All Quotes

"God wants to exist and wants to be what he is, which means that he is free not only with regard to being in general, but above all with regard to his own being, in short, he is not bound either to his own existence or to his own essence."

"God himself, as absolute freedom and original will, contains, indeed is, the answer to the “fundamental question” [What is his name? (Ex. 3:13)], but he does not state it in explicit terms: he merely says “I am who I am, I am who I want to be”, which is a definitive statement. There is nothing more to say: it is an absolute act of will and freedom, by which God makes himself and declares himself master of his own being and of being in general."

"God is master of his own essence, because in him act and essence, essence and will are one and the same."

"[First of all] there is the abysmal nature of God, that is: that void that exists before God and is God himself (the freedom of God, God as freedom) is God as pure beginning, which implies precisely the nothingness of freedom. Before God, there is only God. But God, before God, exists. God's existence can only depend on God himself; we must necessarily admit this kind of divine doubling. God's existence is an act of his original freedom, it is an act of freedom that establishes itself. God's freedom posits God's existence, God's freedom, that is: divine abyssalness, the nothingness of freedom as beginning, posits God's existence, that is, the fruit of this freedom, which thus becomes a historical fact. The first historical fact ever is the existence of God, which is therefore undeducible – which is therefore initial."

"God is being, goodness, truth, or the positive in general, but insofar as it is willed and chosen, victory over possible nothingness."

"The positive choice is itself a choice of goodness, and the negative choice is itself a choice of evil."

"The primacy of reality is in itself a victory over nothingness, and the choice of good is always a judgement on evil, so that God has two aspects in himself: that by which “ab aeterno” good has been chosen by an irreversible act and evil is rejected as a rejected possibility; and that by which evil, as a discarded alternative, subsists forever as the backdrop of possibility and as a hidden but available possibility."

"There are therefore two aspects to God: that in which good is chosen and evil is rejected by an irreversible act, and this is the original positivity, the existence of God to whom the first choice has led; and that in which evil as a discarded alternative remains forever as the backdrop to positivity, as a presence that is forgotten and set aside, as a possibility that has been overcome but remains available. It cannot be said, then, that evil is present as such in the divine essence or nature; nor that instantaneous evil as such already resides in God, and that God, in order to become himself, must identify it and get rid of it. But it must be said that evil is contemporary with divine existence, in the sense that it arises in that timeless act in which original freedom affirms itself only by defeating the alternative possibility of nothingness. In the act in which God originates and therefore is God, that is, in divine existence itself, evil emerges as a reality already established, but as a possibility already discarded."

"[Beauty] is always free and adherent: free because it does not adhere to conceptual knowledge, adherent because it adheres to an interpretation of nature."

"Play is contemplation, removed from the seriousness of passivity as intuition and need, and of activity as intellect and reason."

"The aesthetic sphere is a necessary passage to morality, so much so that only as an aesthetic man is man truly man."

"The fact that in order to exist, God had to defeat nothingness and vanquish evil, that is, put aside the negative, leaves a trace of negativity in him, albeit ineffective and inoperative, as if something remained unresolved and still pending. One has the impression that nothingness is still lurking, like a constant threat, and that latent and dormant evil could reawaken. Negativity and evil are present in God as possibilities that were foreseen but discarded, and therefore now forgotten and irrelevant."

"Evil is not the absence of being, the deprivation of good, the lack of reality, but is reality, more precisely positive reality in its negativity."

"Evil must be distinguished as possible and real: in God it is present as possible, and there man finds it and realises it in history."

"The problem of evil has its roots in the dark depths of human nature and in the secret recesses of man's relationship with transcendence."

"What is important is not reason for its own sake but truth: the value of reason depends on its connection to truth and its ontological roots."

"The only sense in which it can be said that He [Jesus] gives an answer to the problem of evil, and that he himself is this answer."

"Man awakens on the cosmic stage the evil that was dormant in God."

"The temporal dialectic as a struggle between good and evil is that which exists in human temporal history, in which positive and negative, good and evil are always in struggle, always in tension, always together."

"It is not without reason that religious experience focuses above all on the suffering and redeeming God, which confirms that the ultimate recourse to the problem of evil is religion, certainly not morality."

