Virtue comes through contemplation of the divine, and the exercise of philosophy. But it also comes through public service. The one is incomplete without the other. Power without wisdom is tyranny; wisdom without power is pointless.
Philosophy cannot be extinguished, though men will try … The spirit seeks the light, that is its nature. It wishes to return to its origin, and must forever try to reach enlightenment.
The devil himself can become beauty, so we are told, to corrupt mankind.”(Marco)
Caius was one of those who gloried in his ignorance, called his lack of letters purity, scorned any subtlety of thought or expression. A man for his time, indeed.
And here was the moment. The end of it all, for civilization was merely another name for friendship, and friendship was coming to an end.
His idleness was his refuge, and in this he was like many others in [occupied] France in that period; laziness became political.
For the first time, she did want more. She did not know what she wanted, knew that it was dangerous and that she should rest content with what she had, but she knew an emptiness deep inside her, which began to ache.
Felix had gone to live in a lotus land of his imagination. Where what is desired is dreamed of as already happened, where obstacles dissolve under the weight of desire, and where reality has vanished entirely.
In a world of chemically induced sanity, a little lunacy confers immense advantages.
The evil done by men of goodwill is the worst of all … We have done terrible things, for the best of reasons, and that makes it worse.
He (William Cort) had some desire to be successful, but it did not burn so strongly in him that he was prepared to overcome his character to achieve it.
Do you wish to speak in Provençal, French, or Latin? They are all I can manage, I’m afraid.””Any will do,” the rabbi replied in Provençal.”Splendid. Latin it is,” said Pope Clement.
For, in his opinion, to study nature was a form of worship.
I learned that I’ have to be detached if I was ever to achieve anything at all.
Civilization depends on continually making the effort, of never giving in. It needs to be cared for by men of goodwill, protected from the dark.