“What I mean by living to one's-self is living in the world, as in it, not of it: it is as if no one know there was such a person, and you wished no one to know it: it is to be a silent spectator of the mighty scene of things, not an object of attention or curiosity in it; to take a thoughtful, anxious interest in what is passing in the world, but not to feel the slightest inclination to make or meddle with it.” IfsKnowsWorldFeelsMeanPersonsSelfInterestAttentionObjectsSceneSilentCuriosityPassingPassingsThoughtfulAnxiousInclinationSpectators Book:Table-talk: Or Original Essays Source: Table-talk: Or Original Essays
“Wherefore a monk's whole attention should thus be fixed on one point, and the rise and circle of all his thoughts be vigorously restricted to it; viz., to the recollection of God, as when a man, who is anxious to raise on high a vault of a round arch, must constantly draw a line round from its exact centre, and in accordance with the sure standard it gives discover by the laws of building all the evenness and roundness required.” MenGivingShouldWholeLawLinesAttentionBuildingDrawsStandardsRaisesRoundsCirclesFixedAnxiousCentreMonkRecollectionArchesVaults Book:John Cassian Collection [4 Books] Source: John Cassian Collection [4 Books]
“Poetry is a way of always paying attention to the world for me; a way of letting the world stick to me instead of being anxious or estranged, just being present in the world.” WorldWayAttentionSticksPay AttentionPoetry IsAnxiousJust Being Author:Mike Young
“We are so anxious to achieve some particular end that we never pay attention to the psycho-physical means whereby that end is to be gained. So far as we are concerned, any old means is good enough. But the nature of the universe is such that ends can never justify the means. On the contrary, the means always determine the end.” MeanEndsEnoughUniversePayAttentionAchieveParticularConcernedDetermineContraryPay AttentionJustifyGood EnoughAnxiousPsycho Book:Complete Essays: 1939-1956 Source: Complete Essays: 1939-1956
“I affirm that gain is precisely that which comes oftener to the bad man than to the good; for illegitimate gains never come to the good at all, because they reject them. And lawful gains rarely come to the good, because, since much anxious care is needful thereto, and the anxious care of the good man is directed to weightier matters, rarely does the good man give sufficient attention thereto. Wherefore it is clear that in every way the advent of these riches is iniquitous.” MenWayGivingDoeMatterCareAttentionClearGainsRichesSufficientRejectsGood ManAnxiousAdventBad Man Author:Dante Alighieri
“Prayer is never just an emergency flare or desperate anxious gamble. God's attention is not based on our performance but parental love.” PrayerAttentionPerformancesDesperateAnxiousEmergenciesGambleParentalFlareParental Love Author:Timothy Keller