“Man is governed not only by what he thinks but by what he chooses to think about.”
G.K. Chesterton in Illustrated London News May 11, 1912, quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 11 #4 (Jan.-Feb. 2008).
“There is a kind of work which any man can do, but from which many men shrink, generally because it is very hard work, sometimes because they fear it will lead them whither they do not wish to go. It is called thinking.”
G.K. Chesterton in Illustrated London News July 10, 1915, quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 11 #4 (Jan.-Feb. 2008)
“Some natural selection buffs claim that the human mind is just a meaningless and purposeless result of a process that did not have us in mind. Hold on a moment. If it were, then there would be no reason for confidence in any conclusion of reasoning whatsoever – including the conclusion that our minds are a meaningless and purposeless result of a process that did not have us in mind.”
J. Budziszewski “The Underground Thomist” May 8, 2023 [https://www.undergroundthomist.org/things-i-had-to-learn]
“Doing things and denouncing things are both quite easy, as compared with thinking about them.”
G.K. Chesterton, “On Keeping Your Hair On,” in Sidelights, quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 9 #5 (March 2006)
“Even the most obvious things can be doubted. The test of a truth is not whether I doubt it, or whether I am able to doubt it, but whether the reasons for thinking it is true are better than the reasons not to.”
J. Budziszewski “The Underground Thomist” May 8, 2023 [https://www.undergroundthomist.org/things-i-had-to-learn]
“There are some truths which do not have to be proven, but are needed for working out all the other truths.”
J. Budziszewski “The Underground Thomist” May 8, 2023 [https://www.undergroundthomist.org/things-i-had-to-learn]
“There is more than one kind of intelligence, and I am a fool if I dismiss the kinds I don’t have as unintelligent.”
J. Budziszewski “The Underground Thomist” May 8, 2023 [https://www.undergroundthomist.org/things-i-had-to-learn]
“Unless there is a good reason for its being there, do not inject opinion into a piece of writing. We all have opinions about almost everything, and the temptation to toss them in is great. To air one’s views gratuitously, however, is to imply that the demand for them is brisk, which may not be the case…”
William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White Elements of Style [I totally disagree; all writing is an attempt to persuade someone of a point of view.]