Being precedes Truth, and ... Truth precedes the Good.

- Josef Pieper

Unchaste abandon and the self-surrender of the soul to the world of sensuality paralyzes the primordial powers of the moral person: the ability to pe…

- Josef Pieper

The happy man needs nothing and no one. Not that he holds himself aloof, for indeed he is in harmony with everything and everyone; everything is "in …

- Josef Pieper

Wonder is defined by Thomas [Aquinas] in the Summa Theologiae [I-II, Q. 32, a. 8], as the desiderium sciendi, the desire for knowledge, active longin…

- Josef Pieper

Leisure is only possible when we are at one with ourselves. We tend to overwork as a means of self-escape, as a way of trying to justify our existenc…

- Josef Pieper

What distinguishes - in both senses of that word - contemplation is rather this: it is a knowing which is inspired by love. "Without love there would…

- Josef Pieper

Only the silent hear and those who do not remain silent do not hear.

- Josef Pieper

Unless we regain the art of silence and insight, the ability for nonactivity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will de…

- Josef Pieper

Of course the world of work begins to become - threatens to become - our only world, to the exclusion of all else. The demands of the working world g…

- Josef Pieper