Art is not pleasure, or an amusement; art is a great matter.
~ in What Is Art?
God cannot be understood by logical reasoning but only by submission.
~ in Wise Thoughts for Every Day: On God, Love, Spirit, and Living a Good Life
Governments need armies to protect them against their enslaved and oppressed subjects.
~ in The Kingdom of God is Within You
I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.
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I saw my reflection in the mirror presented by the letter of a child. In Madeleine L’Engle’s book A Circle of Quiet
“Dear Miss L’Engle, you are one of the greatest writers of all time,” and so on, fulsome phrase after fulsome phrase. She signed her name and then wrote, “P.S. I have not yet read any of your books, but I am sure they will be good when I do.”
That P.S. parallels my experience with Russian authors. For years I was convinced that I would love the work of a handful of Russian authors — Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pasternak, Nabokov, Chekhov, Turgenev. In fact, I can remember praising them to others, quoting them, and even sharing analysis of their work.
The problem? I had only limited exposure to them. What I found when I actually started to read them in depth was that I much preferred excerpts from their novels, relevant textual quotations, and commentary upon their corpus of work to the experience of actually reading them. I had been like the little girl who wrote to L’Engle “I have not yet read any of your books, but I am sure they will be good when I do.”
Okay, I’ve entered the literary confessional and shared my embarrassing experience as part of my academic penance. Now, it is your turn. Check out some of the titles on the following lists and see if you have been guilty of praising some of the titles included without having actually read them.
Share your confessions in the comments below. You will feel better after you do.
Reading Lists:
- Talking Books – John Mark Reynolds, David Allen White, and Hugh Hewitt
- Lord Acton’s 100 Best Books List
- New St. Andrew’s College Reading List
- GreatBooks.com Reading List
There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world: an idea whose hour is come.
~ Victor Hugo
We are all under sentence of death, but with a sort of indefinite reprieve.
~ Victor Hugo
God made himself man: granted. The Devil made himself woman.
~ in Ruy Blas
An invasion of armies can be resisted; an invasion of ideas cannot be resisted.
~ in Histoire d’un crime
