“I do so love fireworks. They are so unnecessary.”
John Gielgud, quoted by Richard John Neuhaus in First Things #153 (May 2005)
“Why is it said that believing in the doctrines of the Church makes one a ‘conservative Catholic?’ It would be closer to the truth to say that it made one a Catholic.”
J. Budziszewski “Underground Thomist” email Feb. 25, 2019.
“Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down to the green valleys of silliness.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein, quoted as "Thought du jour" in "Social Studies" in Globe & Mail January 19, 2009
“Nobody really cares if you're miserable so you might as well be happy.”
Cynthia Nelms, quoted as "Thought du jour" in "Social Studies" in Globe & Mail July 24, 2009
“I did not so much mind the pessimist who complained that there was so little good. But I was furious, even to slaying, with the pessimist who asked what was the good of good.”
G.K. Chesterton, “Reflections on [The Man Who Was] Thursday” in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 10 #8 (July-August 2007)
“'You believe in God only because you were taught to believe in God in childhood.' Is that something like saying that I believe in arithmetic only because I was taught to believe in arithmetic in childhood?”
J. Budziszewski "Underground Thomist" email Feb. 25, 2019
“Happy is he who still loves something that he loved in the nursery: he has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, and has saved not only his soul but his life.”
G.K. Chesterton in Illustrated London News Sept. 26, 1908, quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 10 #2 (Issue 75) Oct.-Nov. 2006
“Displacement of ends by means: The desire for a powerful government in order to pursue certain goals seems to have given way to desiring certain goals because they require a powerful government.”
J. Budziszewski "Underground Thomist" email Feb. 25, 2019.