“There is nothing wrong with old ideas, so long as they are true. And there is nothing admirable about new ones, if they aren’t.”
J. Budziszewski “The Underground Thomist” May 8, 2023 [https://www.undergroundthomist.org/things-i-had-to-learn]
“For a delight in bustling about is not industry – it is only the restless energy of a hunted mind.”
Seneca Letter III
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laserlike focus.”
Bruce Lee, quoted by Jeff Hayden on Inc. online (www.inc.com/jeff-haden/top-350-inspiring-motivational-quotes-to-tweet-and-share.html)
“I RECEIVED A LITTLE WHILE AGO a letter to which no name or address was attached, which touched me beyond expression. A great deal of it was too personal to treat of here, and for this reason especially I regret the concealment of its origin. But the more generally discussable part concerned itself chiefly with a query as to my meaning when I said in this paper something to this effect: ‘No one can be miserable who has known anything worth being miserable about.’ The remark was written as remarks in daily papers ought, in my opinion, to be written, in a wild moment; but it happens, nevertheless, to be more or less true. What I meant was that our attitude towards existence, if we have suffered deprivation, must always be conditioned by the fact that deprivation implies that existence has given us something of immense value. To say that we have lost in the lottery of existence is to say that we have gained: for existence gives us our money beforehand. It is quite impossible to imagine ourselves as really calling, as Huxley expressed it, the Cosmos to the bar.”
G.K. Chesterton “The Philosophy of Gratitude” reprinted in Gilbert The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 26 # 4 (March-April 2023) p. 5 [including start].
“Any fool can have an opinion…”
Neil Postman Building a Bridge to the 18th Century
“Help your pieces so they can help you.”
19th-century chess genius Paul Morphy, widely quoted online [for instance at https://quotefancy.com/quote/1661408/Paul-Morphy-Help-your-pieces-so-they-can-help-you]
“Everyone has a grievance. These days soliciters are offended if you merely politely decline to talk with them. Person at the door: Are you J. Budziszewski? Me: Who are you? Person: Are you J. Budziszewski? Me: Who are you? Person: Do you have such-and-such in your house? Me: Are you selling something? Person: Do you have such-and-such in your house? Me: Are you selling something? Person: [Long pause.] Not necessarily. Me: Thank you. I’m not interested. [I quietly close the door.] - I can understand why the soliciter was frustrated. It’s harder to make a sale when you are forced to begin by saying that you want to. What I don’t understand is why she was offended. This is my house.”
J. Budziszewski “The Underground Thomist” April 17, 2023 [https://undergroundthomist.org/antipasto]
“a social worker pointedly said: ‘Your problem is you want to play all of the strings of your violin at once.’ These words haunt me, and it took years to come to terms with the truth…”
Shelley Page in Ottawa Citizen Citizen’s Weekly March 16, 2003