Vol. I, p. 113 <!-- 90? intellectual cleverness that remains merely cynical and confined to the personal or partisan contrasted with wise compassionate awareness which transcends such bounds and abides with the eternal and universal qualities and vital resolutions beyond all mortal aims. -->
1980s, Letters to the Schools (1981, 1985)
Context: The very nature of intelligence is sensitivity, and this sensitivity is love. Without this intelligence there can be no compassion. Compassion is not the doing of charitable acts or social reform; it is free from sentiment, romanticism and emotional enthusiasm. It is as strong as death. It is like a great rock, immovable in the midst of confusion, misery and anxiety. Without this compassion no new culture or society can come into being. Compassion and intelligence walk together; they are not separate. Compassion acts through intelligence. It can never act through the intellect. Compassion is the essence of the wholeness of life.
Compassion, the Ultimate Ethic: An Exploration of Veganism (Wellingborough: Thorsons, 1985), p. 44.
Quoted in "USSR Information Bulletin" - Page 322 - World War, 1939-1945 - 1942
Source: On Nietzsche (1945), p. xxvii
The Vegetarian Way, Proceedings of the 24th World Vegetarian Conference (Madras, India, 1977), p. 34; as quoted in Richard H. Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism (New York: Lantern Books, 2001), p. 75 https://archive.org/stream/JudaismAndVegetarianism#page/n99/mode/2up.
“The essence of life is change, he said, and the essence of eternal life is eternal change.”
Source: Darwinia (1998), Chapter 25 (p. 209)
"Anarchism, Authoritarian Socialism and Communism" in Fede (28 October 1923); also in What Is Anarchism? : An Introduction edited by Donald Rooum (1992, 1995) p. 59
“The whole world would have been destroyed if compassion did not put an end to anger.”
Perierat totus orbis, nisi iram finiret misericordia.
Book I, Chapter I; slightly modified translation from Michael Winterbottom, Declamations of the Elder Seneca (London: Heinemann, 1974) vol. 1 p. 33
Controversiae
Cardinal Winning Lecture (February 2, 2008)
Context: When we consider the ideals - the values - that we should foster in Scotland's young people, we can think of the words inscribed on the mace of the Scottish Parliament. Words that help describe the values for our whole democracy: justice, wisdom, integrity and compassion. Values that are - and have always been - at the heart of Catholic education in Scotland.
