“I must follow the inscrutable exhortations of my soul.”
Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist
Moralia, Of the Training of Children
“I must follow the inscrutable exhortations of my soul.”
Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist
Richard Evelyn Byrd (1888–1957) Medal of Honor recipient and United States Navy officer
Source: Alone (1938), Ch. 6
Context: The things that mankind has tested and found right make for harmony and progress — or peace; and the things it has found wrong hinder progress and make for discord. The right things lead to rational behavior — such as the substitution of reason for force — and so to freedom. The wrong things lead to brute force and slavery.
But the peace I describe is not passive. It must be won. Real peace comes from struggle that involves such things as effort, discipline, enthusiasm. This is also the way to strength. An inactive peace may lead to sensuality and flabbiness, which are discordant. It is often necessary to fight to lessen discord. This is the paradox.
“Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to "jump at de sun."”
Zora Neale Hurston book Dust Tracks on a Road
Source: Dust Tracks on a Road (1942), Ch.2 : My Folks, p. 13.
Context: Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to "jump at de sun." We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.
Jennifer Christine Nash Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies
Source: Black Feminism Reimagined: After Intersectionality (2018), p. 12
“Magnanimity owes no account to prudence of its motives.”
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist
Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 171.
Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah (1935–2010) Lebanese faqih
The Quran calls on the weak and oppressed to gain strength http://english.bayynat.org/TheHolyQuran/Quran_QuranCalls.htm
Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/24/books/robert-pirsig-dead-wrote-zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance.html
Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) 19th-20th century Spanish writer and philosopher
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), VII : Love, Suffering, Pity