“Liberty is so great a magician, endowed with so marvelous a power of productivity, that under the inspiration of this spirit alone, North America was able within less than a century to equal, and even surpass, the civilization of Europe.” InspirationAbleAmericaSpiritLibertyCenturyCivilizationEqualEuropeProductivityMarvelousMagicianNorth America Author:Mikhail Bakunin
“We are living in a demented world. And we know it. It would not come as a surprise to anyone if tomorrow the madness gave way to afrenzy which would leave our poor Europe in a state of distracted stupor, with engines still turning and flags streaming in the breeze, but with the spirit gone.” IfsKnowsWorldWayStillsWarStatesSpiritPoorHistoryGoneTomorrowEuropeMadnessSurpriseWar Of The WorldsEnginesWorld War IiFlagsWorld War IBreezeDistractedStreamingDemented Author:Johan Huizinga
“In Russia there is an emigration of intelligence: émigrés cross the frontier in order to read and to write good books. But in doing so they contribute to making their fatherland, abandoned by spirit, into the gaping jaws of Asia that would like to swallow our little Europe.” WritingLittlesBookSpiritOrderEuropeCrossesRussiaAbandonedAsiaFrontiersGood BookFatherlandEmigration Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
“I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.” PeopleShouldFirstsAmericaFormSpiritCasesDisciplineEuropeCeaseDoctrineNot AfraidSectsHold FastMethodists Book:The Works of the Reverend John Wesley, A. M. Source: The Works of the Reverend John Wesley, A. M.
“Pharisaism became Talmudism...But the spirit of the Ancient Pharisee survives unaltered. When the Jew...studies the Talmud, he is actually repeating the arguments used in the Palestinian academies. From Palestine to Babylonia; from Babylonia to North Africa, Italy, Spain, France and Germany; from these to Poland, Russia and eastern Europe generally, ancient Pharisaism has wandered.” UsedSpiritStudyEuropeArgumentAncientJewRussiaFranceGermanyPalestinianEasternPalestineSpainAcademyPolandEastern EuropePhariseesNorth AfricaPharisaism Author:Louis Finkelstein
“John Wesley taught that the gospel of Christ involved more than saving souls. It should have an impact on all of society, and his followers worked to accomplish just that. They were dispensing grace to the broader world, and in the process their spirit helped change a nation, saving it from the revolutionary chaos that had spread across Europe.” WorldShouldSoulSpiritNationsProcessChristGraceTaughtInvolvedEuropeShould HaveImpactChaosSpreadAccomplishSavingRevolutionaryFollowersSaving Souls Author:Philip Yancey
“I have a profound dislike for showing off one's material wealth. This is insensitive and it is not what human hearts are made for. But what I like about China and sometimes miss in Europe is the entrepreneurial spirit of our young people, their ambition and dynamism.” PeopleHumansHeartMadeSometimesYoungSpiritWealthMissingMaterialsAmbitionEuropeProfoundChinaDislikeHuman HeartEntrepreneurialShowing OffInsensitiveDynamismMaterial WealthEntrepreneurial Spirit Author:Zhang Xin
“We launch our souls from the cannons of art and discipline, and on any one night, hovering over the chimney tops of Europe, halfway to the stars, there are armies of brightly spinning spirits that have risen like fireworks, tethered to the souls of those men and women who, by reflection, mortification, and devotion, effortlessly outdazzle kings.” MenArtSoulSpiritNightStarsKingsDisciplineReflectionMen And WomenEuropeArmyDevotionHalfwayOne NightSpinningRisenCannonsFireworksChimneysMortificationHovering Author:Mark Helprin
“I have in this War a burning private grudge — which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.” WayLittlesWarLightInspirationSpiritIntellectualEuropeMereSoldierNobleSupremeBurningOddContributionGrudgeStatureDemonicImpetusOdd Things Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
“Moshe Sluhovsky's fascinating study links spirit possession, exorcism, and mystical practice in early modern Europe. Women and men, healers and priestly exorcisers are caught up in a new quest for truth and introspection as they try to figure out whether these dramas of body and soul come from the devil or God. A stunning feat of scholarship and interpretation.” MenTryingSoulBodySpiritPracticeStudyModernFiguresDramaDevilMen And WomenEuropeCaughtPossessionFascinatingInterpretationLinksQuestsIntrospectionMysticalCaught UpScholarshipHealerStunningFeatsExorcism Author:Natalie Zemon Davis
“The period of Catholic ascendancy was on the whole one of the most deplorable in the history of the human mind. . . . The spirit that shrinks from enquiry as sinful and deems a state of doubt a state of guilt, is the most enduring disease that can afflict the mind of man. Not till the education of Europe passed from the monasteries to the universities, not till Mohammedan science, and classical free thought, and industrial independence broke the sceptre of the Church, did the intellectual revival of Europe begin.” MenMindHumansStatesWholeSpiritReligionChurchDoubtPeriodsDiseaseIntellectualEuropeCatholicIndependenceGuiltEndureUniversityBrokeHuman MindShrinksRevivalMonasteriesEnquiryFree ThoughtAscendancy Author:William Edward Hartpole Lecky