We don't love qualities; we love a person; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as their qualities.
Jacques MaritainRead
We do not need a truth to serve us, we need a truth that we can serve
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of serving truth itself rather than bending it to our needs.
Jacques Maritain's quote suggests that truth is not merely a tool for our own purposes but a fundamental concept that we should honor and adhere to. In striving to serve truth, we elevate our understanding and commitment to reality, rather than distorting it to fit our desires or objectives. This approach fosters a more profound relationship with knowledge, humility, and authenticity.
In practice
During a seminar on ethics, this quote can emphasize the importance of integrity in research.
We don't love qualities; we love a person; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as their qualities.
God does not ask for 'religious' art or 'Catholic' art. The art he wants for himself is Art, with all its teeth
Since art is a virtue of the intellect, it demands to communicate with the entire universe of the intellect. Hence it is that the normal climate of art is intelligence and knowledge: its normal soil, the civilized heritage of a consistent and integrated system of beliefs and values; its normal horizon , the infinity of human experience enlighted by the passionate insight of anguish or the intellectual virtues of a contemplative mind.
Every work of art reaches man in his inner powers. It reaches him more profoundly and insidiously than any rational proposition, either cogent demonstration or sophistry. For it strikes him with two terrible weapons, Intuition and Beauty, and at the single root in him of all his energies... Art and Poetry awaken the dreams of man, and his longings, and reveal to him some of the abysses he has in himself.
The aim of education is to guide young persons in the process _x000D_ through which they shape themselves as human persons-armed with knowledge, strength of judgment, and moral virtues-while at the same time conveying to them the spiritual heritage of the nation and the civilization in which they are involved.
The poet knows himself only on the condition that things resound in him, and that in him, at a single awakening, they and he come forth together out of sleep.
We each appear to hold within ourselves a range of divergent views as to our native qualities.. And amid such uncertainty, we typically turn to the wider world to settle the question of our significance.. we seem beholden to affections of others to endure ourselves.
But would you kindly ponder this question: What would your good do if evil didn't exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows disappeared? After all, shadows are cast by things and people. Here is the shadow of my sword. But shadows also come from trees and living beings. Do you want to strip the earth of all trees and living things just because of your fantasy of enjoying naked light? You're stupid.
A prophet is not someone with special visions, just someone blind to most of what others see
Before impugning an opponent's motives, even when they legitimately may be impugned, answer his arguments.
Be human in this most inhuman of ages; guard the image of man for it is the image of God.
If we are Christians, we must look like Christ - this is my deep conviction.
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