“Purity
Is obscurity.”

—  Ogden Nash

"Reflection On A Wicked World"
Many Long Years Ago (1945)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Purity Is obscurity." by Ogden Nash?
Ogden Nash photo
Ogden Nash 125
American poet 1902–1971

Related quotes

Robert Grosseteste photo

“Because the purity of the eye of the soul is obscured and weighed down by the corrupt body, all the powers of this rational soul born in man are laid hold of by the mass of the body and cannot act and so in a way are asleep.”

Robert Grosseteste (1175–1253) English bishop and philosopher

Accordingly, when in the process of time the senses act through many interactions of sense with sensible things, the reasoning is awakened mixed with these very sensible things and is borne along in the senses to the sensible things as in a ship. But the functioning reason begins to divide and separately consider what in sense were confused. ...But the reasoning does not know this to be actually universal except after it has made this abstraction from many singulars, and has reached one and the same universal by its judgement taken from many singulars.
Commentarius in Posteriorum Analyticorum Libros (c. 1217-1220)

Thomas à Kempis photo
Swami Samarpanananda photo

“Unselfishness is purity.”

Swami Samarpanananda Monk, Author, Teacher

The Hindu Way ( Page 63 )

Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah photo
Thomas à Kempis photo

“By two wings is man lifted above earthly things, even by
simplicity and purity. Simplicity ought to be in the intention,
purity in the affection.”

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 545.
Source: The Imitation of Christ
Context: Simplicity and purity are the two wings by which a man is lifted above all earthly things. Simplicity is in the intention — purity in the affection. Simplicity tends to God,— purity apprehends and tastes Him.

Anselm of Canterbury photo

“God was conceived of a most pure Virgin … it was fitting that the virgin should be radiant with a purity so great that a greater purity cannot be conceived.”

Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109) Benedictine monk, philosopher, and prelate

In Mary for Earth and Heaven: Essays on Mary and Ecumenism http://books.google.com/books?id=Dx4WrfzZMsoC&pg=PA116&dq=%22it+was+fitting+that+the+virgin+should+be+radiant+with+a+purity+so+great%22&hl=en&ei=ELNATrLoCIXMsQLbsvmuCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22it%20was%20fitting%20that%20the%20virgin%20should%20be%20radiant%20with%20a%20purity%20so%20great%22&f=false, 2002, William McLaughlin, Jill Pinnock, eds., Gracewing, ISBN 0852445563 ISBN 9780852445563pp. 115-116.

Sören Kierkegaard photo

“Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
Swami Vivekananda photo

“The power of purity—it is a definite power.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Pearls of Wisdom

David Hare photo

“Purity is the feminine, Truth the masculine, of Honour.”

David Hare (1947) British writer

Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare Guesses at Truth (London: Macmillan, ([1827-48] 1867) p. 180.
Misattributed

Marianne Williamson photo

“Purity of heart will not make us poor.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Source: A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles" (1992), Ch. 7 : Work, §9 : Sales to Service
Context: Purity of heart will not make us poor. The exaltation of poverty as a spiritual virtue is of the ego, not the spirit. A person acting from a motivation of contribution and service rises to such a level of moral authority, that worldly success is a natural result.
Give all your gifts away in service to the world. If you want to paint, don’t wait for a grant. Paint a wall in your town that looks drab and uninviting. You never know who’s going to see that wall. Whatever it is you want to do, give it away in service to your community.

Related topics