It is not insignificant that the Church, in the rare places and times when she had power to do so, did not compel the mind. During all that intense intellectual life of the thirteenth century instruction was by choice: endowed—so that the poorest could reach the highest inspiration, but at the choice of the individual or family will, to be taken or left.

— Hilaire Belloc Survivals and New Arrivals: The Old and New Enemies of the Catholic Church (1929)

More quotes by Hilaire Belloc

The Path to Rome (1902)

Verses (1910)

The Four Men: A Farrago (1911)

Survivals and New Arrivals: The Old and New Enemies of the Catholic Church (1929)

Survivals and New Arrivals: The Old and New Enemies of the Catholic Church (1929)

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Hilaire Belloc (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.