“Moral decay first hampers and then strangles honest government, regular commerce, and even the ability to take genuine pleasure in the goods of this world. Compulsion is applied from above as self-discipline relaxes below, and the last liberties expire under the weight of a unitary state.... Since religion has lost its empire over the souls of men, the most prominent boundary that divided good from evil is overthrown; kings and nations are guided by chance and none can say where are the natural limits of despotism and the bound of license.” MenWorldFirstsSoulSelfStatesGovernmentLastsEvilLostNationsNaturalChanceAbilityPleasureLibertyMoralHonestThis WorldKingsDisciplineLimitsWeightBoundsCorruptionBoundariesGenuineRelaxEmpiresGoodsDividedDecayCommerceSelf DisciplineLicenseCompulsionDespotismProminentHamperMoral DecayHonest Government Author:Russell Kirk
“How do you calculate upon the unforeseen? It seems to be an art of recognizing the role of the unforeseen, of keeping your balance amid surprises, of collaborating with chance, of recognizing that there are some essential mysteries in the world and thereby a limit to calculation, to plan, to control. To calculate on the unforeseen is perhaps exactly the paradoxical operation that life most requires of us.” WorldArtSeemsChanceRolesPlansMysteryBalanceLimitsEssentialsSurpriseOperationsRecognizingCalculationsParadoxicalCollaboratingUnforeseen Author:Rebecca Solnit
“Is it possible to have an endless series of successes without falling on our faces? I suppose it is, but I think it would entail doing the same things over and over again without taking chances, without taking risks or exploring our limits, without finding out what we can and can't do.” ThinkingFacesFallChanceRiskLimitsFindingsSeriesEndlessExploringTake A ChanceTaking Risks Book:An Improvised Life: A Memoir Source: An Improvised Life: A Memoir
“We recognize that our progress as a species does not have to be defined in terms of wealth or material and physical growth any more than our progress as individuals has to be defined in terms of physical growth. Physical growth of the body reaches a limit, but the character and the soul of the individual continues to grow, or at least has a chance to continue, often to our last breath. It is simple minded to define our well being in material terms, when that well-being has an aesthetic dimension, and intellectual dimension, a moral dimension.” WellsDoeSoulCharacterBodyLastsIndividualGrowsGrowthTermWealthChanceSimpleMoralProgressMaterialsLimitsIntellectualBreathsSpeciesEnvironmentalDefinedWell BeingDimensionsAestheticSustainability Author:Wes Jackson
“I think that if I have a chance to go back, why not just go back all the way in history to the times of the pyramids or the Roman days? I think there are so many great historic times until now that I would like to get a little peek of those periods, rather than just 1984. Why limit yourself?” IfsThinkingWayLittlesChancePeriodsLimitsWhy NotHistoricPyramids Author:Arnold Schwarzenegger
“It is certainly not then-not in dreams- but when one is wide awake, at moments of robust joy and achievement, on the highest terrace of consciousness, that mortality has a chance to peer beyond its own limits, from the mast, from the past and its castle tower. And although nothing much can be seen through the mist, there is somehow the blissful feeling that one is looking in the right direction.” MomentsFeelingsDreamTruthPastJoyChanceConsciousnessLimitsAchievementHighestWideAwakeMortalityTowersPeersCastlesMistRight DirectionRobustMastsWide AwakeTerrace Book:Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited Source: Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited