“God is either of no importance, or of supreme importance.”

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Abraham Joshua Heschel130

Polish-American Conservative Judaism Rabbi 1907–1972

George Gaylord Simpson (1902–1984) American paleontologist

Cited in: Edward J. Larson (2004) Evolution, Modern Library. p. 250

“Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.”

Sun Tzu book The Art of War

是故上攻伐谋
The Art of War, Chapter III · Strategic Attack
Variant: Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.

“An oft-heard description of the Supreme Court is that it is the ultimate protector in our society of the liberties of the individual. This phrase describes an important role of the Supreme Court, but by ignoring other equally important functions of the Court, it has a potential for mischief.”

William H. Rehnquist (1924–2005) Chief Justice of the United States

The Supreme Court: How it Was, How it Is (1987).
Books, articles, and speeches
Context: An oft-heard description of the Supreme Court is that it is the ultimate protector in our society of the liberties of the individual. This phrase describes an important role of the Supreme Court, but by ignoring other equally important functions of the Court, it has a potential for mischief. It is a fairly short leap from this language to a feeling that the US Constitution is somehow "vindicated" every time a claim of individual right against government is upheld, and is not vindicated whenever such a claim is not upheld. But this, of course, cannot be the case. The role of the Supreme Court is to uphold those claims of individual liberty that it finds are well-founded in the Constitution, and to reject other claims against the government that it concludes are not well-founded. Its role is no more to exclusively uphold the claims of the individual than it is to exclusively uphold the claims of the government: It must hold the constitutional balance true between these claims.

“[M]any of the most important Supreme Court decisions take the form of holding that a particular limit either has not been exceeded or, more fundamentally, that the asserted limit is not in fact part of the Constitution at all.”

Laurence Tribe (1941) American lawyer and law school professor

Soundings and Silences (2016)

“The most important thing is not the work I can do for God. The most important thing is to make God the most important thing.”

Phil Vischer (1966) American puppeter

Keynote speech at Christian Management Association conference in Denver, Colorado (March 2006)

“Ultimately there's one judgement that’s supremely important and that's before the good God when you die. Now if I had thought that death was the end of everything, that the ultimately important thing was my earthly reputation, well obviously my approach would have been different.”

George Pell (1941–2023) Australian Catholic cardinal and convicted sex offender

In EWTN interview, Cardinal Pell discusses acquittal, Vatican finances https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/46976/in-ewtn-interview-cardinal-pell-discusses-acquittal-vatican-finances (December 21, 2020)