“A monk is one who is conditioned by virtues as others are by pleasures.”
23:25
The Ladder of Divine Ascent
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John Climacus8
Syrian mystic and abbot 579–649Related quotes
“A Catholic monk is one who doesn't have the courage to face life fully.”
Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer
Original: (it) Un monaco cattolico è colui che non ha il coraggio di affrontare appieno la vita.
Source: prevale.net
“Virtue extends our days: he lives two lives who relives his past with pleasure.”
Ampliat aetatis spatium sibi vir bonus. Hoc est
Vivere bis vita posse priore frui.
Martial book Epigrammata
Ampliat aetatis spatium sibi vir bonus. Hoc est
Vivere bis vita posse priore frui.
X, 23. Alternatively translated as "The good man prolongs his life; to be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice", in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "For he lives twice who can at once employ / The present well, and e'en the past enjoy", Alexander Pope, Imitation of Martial.
Epigrams (c. 80 – 104 AD)
“I should think that for one who has tasted the joys of creation, no other pleasure could exist.”
Anna to Trigorin, Act I
The Seagull (1896)
Original: (ru) Но, я думаю, кто испытал наслаждение творчества, для того уже все другие наслаждения не существуют.
Madame Nhu (1924–2011) First lady of South Vietnam
Jones, Howard (2003). Death of a Generation: How the Assassinations of Diem and JFK Prolonged the Vietnam War. pp.292-293
"Letters to the Times: Mrs. Nhu Defends Stand", The New York Times, 14 August 1963. Referring to the self-immolation of Buddhist monks protesting government actions.
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Source: 1920s, Sceptical Essays (1928), Ch. 8: Eastern and Western Ideals of Happiness
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher
1820s, Signs of the Times (1829)
Jean de La Bruyère book Les Caractères
Il y a des âmes sales, pétries de boue et d’ordure, éprises du gain et de l’intérêt, comme les belles âmes le sont de la gloire et de la vertu; capables d’une seule volupté, qui est celle d’acquérir ou de ne point perdre.
Aphorism 58
Les Caractères (1688), Des biens de fortune
“no one ever gossips about the virtues of others”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
1920s
Variant: No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.
Source: On Education, Especially in Early Childhood (1926), Ch. 2: The Aims of Education, p. 50
Context: The instinctive foundation of the intellectual life is curiosity, which is found among animals in its elementary forms. Intelligence demands an alert curiosity, but it must be of a certain kind. The sort that leads village neighbours to try to peer through curtains after dark has no very high value. The widespread interest in gossip is inspired, not by a love of knowledge but by malice: no one gossips about other people's secret virtues, but only about their secret vices. Accordingly most gossip is untrue, but care is taken not to verify it. Our neighbour's sins, like the consolations of religion, are so agreeable that we do not stop to scrutinise the evidence closely.