“To attempt to be religious without practicing a specific religion is as possible as attempting to speak without a specific language.”
George Santayana, as the header quotation on Chapter 64 in George Jonas Beethoven’s Mask
“The symphony in B quiet”
One of mine, from May 1, 2002, regarding aggressively modernist music.
“always be comic in a tragedy. What the deuce else can you do?”
Gabriel Syme in G.K. Chesterton The Man Who Was Thursday
“History is still in the hands of individuals, who by their actions perform God’s miracles.”
James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg The Great Reckoning
“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.”
Don Wilder, quoted on https://www.hound-dog-media.com/2014/01/gamblers-fools-and-egotists-59-still_31.html
“it ain’t over until it’s over and then it ain’t over.”
Yogi Berra, according to Jeffrey Simpson in Globe & Mail August 14, 2001
“By his own admission, [actor Stephen] Fry can’t dance and couldn’t carry a tune if it had handles.”
Rod Dreher in National Review May 31, 1999
“Laugh while you can still breathe.”
Another of mine, from March 2, 1989.