“A science which does not bring us nearer to God is worthless.”
Simone Weil (1909–1943) French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist
VIII. 351 (tr. Martin Hammond).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)
“A science which does not bring us nearer to God is worthless.”
Simone Weil (1909–1943) French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist
Derek Prince (1915–2003) British missionary
Valery Gerasimov (1955) chief of the General Staff of the armed forces of the Russian Federation
"Ценность науки в предвидении" https://vpk-news.ru/articles/14632 (26 February 2013)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian writer
Nobel lecture (1970)
Context: Let us not violate the RIGHT of the artist to express exclusively his own experiences and introspections, disregarding everything that happens in the world beyond. Let us not DEMAND of the artist, but — reproach, beg, urge and entice him — that we may be allowed to do. After all, only in part does he himself develop his talent; the greater part of it is blown into him at birth as a finished product, and the gift of talent imposes responsibility on his free will. Let us assume that the artist does not OWE anybody anything: nevertheless, it is painful to see how, by retiring into his self-made worlds or the spaces of his subjective whims, he CAN surrender the real world into the hands of men who are mercenary, if not worthless, if not insane.
Kazimir Malevich (1879–1935) Russian and Soviet artist of polish descent
Quote of Malevich, 1927 in Artists on Art; from the 14th – 20th centuries, ed. by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves; Pantheon Books, 1972, London, pp. 452
1921 - 1930
Mata Amritanandamayi (1953) Hindu spiritual leader and guru
The Awakening of Universal Motherhood (2002)
Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation
Source: Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of Images and Sacraments (1525), pp. 84-85
Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) American author
"If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others" (1977)
“A poem does invite, it does require.”
Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980) poet and political activist
Source: The Life of Poetry (1949), Chapter One : The Fear of Poetry, p. 8
Context: A poem does invite, it does require. What does it invite? A poem invites you to feel. More than that: it invites you to respond. And better than that: a poem invites a total response.
This response is total, but it is reached through the emotions. A fine poem will seize your imagination intellectually — that is, when you reach it, you will reach it intellectually too — but the way is through emotion, through what we call feeling.