal,
And newness of life to impart.
Rom. 8:11-16
I want a sweet sense of thy pardoning love,
That my manifold sins are forgiven;
That Christ, as my Advocate, pleadeth above,
That my name is recorded in heaven.
I want to so in thee abide,
As to bring forth some fruit to thy praise;
The branch that thou prunest, though feeble and dried,
May languish, but never decays.
John 15:2-5
I want thine own hand to unbind
Each tie to terrestrial things,
Too tenderly cherished, too closely entwined,
Where my heart too tenaciously clings.
I John 2:15
I want, by my aspect serene,
My actions and words, to declare
That my treasure is placed in a country unseen,
That my heart and affections are there.
Matthew 6:19-21
I want, as a traveler, to haste
Straight onward, nor pause on my way;
No forethought or anxious contrivance to waste,
On my tent, only pitched for a day.
Hebrew 13:5,6
I want (and this sums up my prayer)
To glorify thee till I die;
Then calmly to yield up my soul to thy care,
And breathe out in prayer my last sigh.
Phil. 8:8,9
—Anson D.F. Randolph, The Changed Cross and other religious poems, p 48, quoted in Martha Finley, Elsie Dinsmore, p. 330. You can currently preview a beautiful rendition here.
I want that adorning divine,
Thou, only, my God, canst bestow;
I want in those beautiful garments to shine,
Which distinguish thy household below.
Col. 3:12-17
I want, oh! I want to attain
Some likeness, my Savior, to thee:
That longed-for resemblance once more to regain.
Thy comeliness put upon me.
1 John 3:2,3
I want to be marked for thy own;
Thy seal on my forehead to wear;
To receive that "new name" on the mystic white stone,
Which only thyself canst declare.
Revelation 2:17
I want every moment, to feel
That the Spirit does dwell in my heart;
That his power is present to cleanse and to heal,
And newness of life to impart.
Rom. 8:11-16
I want a sweet sense of thy pardoning love,
That my manifold sins are forgiven;
That Christ, as my Advocate, pleadeth above,
That my name is recorded in heaven.
I want to so in thee abide,
As to bring forth some fruit to thy praise;
The branch that thou prunest, though feeble and dried,
May languish, but never decays.
John 15:2-5
I want thine own hand to unbind
Each tie to terrestrial things,
Too tenderly cherished, too closely entwined,
Where my heart too tenaciously clings.
I John 2:15
I want, by my aspect serene,
My actions and words, to declare
That my treasure is placed in a country unseen,
That my heart and affections are there.
Matthew 6:19-21
I want, as a traveler, to haste
Straight onward, nor pause on my way;
No forethought or anxious contrivance to waste,
On my tent, only pitched for a day.
Hebrew 13:5,6
I want (and this sums up my prayer)
To glorify thee till I die;
Then calmly to yield up my soul to thy care,
And breathe out in prayer my last sigh.
Phil. 8:8,9
—Anson D.F. Randolph, The Changed Cross and other religious poems, p 48, quoted in Martha Finley, Elsie Dinsmore, p. 330. You can currently preview a beautiful rendition here.
Nothing
'For where thy treasure is, there thy heart is also.' But how are we thy treasure if we are nothing? 'All the nations are as nothing before thee, they will be accounted by thee as nothing.' So indeed, before thee, not within thee: so in the judgment of thy truth, but not so in the intention of thy faithfulness. So, indeed, thou 'callest those things, which are not, as though they were.' And they are not, therefore, because it is the things that are not that thou callest, and they are because thou callest them.
—John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion III.ii.27, quoting Bernard of Clairvaux, In dedicatione ecclesiae, sermon v.
—John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion III.ii.27, quoting Bernard of Clairvaux, In dedicatione ecclesiae, sermon v.
Talking
If ever I trouble you with my loquacity tell me so at once, and I promise not to be offended; for I possess the faculty of enjoying the company of those I —— of my friends as well in silence as in conversation.
—Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, p66.
—Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, p66.
He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here, has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love, there is Love.
A man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
And they shall travel on to where the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning is now and til the end
Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again.
And there is Love, there is Love.
Well then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here or love that brings you life?
And if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?
Oh there is Love, there is Love.
Oh the marriage of your spirits here has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love, there is Love.
—Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul, and Mary), There is Love (Wedding Song)
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here, has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love, there is Love.
A man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
And they shall travel on to where the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning is now and til the end
Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again.
And there is Love, there is Love.
Well then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here or love that brings you life?
And if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?
Oh there is Love, there is Love.
Oh the marriage of your spirits here has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love, there is Love.
—Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul, and Mary), There is Love (Wedding Song)
A Horrible Aristocracy
He divided the inhabitants of this world into two groups, into those who had loved and those who had not. It was a horrible aristocracy, apparently, for those who had no capacity for love (or rather for suffering in love) could not be said to be alive and certainly would not live again after their death. They were a kind of straw population, filling the world with their meaningless laughter and tears and chatter and disappearing still lovable and vain into thin air.
—Uncle Pio, in Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, p183.
—Uncle Pio, in Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, p183.
A. Ransom
You have shown me more wonders than are known in the whole of heaven.
—C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet, Chapter 21.
—C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet, Chapter 21.
The Only Things Necessary to Know
The Only Things Necessary to Know
The Baron, peer of England, wears a cap with six pearls. The coronet begins with the rank of viscount. The viscount wears a coronet of which the pearls are without number. The Earl, a coronet with the pearls upon points, mingled with strawberry leaves placed low between. The marquis, one with pearls and leaves on the same level. The duke, one with strawberry leaves alone,—no pearls. The royal duke, a circlet of crosses and fleurs-de-lys. The Prince of Wales, crown like that of the king, but unclosed.
The duke is "most high and most puissant prince," the marquis and earl "most noble and puissant lord," the viscount "noble and puissant lord," the baron "trusty lord." The duke is "his Grace;" the other Peers their "Lordships." "Most honorable" is higher than "right honorable."
—Victor Hugo, The Man Who Laughs.
The Baron, peer of England, wears a cap with six pearls. The coronet begins with the rank of viscount. The viscount wears a coronet of which the pearls are without number. The Earl, a coronet with the pearls upon points, mingled with strawberry leaves placed low between. The marquis, one with pearls and leaves on the same level. The duke, one with strawberry leaves alone,—no pearls. The royal duke, a circlet of crosses and fleurs-de-lys. The Prince of Wales, crown like that of the king, but unclosed.
The duke is "most high and most puissant prince," the marquis and earl "most noble and puissant lord," the viscount "noble and puissant lord," the baron "trusty lord." The duke is "his Grace;" the other Peers their "Lordships." "Most honorable" is higher than "right honorable."
—Victor Hugo, The Man Who Laughs.
Tyranny
Tyranny is expensive. It costs an awful lot of money lot of money for government to micromanage every aspect of your life. But that's what we have today.
—Peg Luksik, Freedom's Home Team
—Peg Luksik, Freedom's Home Team
The Everlasting Stars
Ah me! These everlasting stars, do they not look down like glistening eyes, bright with immortal pity, over the lot of man!
—Baroness Orczy, The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel, epigraph to Chapter 1, quoting Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, Chapter 3.6.3, quoting Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, Book 2 Chapter 8.
—Baroness Orczy, The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel, epigraph to Chapter 1, quoting Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, Chapter 3.6.3, quoting Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, Book 2 Chapter 8.
Witnessing
To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one’s life wold not make sense if God did not exist.
—Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard, Priests Among Men, quoted in Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water, p31.
—Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard, Priests Among Men, quoted in Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water, p31.
Little Gidding
And every phrase
And sentence that is right (where every word is at home,
Taking its place to support the others,
The word neither diffident nor ostentatious,
An easy commerce of the old and the new,
The common word exact without vulgarity,
The formal word precise but not pedantic,
The complete consort dancing together)
Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning,
Every poem an epitaph.
