All Quotes

"Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”"

"It is necessary, therefore, to prove clearly that in the Early Church, at least, Christianity was no whit behind other great religions in possessing a hidden side, and that it guarded, as a priceless treasure, the secrets revealed only to a select few in its Mysteries. But ere doing this it will be well to consider the whole question of this hidden side of religions, and to see why such a side must exist if a religion is to be strong and stable; for thus its existence in Christianity will appear as a foregone conclusion, and the references to it in the writings of the Christian Fathers will appear simple and natural instead of surprising and unintelligible. As a historical fact, the existence of this esotericism is demonstrable; but it may also be shown that intellectually it is a necessity."

"The man believed that he owned his own soul, just as he owned his possessions, and his soul did not object. The dialogue he carried on with himself somehow took the place that dialogue with God, prayer, should have had. And he seemed to live well with his soul, because it agreed with him, because it accepted to stay within that perspective of life, filling the barns so that he could then enjoy everything. But now, since his soul is being asked back, the owner suddenly finds himself poor. His soul will have to stand naked before God. His barns are completely empty. The accounts no longer add up. [...] God's warning is a final act of benevolence for the frightened owner, the only one that still counts. He must change his relationship with God very quickly. God is his true wealth: for the sake of this good, he must renounce all other goods, and only those who surrender to it will discover God again. But God is not a granary. He is love that gives itself freely, as the Son showed on the cross. He gave himself to the last drop of blood: love, forgiveness, redemption. He will find this treasure again with the Father, but not as a hoarded good, but placed in the relationship of eternal self-giving."

"He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”"

"A man sowed seed in his field. This man knows what he wants, what he should expect and hope for. He holds the seed in his hand, he knows more or less what it looks like, without being able to say what will come from each individual grain. And he must drop the grains and entrust them to the earth, to the darkness, in order to see his hopes fulfilled. He must entrust their growth to God. God only wants him to sow, to perform an act about which he knows something, but certainly not everything. [...] Whether he tends to it, watches it or sleeps, the seed grows. It is like the Word of God becoming man: the Lord utters it, men gather it, it becomes suitable for the kingdom, so that it can return to the Father and the Father recognises it. A word that perhaps lies silent in a man and suddenly matures, so that it already contains within itself the fruits of action."

"A short parable, made up of a few words, like a tiny seed that nevertheless contains within itself infinite life. It is sown and makes the soil capable of the world, bearing fruit in eternal life. It has the patience to wait until everything is ripe and the sickle can be put to the harvest."

"We come here...speaking the truth on behalf of people, of the world, of the four-footed, of the winged, of the fish that swim. Someone must speak for them. I do not see a delegation for the four-footed. I see no seat for the eagles...We forget and we consider ourselves superior, but we are after all a mere part of the Creation. And we must continue to understand where we are. And we stand between the mountain and the ant, somewhere and only there, as part and parcel of the Creation...It is our responsibility, since we have been given the minds to take care of these things. The elements and the animals, and the birds, they live in a state of grace. They are absolute, they can do no wrong. It is only we, the two-leggeds, that can do this."

"The history of humankind in North and South America can be divided into two parts: the history of the aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere prior to the landfall of Western man, and the history of North and South America after the voyages of Columbus. These histories can be likened to an iceberg.... [S]even-eighths lie beneath the surface of the water. We can see Western occupation above the surface and visible. The aboriginal peoples' time is below the surface and invisible. This 500-year occupation by Western man contrasts with the conservative estimate of 12,000 years of aboriginal occupation."

"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[b] was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. [...] “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”"

"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wants to undertake a calculation. It is like the image of an inventory. It is time to settle accounts with the servants who have been entrusted with the king's wealth. Servants of God through Christ are those who have heard and followed his call to discipleship and who, because of their willingness to serve, have been assigned a task. And right at the beginning of this reckoning, a character is introduced whose guilt is so great that it cannot even be calculated. [...] The servant humbles himself before his master: he begs for patience and promises to pay. His words reveal his awareness of his guilt, his repentance and also his devotion to his master. It is the state of mind that arises when repentance and love meet: that of confession."

