The comic spirit is given to us in order that we may analyze, weigh, and clarify things in us which nettle us, or which we are outgrowing, or trying to reshape
Thornton WilderRead
The revival in religion will be a rhetorical problem - new persuasive words for defaced or degraded ones.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that revitalizing religion requires finding new, compelling language to replace tired and misused terms.
Thornton Wilder's quote emphasizes the importance of language in the spiritual revival. It implies that as religious concepts become worn out or corrupted over time, it is crucial to develop fresh and persuasive rhetoric that can better resonate with people and reinvigorate their connection to religion. Effective communication is key to making old ideas relevant and engaging in a contemporary context.
Themes
ReligionLanguageRhetoricRevivalPersuasion
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on community building, one might say, 'As Thornton Wilder noted, the revival in religion will be a rhetorical problem, urging us to find new ways to express our beliefs.'
More from Thornton Wilder
All quotes →A man looks pretty small at a wedding, George. All those good women standing shoulder to shoulder, making sure that the knot's tied in a mighty public way.
Thornton WilderRead
Good-by, Good-by, world. Good-by, Grover's Corners... Mama and Papa. Good-by to clocks ticking... and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths...and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you.
Thornton WilderRead
When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.
Thornton WilderRead
Many great writers have been extraordinarily awkward in daily exchange, but the greatest give the impression that their style was nursed by the closest attention to colloquial speech.
Thornton WilderRead
I want you to try and remember what it was like to have been very young. And particularly the days when you were first in love; when you were like a person sleepwalking, and you didn’t quite see the street you were in, and didn’t quite hear everything that was said to you. You’re just a little bit crazy. Will you remember that, please?
Thornton WilderRead
Similar quotes
We know of no spectacle more ridiculous—or more contemptible—than that of the religious reactionaries who dare to re-write the history of our republic. Or who try to do so. Is it possible that, in their vanity and stupidity, they suppose that they can erase the name of Thomas Jefferson and replace it with the name of some faith-based mediocrity whose name is already obscure? If so, we cheerfully resolve to mock them, and to give them the lie in their teeth.
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It's a difficult competition against silence, because silence is a perfect language, the only language which says with no words.
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Return good for good; return evil with justice.
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The day is for honest men, the night for thieves.
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I am proud to call myself a Hindu, I am proud that I am one of your unworthy servants. I am proud that I am a countryman of yours, you the descendants of the sages, you the descendants of the most glorious Rishis the world ever saw. Therefore have faith in yourselves, be proud of your ancestors, instead of being ashamed of them.
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It often happens that we blurt out things that may in some kind of way be harmful to us, but we are silent about things that may make us look ridiculous; because in this case effect follows very quickly on cause.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead