“We can think of Lent as a time to eradicate evil or cultivate virtue, a time to pull up weeds or to plant good seeds. Which is better is clear, for the Christian ideal is always positive rather than negative. A person is great not by the ferocity of his hatred of evil, but by the intensity of his love for God. Asceticism and mortification are not the ends of a Christian life; they are only the means. The end is charity. Penance merely makes an opening in our ego in which the Light of God can pour. As we deflate ourselves, God fills us. And it is God’s arrival that is the important event.” ThinkingMeanPersonsImportantEndsLightChristianEvilVirtueClearEventsEgoNegativeIdealsHatredPlantCharitySeedsOpeningChristian LifeGod LoveWeedIntensityHis LoveArrivalsAsceticismPenanceMortificationPull UpsFerocityImportant Events Author:Fulton J. Sheen
“We did not choose to believe that personal choice is the highest human virtue. Rather, we were taught, formed, forced to believe nothing is important in life other than that which we have personally chosen. The irony is that the belief that nothing is important in life other than that which we have personally chosen is a belief that we have not personally chosen! The supermarket and shopping mall have been our school.” BelieveHumansHas BeensImportantSchoolChoicesBeliefVirtueTaughtHighestChosenIronyShoppingConsumerismMallsOverconsumptionSupermarketsPersonal Choice Author:William Henry Willimon
“One of the most important virtues of the American character is our ability to approach the complexities that life presents us with common sense and decency, .. The considered judgment of the American people is not going to rise or fall on the fine distinctions of a legal argument but on straight talk and the truth. It is time for the president and the Congress to follow that common sense for the good of the country.” PeopleImportantCountryCharacterFallPresidentAbilityCommonVirtueFineJudgmentApproachArgumentCongressCommon SenseComplexityDistinctionDecencyAmerican Character Author:Dick Gephardt
“There still shines the most important nuance by virtue of which the noble felt themselves to be men of a higher rank. They designate themselves simply by their superiority in power (as "the powerful," "the masters," "the commanders") or by the most clearly visible signs of this superiority, for example, as "the rich," "the possessors" (this is the meaning of 'Arya,' and of corresponding words in Iranian and Slavic).” MenStillsImportantFeltPowerfulVirtueRichExampleMastersHigherShiningNobleVisibleSuperiorityBe A ManCommandersNuanceIranianCorresponding Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
“Compassion is not a popular virtue. Very often when I talk to religious people, and mention how important it is that compassion is the key, that it's the sine-qua-non of religion, people look kind of balked, and stubborn sometimes, as much to say, what's the point of having religion if you can't disapprove of other people?” PeopleIfsLooksKindImportantSometimesReligiousCompassionVirtueKeysStubborn Author:Karen Armstrong
“Men have been taught that their first concern is to relieve the suffering of others. ... To make that the highest test of virtue is to make suffering the most important part of life. Then man must wish to see others suffer in order that he may be virtuous. Such is the nature of altruism.” MenFirstsMayHas BeensImportantSufferingOrderWishVirtueTaughtHighestConcernTestsVirtuousAltruismParts Of LifeFountainheadSuffering Of Others Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition) Source: For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)
“The Spirit of Justice is the single most important seed Piers planted; if you don't live by its teaching, your chance of salvation is nil. Unless Conscience and the Cardinal Virtues form the food that people live on, just take my word for it, they're utterly lost - every single living soul among them!” PeopleIfsImportantSoulWisdomFormSpiritPoliticsLostJusticeChanceEconomyVirtueTeachingConscienceSalvationSeedsLiberalismLive ByCardinalsPiers Author:William Langland