“Nevertheless, our constant efforts to lower our estimate of the present world should not lead us to hate life or to be ungrateful toward God. For this life, though it is full of countless miseries, deserves to be reckoned among the divine blessings which should not be despised. Therefore, if we discover nothing of God’s goodness in it, we are already guilty of no small ingratitude toward him.”
Page 72.
Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life (1551)
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John Calvin 161
French Protestant reformer 1509–1564Related quotes
“If America leads a blessed life, then why did God put all of our oil under people who hate us?”
What is Art? (1897)
Context: The good is the everlasting, the pinnacle of our life. … life is striving towards the good, toward God. The good is the most basic idea … an idea not definable by reason … yet is the postulate from which all else follows. But the beautiful … is just that which is pleasing. The idea of beauty is not an alignment to the good, but is its opposite, because for most part, the good aids in our victory over our predilections, while beauty is the motive of our predilections. The more we succumb to beauty, the further we are displaced from the good.... the usual response is that there exists a moral and spiritual beauty … we mean simply the good. Spiritual beauty or the good, generally not only does not coincide with the typical meaning of beauty, it is its opposite.
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 85
Source: The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), p. 252
“God knows that we should not despise anything. We must do our best.”
Chantal, p. 28
La joie (Joy) 1929
1770s, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" (1775)
Context: The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.
Source: Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud
FOX News interview http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353759,00.html with Bill O'Reilly, April 30, 2008.
Presidential campaign (January 20, 2007 – 2008)
