“One can only blaspheme if one believes.”
W. H. Auden book Forewords and Afterwords
"Concerning the Unpredictable", p. 472
Forewords and Afterwords (1973)
On the Mystical Body of Christ <br class="br">Context: What is the use of believing, if the dost blaspheme? Thou adorest Him as Head, and dost blaspheme Him in His body. He loves His body. Thou canst cut thyself off from the body, but the Head does not detach itself from its body. "Thou dost honor me in vain," He cries from heaven, "thou dost honor Me in vain!" If someone wished to kiss thy cheek, but insisted at the same time on trampling thy feet; if with his hailed boots he were to crush thy feet as he tries to hold thy head and kiss thee, wouldst thou not interrupt his expression of respect and cry out: "What are thou doing, man? Thou art trampling upon me!" …<br>It is for this reason that before He ascended into heaven our Lord Jesus Christ recommended to us His body, by which He was to remain upon earth. For He foresaw that many would pay Him homage because of His glory in heaven, but that their homage would be vain, so long as they despise His members on earth. (pp. 436-437) http://books.google.com/books?id=CIosAAAAIAAJ&q=%22their+homage+would+be+vain,+so+long+as+they+despise+His+members+on+earth%22&dq=%22their+homage+would+be+vain,+so+long+as+they+despise+His+members+on+earth%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3AIXUd70C4mi8QTi2IC4Cg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA
“One can only blaspheme if one believes.”
W. H. Auden book Forewords and Afterwords
"Concerning the Unpredictable", p. 472
Forewords and Afterwords (1973)
“Strong blasphemers thrive only when strong believers thrive.”
Philip José Farmer book Riders of the Purple Wage
Grandpa Winnegan
Riders of the Purple Wage (1967)
“Thou through such a mist dost show us,
That our best friends do not know us.”
Charles Lamb (1775–1834) English essayist
A Farewell to Tobacco (1805)
“Thou, O God, dost sell us all good things at the price of labour.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Omar Khayyám (1048–1131) Persian poet, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer
The Rubaiyat (1120)
Marcus Aurelius book Meditations
for then thou wilt use them well, and they will be material for thee. Only attend to thyself, and resolve to be a good man in every act which thou doest; and remember...
Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII, 58
“We're slow to believe what wounds us.”
Tarde quae credita laedunt credimus.
II, 9-10; translation by A. S. Kline
Heroides (The Heroines)
Texe Marrs (1944–2019) American writer