—T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets
And sentence that is right (where every word is at home,
Taking its place to support the others,
The word neither diffident nor ostentatious,
An easy commerce of the old and the new,
The common word exact without vulgarity,
The formal word precise but not pedantic,
The complete consort dancing together)
Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning,
Every poem an epitaph.
—T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets
Why should men love the Church?
They constantly try to escape
From the darkness outside and within
By dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good.
—T.S. Eliot, The Rock.
From the darkness outside and within
By dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good.
—T.S. Eliot, The Rock.
Commonplacing
Let us take down one of those old notebooks which we have all, at one time or another, had a passion for beginning. Most of the pages are blank, it is true; but at the beginning we shall find a certain number very beautifully covered with a strikingly legible hand-writing. Here we have written down the names of great writers in their order of merit; here we have copied out fine passages from the classics; here are lists of books to be read; and here, most interesting of all, lists of books that have actually been read.
—Virginia Woolf, "Hours in a Library," Granite and Rainbow: Essays by Virginia Woolf p25.
—Virginia Woolf, "Hours in a Library," Granite and Rainbow: Essays by Virginia Woolf p25.
The Greatest Drama Ever Staged
That God should play the tyrant over man is a dismal story of unrelieved oppression; that man should play the tyrant over man is the usual dreary record of human futility; but that man should play the tyrant over God and find Him a better man than himself is an astonishing drama indeed.
—Dorothy L. Sayers, The Greatest Drama Ever Staged
—Dorothy L. Sayers, The Greatest Drama Ever Staged
University Publishing Precedent
Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerent.
(Perish those who said our good things before we did.)
—St. Jerome, Commentarius in Ecclesiasten (Commentary on Ecclesiastes) ch. I, quoting his mentor, Aelius Donatus.
(Perish those who said our good things before we did.)
—St. Jerome, Commentarius in Ecclesiasten (Commentary on Ecclesiastes) ch. I, quoting his mentor, Aelius Donatus.
University Paradigm
In the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." For they are willfully ignorant of this fact, that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
—2 Peter 3:3-6, NASB
—2 Peter 3:3-6, NASB
The Last Leaves
The anxiety, which in this state of their attachment must be the portion of Henry and Catherine, and of all who loved either, as to its final event, can hardy extend, I fear, to the bosom of my readers, who will see in the tell-tale compression of the pages before them, that we are all hastening together to perfect felicity. The means by which their early marriage was effected can be the only doubt.
—Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, Volume II Chapter 16.
—Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, Volume II Chapter 16.
The Lord's Doing
How soon did the gospel-lightning reach the island of Great Britain! Tertullian, who wrote in the second century, takes notice of it, Britannorum in accessa Romanis loca, Christo tamen subdita - The fastnesses of Britain, though inaccessible to the Romans, were occupied by Jesus Christ. This was the Lord's doing.
—Matthew Henry's Comprehensive Commentary on the Holy Bible, Matthew 24:23-31
—Matthew Henry's Comprehensive Commentary on the Holy Bible, Matthew 24:23-31
Periphrastic Pleonasm
Long convoluted sentences, bifurcating into a plethora of dependent clauses, especially those with verbs deferred to the end, with the consequent effect of demanding close attention from the reader, as well as comprehension of sesquipedalian and abstruse words, or of highly specialized technical jargon, are rebarbative and should be sedulously avoided.
—Ralph P. Boas, Jr., "How to Publish Mathematics", AWM Newsletter 14 (1984), 9-12, quoted in Lion Hunting and other Mathematical Pursuits: A Collection of Mathematics, Verse, and Stories by Ralph P. Boas, Jr.
—Ralph P. Boas, Jr., "How to Publish Mathematics", AWM Newsletter 14 (1984), 9-12, quoted in Lion Hunting and other Mathematical Pursuits: A Collection of Mathematics, Verse, and Stories by Ralph P. Boas, Jr.
