“Remember it is the heart and not the body, which strives to draw near to God. By heart I do not mean the flesh perceived by the senses, but that secret thing which is sometimes expressed by spirit, and sometimes by soul.” HeartMeanSoulSometimesBodyRememberSpiritSpiritualitySecretDrawsStriveFleshSensesStrife Author:Al-Ghazali
“Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection.” MenMeanDoeScienceNatureLosesNaturalSecretFindingsPerfectionCuriosityAppearanceWisestWisest Man Book:Essays and Lectures Source: Essays and Lectures
“The secret of pleasure in life, as distinct from its great triumphs of transcendent joy, is to live in a series of small, legitimate successes. By legitimate I mean such as are not accompanied by self-condemnation.” MeanSelfSuccessJoyPleasureSecretSeriesTriumphTranscendentCondemnation Author:Sydney Thompson Dobell
“The thing no one tells you about surviving, about the mere act of holding out, is how many hours are nothing because nothing happens. They also don’t tell you about how you can share your deepest secrets with someone, kiss them, and the next hour it’s like there’s nothing between you because not everything can mean something all the time or you’d be crushed under the weight of it.” MeanHappensNextHoursSecretShareKissingWeightMereThings HappenSurvivingCrushed Book:This Is Not a Test Source: This Is Not a Test
“Life seems so vulgar, so easily content with the commonplace things of every day, and yet it always nurses and cherishes certain higher claims in secret, and looks about for the means of satisfying them.” LifeLooksMeanSeemsCertainSecretHigherClaimsCherishSatisfyingNurseVulgarCommonplace Book:Maxims and Reflections Source: Maxims and Reflections
“Our passions are the chief means of self-preservation; to try to destroy them is therefore as absurd as it is useless; this would be to overcome nature, to reshape God's handiwork. If God bade man annihilate the passions he has given him, God would bid him be and not be; He would contradict himself. He has never given such a foolish commandment, there is nothing like it written on the heart of man, and what God will have a man do, He does not leave to the words of another man. He speaks Himself; His words are written in the secret heart.” IfsMenTryingHeartMeanDoeSelfWould BePassionSpeakGivenSecretWrittenOvercomingFoolishGods WillAbsurdChiefsUselessCommandmentsPreservationAnother ManSelf PreservationHandiwork Book:Emile: Or, On Education Source: Emile: Or, On Education
“Poetry is an ethic. By ethic I mean a secret code of behavior, a discipline constructed and conducted according to the capabilities of a man who rejects the falsifications of the categorical imperative.” MenMeanSecretDisciplineBehaviorEthicsCodeRejectsPoetry IsCapabilityImperativesFalsificationCategorical Imperative Author:Jean Cocteau