“The reveries of two solitary souls prepare the sweetness of loving.”
Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) French writer and philosopher
Source: The Poetics of Reverie
“When the soul, then, in any degree possesses the spirit of solitary love, we must not interfere with it.”
Note to Stanza 28 part 3
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom, Notes to the Stanzas
Context: When the soul, then, in any degree possesses the spirit of solitary love, we must not interfere with it. We should inflict a grievous wrong upon it, and upon the Church also, if we were to occupy it, were it only for a moment, in exterior or active duties, however important they might be. When God Himself adjures all not to waken it from its love, who shall venture to do so, and be blameless? In a word, it is for this love that we are all created. Let those men of zeal, who think by their preaching and exterior works to convert the world, consider that they would be much more edifying to the Church, and more pleasing unto God — setting aside the good example they would give if they would spend at least one half their time in prayer, even though they may have not attained to the state of unitive love.
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John of the Cross48
Spanish mystic and Roman Catholic saint 1542–1591Related quotes
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Source: Julian and Maddalo http://www.bartleby.com/139/shel115.html (1819), l. 14
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“We must meet hate with love. We must meet physical force with soul force.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
1950s, Give Us the Ballot (1957)
Context: We must meet hate with love. We must meet physical force with soul force. There is still a voice crying out through the vista of time, saying: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you." Then, and only then, can you matriculate into the university of eternal life. That same voice cries out in terms lifted to cosmic proportions: "He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword." And history is replete with the bleached bones of nations that failed to follow this command. We must follow nonviolence and love.
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
Acceptance speech (9 November 1960) http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/Acceptance-Speech-by-John-F-Kennedy-Hyannis-Armory-Hyannis-Massachusetts-November-9-1960.aspx <br class="br">1960