Watch, Ye Saints!
Watch, ye saints, with eyelids waking;
Lo! The powers of heaven are shaking;
Keep your lamps all trimmed an burning,
Ready for your Lord's returning.
(Refrain)
Lo! He comes, lo! Jesus comes;
Lo! He come, He comes all glorious!
Jesus comes to reign victorious,
Lo! He comes, yes, Jesus comes.
Lo! the promise of your Savior,
Pardoned sin and purchased favor,
Blood-washed robes and crowns of glory;
Haste to tell redemption's story.
Kingdoms at their base are crumbling,
Hark! His chariot wheels are rumbling;
Tell, O tell of grace abounding,
While the seventh trump is sounding.
Nations wane, though proud and stately;
Christ His kingdom hasteneth greatly;
Earth her latest pangs is summing;
Shout, ye saints, your Lord is coming.
Sinners, come, while Christ is pleading;
Now for you He's interceding;
Haste, ere grace and time diminished
Shall proclaim the mystery finished.
Phoebe Palmer Knapp, Watch, Ye Saints,
from Our High Calling by Christina
Lo! The powers of heaven are shaking;
Keep your lamps all trimmed an burning,
Ready for your Lord's returning.
(Refrain)
Lo! He comes, lo! Jesus comes;
Lo! He come, He comes all glorious!
Jesus comes to reign victorious,
Lo! He comes, yes, Jesus comes.
Lo! the promise of your Savior,
Pardoned sin and purchased favor,
Blood-washed robes and crowns of glory;
Haste to tell redemption's story.
Kingdoms at their base are crumbling,
Hark! His chariot wheels are rumbling;
Tell, O tell of grace abounding,
While the seventh trump is sounding.
Nations wane, though proud and stately;
Christ His kingdom hasteneth greatly;
Earth her latest pangs is summing;
Shout, ye saints, your Lord is coming.
Sinners, come, while Christ is pleading;
Now for you He's interceding;
Haste, ere grace and time diminished
Shall proclaim the mystery finished.
Phoebe Palmer Knapp, Watch, Ye Saints,
from Our High Calling by Christina
The Poetic Edda
Regin: 'The falls of Andvari
frothed and spouted
with fish teeming
in foaming pools.
There Otr sported,
mine own brother;
to snare salmon
sweet he thought it.
With stone smote him,
stripped him naked,
a robber roving
ruthless-handed;
at Hreidmar's house
hailed my father.
that fairest fell
for food offered.
There wrought Regin
by the red embers
rough iron hewing
and runes marking;
there Fáfner lay
by the fire sleeping,
fell-hearted son,
fiercely dreaming.
Hreidmar: "Redgolden rings,
ransom costly,
this fell must fill,
this fur cover."
From the foaming force
as a fish netted
was Dwarf Andvari
dragged and plundered.
All must Andvari,
all surrender,
light rings and heavy,
or life itself.
In Hreidmar's house
heaped he laid them,
gold ring on gold,
a great weregild.
Regin & Fáfner: "Shall not brethren share
in brother's ransom
their brief to gladden? -
gold is healing."
Hreidmar: "The wreathéd rings
I will rule alone,
as long as life is
they leave me never!"
Then Fáfner's heart
fiercely stung him;
Hreidmar he hewed
in his house asleep.
Fáfner's heart
as a fire burneth:
part nor portion
he pays to Regin.
In dragon's likeness
darkling lies he;
deep his dungeons,
and dread he knows not.
A helm of horror
his head weareth
on Gnitaheiði
grimly creeping.'
—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, V Regin.
frothed and spouted
with fish teeming
in foaming pools.
There Otr sported,
mine own brother;
to snare salmon
sweet he thought it.
With stone smote him,
stripped him naked,
a robber roving
ruthless-handed;
at Hreidmar's house
hailed my father.
that fairest fell
for food offered.