"The servant who, having just been saved by grace, does not want to forgive his fellow servant, is even more seriously at fault than he was previously for the sins he committed against his master. He denies his neighbour, and therefore God himself, the effectiveness that comes from grace. Every believer who refuses to reflect the grace that has been given to him is guilty in the same way. He becomes entangled in guilt much more deeply than before absolution. In fact, he has encountered love, recognised it in his temporary repentance, but denies it in his own conduct."

"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. :The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more. [...] “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’"

"While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’ “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’ “‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ [...] “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’ “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”"

"Consider— We are born Not with purpose, But with potential."

"The gospel of St. Matthew told of the angry Jesus driving the merchants and money-changers out of the temple, knocking over the tables of the money-changers and spilling their coins on the floor. Jesus was not opposed to capitalism and the profit motive, so long as economic activities were carried on outside the temple. In the parable of the talents, he praises the servant who used his master's money to make a profitable investment, and condemns the servant who was too timid to invest. But he draws a clear line at the temple door. Inside the temple, the ground belongs to God and profit-making must stop."

"This man, who distributes his goods among his servants according to their abilities, knows and observes his servants from within. His departure – if that man is Christ – is the postponement of the time of his return. His servants remain in the country, with an idea of what they must do. They know their master, they know that if he has entrusted something to them, it is because he trusts their human energies, their reason and their ability to put all this to good use in his service. The servants must not underestimate their abilities by setting themselves limits “a priori” or by being satisfied with mediocre results. While their master is absent, they must work with his goods as if they were their own; his interests must coincide with theirs."

"This country owes an enormous amount to Wesley, who was of course a High Tory [Mrs Thatcher was a Methodist by upbringing]. He inculcated the work ethic, and duty. You worked hard, you got on by the result of your own efforts: then, as you prospered, it was your duty to help others to prosper also. The essence of Methodist is in Matthew 24 – the Parable of the Talents. You have a duty to make what you can out of your talents, and to assist others."

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."

"For the Lord established that children should respect their father; he confirmed the right of the mother over her children. Whoever honors his father atones for his sins; he who gives glory to his mother prepares a treasure for himself. Whoever honors his father will receive joy from his own children and will be heard when he prays. Whoever glorifies his father will have a long life. Whoever obeys the Lord gives comfort to his mother. He serves those who brought him to birth as he would serve the Lord. Honor your father in word and deed so that his blessing may come on you. For a father’s blessing secures the future of his children, but a mother’s curse destroys them at their roots. Do not rejoice at the humiliation of your father because his dishonor is no glory for you. For a man’s glory comes from his father’s reputation; a mother who is not respected is a disgrace to her children. My child, take care of your father in his old age, do not cause him sorrow as long as he lives. Even if he has lost his mind, have patience; do not be disrespectful to him while you are in full health. For kindness done to one’s father will never be forgotten, it will serve as reparation for your sins. In the day of adversity the Lord will remember it to your advantage; for just as ice melts in the heat, so will your sins melt away. The man who abandons his father is like a blasphemer; he who annoys his mother is cursed by the Lord."

"For a moment, they [the apostles] can recognise themselves in the master's servants, looking at the world as they looked at the cultivated field. [...] And everything he says must ultimately have an impact on their successors and their apostolate, so that it is transformed into an attempt at full and genuine correspondence. [...] And if the Lord in the parable shows the judgement in advance, then their time of waiting, of patience, of having to be together with evil on earth, takes on a new meaning, which here below can never be fully understood, because understanding lies in the “acting” of the “Lord” on the day of harvest, at the end of their mission."

"The lowest of these three divisions is usually called the Causal Body, for a reason that will be only fully assimilable by those who have studied the teaching of Reincarnation —taught in the Early Church—and who understand that human evolution needs very many successive lives on earth, ere the germinal soul of the savage can become the perfected soul of the Christ, and then, becoming perfect as the Father in Heaven, can realise the union of the Son with the Father. It is a body that lasts from life to life, and in it all memory of the past is stored. From it come forth the causes that build up the lower bodies. It is the receptacle of human experience, the treasure-house in which all we gather in our lives is stored up, the seat of Conscience, the wielder of the Will. p. 240"

"There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. [...] “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet."

"“He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?"

"He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’[...] Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people."

