The priest has just baptized you a Christian with water; and I baptize you a Frenchman, daring child, with a dewdrop of champagne on your lips.
Paul ClaudelRead
Speak about Christ only when you are asked. But live so that people ask about Christ!
Interpretation
Live a life that reflects your beliefs so that others are inspired to ask about them.
This quote by Paul Claudel emphasizes the importance of embodying one's faith through actions rather than merely speaking about it. It suggests that a genuine and authentic life will naturally draw others' curiosity and questions, leading to meaningful discussions about beliefs and values.
In practice
In a community gathering discussing spirituality, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of living one's faith.
Demands for solidarity can quickly turn into demands for groupthink, making it difficult to express nuance.
It is as hard and severe a thing to be a true politician as to be truly moral.
There has to be a balance, Vin," Elend said. "Somehow, we'll find it. The balance between whom we wish to be and whom we need to be." He sighed. "But for now," he said, nodding to the side, "we simply have to be satisfied with who we are.
Force does not constitute right... obedience is due only to legitimate powers.
One of the things that distinguishes man from the other animals is that he wants to know things, wants to find out what reality is like, simply for the sake of knowing. When that desire is completely quenched in anyone, I think he has become something less than human.
God who preceded all existence is a refuge.
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