quote:
"'Aslan,' said Lucy, 'you're bigger.'
'That is because you are older, little one,' answered he.
'Not because you are?'
'I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.'"
~ C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, 1951.
Monday, February 24, 2025
“We may have as much of God as we will."
“We may have as much of God as we will. Christ puts the key of the treasure-chamber into our hand, and bids us take all that we want. If a man is admitted into the bullion vault of a bank and told to help himself, and comes out with one cent, whose fault is it that he is poor?”
Alexander MacLaren,
the great Scottish Bible expositor
"Their prison is only in their minds, yet they are in that prison; and . . . cannot be taken out.”"
“They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.”
~ C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1059917-the-last-battle
"all find what they truly seek”
quotes:
“Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him.
But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome.
But I said, Alas Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash.
He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me.
Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one?
The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child?
I said, Lord, though knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days.
Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.”
~ C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1059917-the-last-battle
“Emeth came walking forward into the open strip of grass between the bonfire and the Stable. His eyes were shining, his face was solemn, his hand was on his sword-hilt, and he carried his head high. Jill felt like crying when she looked at his face.
And Jewel whispered in the King's ear, "By the Lion's Mane, I almost love this young warrior, Calormene though he be. He is worthy of a better god than Tash.”
~ C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1059917-the-last-battle
Sunday, February 16, 2025
“Those who are hurt … will eventually strike back.”
“Those who are hurt …
will eventually strike back.”
~ W.H. Auden
“You want me to commit some great folly.”
“You want me to commit some great folly.”
~ Isabel Archer, protagonist in the novel The Portrait of a Lady (1881) by Henry James,
played by Nicole Kidman in John Malkovich's movie (1996)
The Portrait of a Lady (1881) by Henry James:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2834/2834-h/2834-h.htm
Osmond turned slightly pale; he gave a cold smile. “That’s why you must go then? Not to see your cousin, but to take a revenge on me.”
“I know nothing about revenge.”
“I do,” said Osmond. “Don’t give me an occasion.”
“You’re only too eager to take one. You wish immensely that I would commit some folly.”
“I should be gratified in that case if you disobeyed me.”
"Joy is the most infallible sign of the Presence of God." Teilhard de Chardin
"Joy is the most infallible sign of the Presence of God."
~ Teilhard de Chardin
French Jesuit, Catholic priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher, and teacher.
“Music is the ultimate in safe sex."
“Music is the ultimate in safe sex.
You get all of the passion
and none of the guilt.”
Susan Werner in concert, 1-22-99
Forgiveness - President Bill Clinton
President Bill Clinton, after the acquittal verdict:
“I want to say again … how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and the American people …”
Reporter’s question:
“In your heart, sir, can you forgive and forget?”
Clinton:
“I believe any person who asks for forgiveness has to be prepared to give it.”
Philadelphia Inquirer, February 13, 1999
Making Peace with your Enemies
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, thinking of the difficulty of shaking Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat’s hand to seal their peace accord on Sept. 19, 1993:
“You do not make peace with your friends, but friendship can come with time and trust and humility, when we do not pretend that our willfulness is an expressions of God’s will.”
Philadelphia Inquirer, February 5, 1999
Walking Away from Genuine Grievances
“Remember that all the great peacemakers in the world,
in the end, have to let go and walk away,
like Christ, not from apparent,
but from genuine, grievances.”
President Bill Clinton, at the National Prayer Breakfast
Philadelphia Inquirer, February 5, 1999
Approaching Alzheimer’s Persons
Approaching Alzheimer’s Persons
• Use a calming tone of voice.
• Try to maintain eye contact.
• Identify yourself.
• Ask “yes” or “no” questions.
• Speak slowly, and not too loudly.
• Allow plenty of time for a response.
• Stay calm.
• Be supportive and reassuring.
Alzheimer’s Association, April 12, 1995
"the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being"
"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to cut out a piece of his own heart?"
~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Leadership Magazine, 1983
The Secrets of Consulting
"It may look like a crisis, but it's only the end of an illusion."
Prescott's Pickle Principle:
"Cucumbers get more pickled than brine gets cucumbered.
(A small system that tries to change a big system through long and continued contact is more likely to be changed itself.)"
The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice, by Gerald Weinberg, 1986
"Love is best when it’s aged to perfection."
"Love is best when it’s aged to perfection."
~ Author Unknown
Letting Things Speak About Themselves
Letting Things Speak About Themselves
Human knowledge about Jesus results from God’s revelation, not from conclusions drawn by seminars of self-appointed experts.
Speaking of Peter’s confession “You are the Christ,” Gillespie declared, “It is God who knows who Jesus is. And in that knowledge God identifies who Jesus is. ... Peter is one of the ways through whom this knowledge is revealed.”
In contemporary society this approach makes some people very nervous. In response to these concerns he cited Thomas Torrance, who points out that this is how all knowledge is attained — letting things speak about themselves to us. In science it is called “discovery.” In theology we call this mode of knowing “revelation.”
Peter did not tell Jesus who he was, he acknowledged who Jesus is, through the knowledge revealed by God.”
Thomas Gillespie, President, Princeton Seminary
“We Believe In One Lord Jesus Christ” theological convocation
Pittsburgh, April 19-22, 1995
King Arthur's Prayer
King Arthur's Prayer
Give us the wisdom to know what is right,
The will to choose it,
And the strength to make it endure.
First Knight
1995
Bigot: “A person of strong conviction who is intolerant of those who differ.”
Bigot: “A person of strong conviction who is intolerant of those who differ.”
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
The Criminal Mentality
“It’s not just winning the game that counts,
but making sure everyone else loses.”
quote on being arrested from
John “Corrupt” Lee
Master of Destruction gang
Bedford-Stuyvesant, NY
SCIENCE OF CHARACTER BUILDING - from Grandmother P.M.
SCIENCE OF CHARACTER BUILDING
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
Politeness Incivility
Ambition Apathy
Cheerfulness Despondency
Diligence Slothfulness
Endurance Weakness
Hope Despair
Industriousness Idleness
Optimism Pessimism
Purpose Indecision
Self-Confidence Dependency
Success Failure
Vigor Feebleness
Influence of C.S. Lewis’ Parents
Surprised by Joy The Shape of My Early Life, by C.S. Lewis, page 3
Influence of Lewis’ Parents
Lewis begins his journey of faith describing his parents:
“I was born in the winter of 1898 at Belfast, the son of solicitor and of a clergyman’s daughter… The two families from which I spring were as different in temperament as in origin. My father’s people were true Welshmen, sentimental, passionate, and rhetorical, easily moved both to anger and to tenderness; men who laughed and cried a great deal and who had not much of the talent for happiness. The Hamiltons were a cooler race. Their minds were critical and ironic and they had a talent for happiness in a high degree—went straight for it as experienced travelers go for the best seat in a train. From my earliest years I was aware of the vivid contrast between my mother's cheerful and tranquil affection and the ups and downs of my father's emotional life, and this bred in me long before I was old enough to give it a name a certain distrust or dislike of emotion as something uncomfortable and embarrassing and even dangerous."
Friday, February 14, 2025
"to touch the human soul, to fully reveal the author's intention"
"No competition cancels the tasks of the day that the performer sets for himself at every performance - to touch the human soul, to fully reveal the author's intention."
~ Alexander Malofeev (2016)
Russian pianist
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