"The vineyard workers had imagined that the vineyard where they had been sent to work for their master was their property; that everything in the vineyard had been made for them, so that they could enjoy life in that vineyard, forgetting their master and killing anyone who reminded them of him and their obligations towards him. “We do the same thing,” thought Nechljudov, 'living in the senseless belief that we are masters of our own lives, and that they are given to us for our pleasure. But this is clearly absurd. Because if we have been sent here, it is by someone's will and for some reason. Instead, we have decided that we live only for our own joy, and it is clear that we are suffering, just as the worker who does not do the master's will will suffer. And the master's will is expressed in these commandments. It is enough for men to put these commandments into practice, and the kingdom of God will be established on earth, and men will receive the supreme good that is accessible to them.""

"The vineyard survives everything. It is beyond change, wear and tear, and decay. It is an image of the fruit that the Lord desires and that must be harvested from the world. The work on people always remains the same. They must be purified, supported, helped to mature, so that they can work for God. But the Son, whom the vine-growers killed, the stone which they rejected, is Christ, who, precisely because he was rejected and precisely through his death, founds the Church and gives it the certainty of his assistance."

"The missions of the Old and New Covenants, with all their differences, are a service to the vineyard. Between them is the mission of Jesus, a mission of an incomparable kind, and yet a mission in the vineyard. A mission to admonish the vine-growers, to call them back to bring all the fruit of the vineyard to the Father. He will be killed, but from his death new missions will spring forth. All the envoys of the New Covenant work and labour at what the Son has made possible and opened up with his death, in participation in his filial mission."

"The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” [...] Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear."

"One cannot be "an Indian." One is a Comanche, an Oneida, a Hopi. One can be self-determining, not as "an Indian," but as a Comanche, an Oneida, etc. We progress as communities, not as individuals. We want to maintain ourselves as communities, according to our group identity, not just as mere individuals or as amorphous "Indians"...We want to maintain ourselves as we are so we can contribute our differences, our particular understanding, to both the national community and to global society."

"tribal ideas of progress may be radically different from Euro-American ideas. For example, the Northern Cheyenne count as "progress" their ability to maintain environmental quality, rather than the development of their coal resources."

"At the moment there is a veritable renaissance going on in tribal America as we come to terms with who we are as tribal people in contemporary society. We are bringing tradition along with us into the future rather than "going back to tradition" and maintaining ourselves like rigid museum pieces."

"Indians have been the victims of fine rhetoric, followed by inaction or worse, for two centuries. Swift action is what is needed."

"Let no one be shocked if, with reference to the creation of the world, I should invoke the testimony of pagan philosophers rather than the church fathers…. Let us then borrow from them and, with God’s help and command, rob the pagan philosophers of their wisdom and eloquence. Let us take from the unfaithful so as to enrich ourselves faithfully with the spoils."

"[A]t this time of the Crusades, there was a strong sense of shame in learning from the Islamic enemy. Also at the time of the Inquisition, the fears that Toledo was a Trojan horse that would spread heresy could not be lightly discounted. The shame was contained by the strategy of "Hellenization"—all the world knowledge, up to the 11th c. CE found in the Arabic books (including, for example, Indian knowledge) was indiscriminately assigned an early Greek origin, with the Arabs assigned the role of mere transmitters (and the Indians nowhere in the picture). The fear of heresy was contained by the strategy of Christianization of this incoming knowledge, by reinterpreting it to bring it in line with the requirements of Christian theology."

"Courage makes heroes, but trust builds friendships."

"Choose what is right, not what is easy."

"Compromise is a virtue to be cultivated, not a weakness to be despised."

"Cad Bane: "A secret shared is a trust formed.""

"A lesson learned is a lesson earned."

"Overconfidence is the most dangerous form of carelessness."

"Supreme Chancellor Palpatine: "The first step to correcting a mistake is patience.""

"A true heart should never be doubted."

"Believe in yourself or no one else will."

"No gift is more precious than trust."

"Sometimes, accepting help is harder than offering it."

"Attachment is not compassion."

"For everything you gain, you lose something else."

"It is the quest for honor that makes one honorable."

"Easy isn't always simple."

"If you ignore the past, you jeopardize the future."