“If belief in such [religious] truth declines in general, then that species of art can never flourish again which—like the Divine Comedy, the paintings of Raphael, the frescoes of Michelangelo, the Gothic cathedrals—presupposes not only a cosmic but a metaphysical significance in the objects of art. A moving tale will one day be told how there once existed such an art, such an artist’s faith.’”
Friedrich Nietzsche, “Human, All Too Human,” quoted by Edward T. Oakes in First Things March 2001
“‘The best lack all conviction...’ something like that. ‘What rough beast... slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.’ A creature with bad posture, nightmare of the world.”
Philip K. Dick The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
“‘France may be a predominantly Roman Catholic country, but it is also officially secular, with separation of church and state one of its most sacred tenets.’ – New York Times, April 8”
The Wall St. Journal's OpinionJournal April 8, 2005 [under the very appropriate headline “If It’s Sacred, Doesn’t It Violate Itself?”]
“Is Britney Spears the next Madonna? I surely hope not. One of either is a surplus.”
Rex Murphy in Globe & Mail Nov. 10, 2001
“We must have a holiday from habits, instead of merely a habit of taking holidays.”
G.K. Chesterton in London Magazine August 1924, quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 16 #3 (Nov.-Dec. 2012)
In my latest National Post column I say John Le Carré’s novels were morally rotten and dangerous in practice.
“We need metaphors of magic and monsters in order to understand the human condition.”
Stephen Donaldson, quoted as “Thought du jour” in “Social Studies” in Globe & Mail May 25, 2007 [to which I add “Yes, but why?”]
“Leisure is a food, like sleep; liberty is a food, like sleep. Leisure is a matter of quality rather than quantity. Five minutes lasts longer when one cannot be disturbed than five hours when one maybe disturbed.”
G.K. Chesterton “On Holidays”, from New Witness May 21, 1914 in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 11 #7 (June 2008)