There wrought Regin
by the red embers
rough iron hewing
and runes marking;
there Fáfner lay
by the fire sleeping,
fell-hearted son,
fiercely dreaming.
Hreidmar: "Redgolden rings,
ransom costly,
this fell must fill,
this fur cover."
From the foaming force
as a fish netted
was Dwarf Andvari
dragged and plundered.
All must Andvari,
all surrender,
light rings and heavy,
or life itself.
In Hreidmar's house
heaped he laid them,
gold ring on gold,
a great weregild.
Regin & Fáfner: "Shall not brethren share
in brother's ransom
their brief to gladden? -
gold is healing."
Hreidmar: "The wreathéd rings
I will rule alone,
as long as life is
they leave me never!"
Then Fáfner's heart
fiercely stung him;
Hreidmar he hewed
in his house asleep.
Fáfner's heart
as a fire burneth:
part nor portion
he pays to Regin.
In dragon's likeness
darkling lies he;
deep his dungeons,
and dread he knows not.
A helm of horror
his head weareth
on Gnitaheiði
grimly creeping.'
—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, V Regin.
The Eagle's Song
And before the Sun had fallen far from the noon out of the East there came a great Eagle flying, and he bore tidings beyond hope from the Lords of the West, crying:
'Sing now ye people of Minas Anor
for the realm of Sauron is ended for ever
"And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone ... forever and ever."
and the Dark Tower is thrown down.
"So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer."
Sing and rejoice, ye people of the Tower of Guard
"Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain."
for your watch hath not been in vain,
"Your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
and the Black Gate is broken,
"The last enemy that will be abolished is death."
and your King hath passed through,
"He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land."
and he is victorious.
"In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely"
Sing and be glad, all ye children of the West
"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.... 'We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.'"
for your King shall come again,
"Your eyes will see the King in His beauty"
and he shall dwell among you,
"My dwelling place also will be with them ..."
all the days of your life.
"... forever."
And the Tree that was withered shall be renewed,
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city."
and he shall plant it in the high places,
"The Lord GOD is my strength, and makes me walk on my high places."
and the City shall be blessed.
"The city has no need of the sun ... for its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and ... bring their glory into it."
Sing all ye people!'
'Sing now ye people of Minas Anor
for the realm of Sauron is ended for ever
"And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone ... forever and ever."
and the Dark Tower is thrown down.
"So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer."
Sing and rejoice, ye people of the Tower of Guard
"Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain."
for your watch hath not been in vain,
"Your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
and the Black Gate is broken,
"The last enemy that will be abolished is death."
and your King hath passed through,
"He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land."
and he is victorious.
"In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely"
Sing and be glad, all ye children of the West
"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.... 'We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.'"
for your King shall come again,
"Your eyes will see the King in His beauty"
and he shall dwell among you,
"My dwelling place also will be with them ..."
all the days of your life.
"... forever."
And the Tree that was withered shall be renewed,
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city."
and he shall plant it in the high places,
"The Lord GOD is my strength, and makes me walk on my high places."
and the City shall be blessed.
"The city has no need of the sun ... for its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and ... bring their glory into it."
Sing all ye people!'
—The Lord of the Rings, Book VI Ch 6
Hyacinths blossoming in old blacking-bottles
'The flowers belonged to this poor boy,' said Tim; 'that's all. When it is fine weather, and he can crawl out of bed, he draws a chair close to the window, and sits there, looking at them and arranging them, all day long. We used to nod, at first, and then we came to speak. Formerly, when I called to him of a morning, and asked him how he was, he would smile, and say, "better;" but now he shakes his head, and only bends more closely over his old plants.... The night will not be long coming,' said Tim, 'when he will sleep, and never wake again on earth. We have never so much as shaken hands in all our lives, and yet I shall miss him like an old friend. Are there any country flowers that could interest me like these, do you think?'
—Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby p 515.
—Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby p 515.
Reading
"Reading is my favourite occupation when I have leisure for it, and books to read."
—Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey, p101.
—Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey, p101.
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