13 quotes
The denser the ignorance, the more enlightened it thinks itself to be.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)
Nothing is more ingenious, more obstinate, nastier—indeed, in a sense, more clear sighted, than mediocrity harrying every form of superiority that offends it.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)
Habit and routine have an unbelievable power to waste and destroy.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)
The most unbending thoughts are the most vulnerable to change.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)
Credulity, sectarianism, and sloth are three natural tendencies of man. Too often he canonizes them under nobler names.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)
Remember, after all, that the Gospel is full of paradoxes, that man is himself a living paradox, and that according to the Fathers of the Church, the Incarnation is the supreme paradox.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)
To seek sincerity above all things is perhaps, at bottom, not to want to be transformed; it is to cling to yourself, to have a morbid love of yourself, just as you are, that is to say, false. It is to refuse release.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)
There is nothing more demanding than the taste for mediocrity. Beneath its ever moderate appearance there is nothing more intemperate; nothing surer in its instinct; nothing more pitiless in its refusals. It suffers no greatness, shows beauty no mercy.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)
The contact of a believer with a nonbeliever must take the form of a dialogue. The all-powerful action of pure sanctity alone is dispensed from it, since it is not bound by any law. But the dialogue will never get underway if it is not first a dialogue with myself.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)
The fear of falling a prey to error must never prevent us from getting to the full truth. To overstep the limit, to go beyond, would be to err through excessive daring; but there are also errors of timidity which consist precisely in stopping short, never daring to go any further than half-truths.Love of truth never goes without daring. And that is one of the reasons why truth is not loved.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)
We must come to see that God is not so much the cause of moral obligation or the sanction of duty as the very substance of Good. Then what we call the moral proof brings us in one leap to the true God, revealing himself as God of Charity.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)
The Gospel is full of paradoxes, by which the mind is at first troubled. The Savior teaches with great simplicity, yet he says also, "Blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me." And it is a question, at least, whether all substantial spiritual doctrine must not of necessity take a paradoxical form.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)
Everybody has his filter, which he takes about with him, though which, from the indefinite mass of facts, he gathers in those suited to confirm his prejudices. And the same fact again, passing through different filters, is revealed in different aspects, so as to confirm the most diverse opinions.Rare, very rare are those who check their filter.
Paradoxes of Faith (1959)