"The ideal Dominican life was rich in the multiplicity and choice of its elements, and was thoroughly unified by its well-considered principles and enactments; but it was none the less complex, and its full realization was difficult."

"... pick up one of those superb books such as Private Gardens of England, by , on a wild, wet afternoon in February when the wind is shrilling outside, moaning through the gaps and spattering the window with rain. Turn to a picture of Saling Hall showing blues and silvers against the static severity of s, or see the black and white photographs of roses, cobbles and at , in which there's a table and chairs glimpsed through an open door in the garden wall. Books such as these are indeed a strong element of the whole pleasure of gardening; they need to be devoured and mulled over as well as those which are carried round in an earthy hand as vital advice flows out on what to do with five hundred s at the s."

"Ideally, should be approached from the heights of Whitcliffe Common for views of its and the among the cluttered roofs and chimneys, the rosy-pink bricks, the half-timbered houses and somber gray stone of the ancient town walls. The circling the town is spanned by the medieval and Dinham bridges — the latter immortalized in paintings by . From where I live, beside the renovated 12th-century chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury and a gnarled magnolia tree, I cross Dinham Bridge to wander alongside water meadows of s, , and grazing cattle. Swans glide on the river, the water roars and tumbles over the weir, and the mercurial flight of a appears like a hallucination."

"Living in after we married, where we had a small farm with neither nor and where each spring a stallion bedecked with ribbons walked the lanes servicing the mares, we often made the journey between the country and London, a slow and un-trafficky journey through the before the age of motorways."

"He was a moral, religious man, of much force of character, to whom half measures and shiftiness were foreign."

"Antonio Possevinus represented the literary, scientific, and diplomatic type of Jesuit, performing important political missions, establishing schools of science and letters, and applying himself to diplomatic protocols and classical authors with equal assiduity. Had he not met with insurmountable difficulties in Sweden and Russia, and in negotiating the treaties between Poland and the empire, he would have left a still deeper trace on the political history of the Church and of Europe."

"There will be sacrifices in thus referring everything to God; there are sacrifices, and there will be always. But what matters it ? This is our life, the end for which we were created, our destination, — to sacrifice everything to God with devotion and courage, and to find everything in God in eternity."

"Freedom has been closely entangled with ideas of whiteness and white racial identity in modern history, so that to be free has often meant to be white, and vice versa."

"The president of the United States is not elected by the popular vote but by the Electoral College, so that at times the man who won the latter was not the most popular candidate. In the United States, what counts is winning a majority of the right people, not the people as a whole. This truism, with roots in the origins of the US Constitution, is underscored by the often racialized character of the limits to democracy in the US political system: The right people are all too often the white people. This is certainly the case with the Electoral College, but it is even more evident in the US Senate. The 10 smallest states have a total population of slightly less than Los Angeles County’s, yet they elect one-fifth of the Senate’s membership. These states are also whiter than the United States as a whole, giving white interests preponderant representation in the Senate. (One might wonder what would happen if these small states had mostly minority populations, but the closest analogy—the exclusion of Washington, D.C., from Senate representation—suggests an answer.)"

"The Allies have agreed that the German people must be given the opportunity to prepare for the eventual reconstruction of their life on a democratic and peaceful basis."

"People often talk about diversity as being important for marginalized communities … I think in our society as a whole, diversity is something that benefits all of us. Being exposed to people from different backgrounds, being able to interact with people with different experiences is something that we all learn from and makes all of our lives better."

"In 1987 President Ronald Reagan called upon the leaders of the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall, an appeal that became reality two years later. Roughly thirty years after Reagan’s famous speech, another American Republican president, Donald Trump, called on the leaders of Mexico to pay for the construction of a wall along the border between the US and Mexico. During his successful 2016 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly announced his intentions to build a wall, and five days after he assumed office in January 2017 he signed Executive Order 13767 to begin its construction."

"Tyler Stovall should be remembered as a scholar who firmly believed that the writing and teaching of history was a political act. <...> Despite studying some of the worst aspects of human behavior, he always remained optimistic and held that a better world was possible, and that education was central to that goal. <...> He also challenged the stale notion that history should be confined within the framework of the nation-state. <...> He never forgot that so many of us love history for the stories. <...> Stovall’s last publications critique the global history of white supremacy, arguing that French and American notions of freedom were built upon the unfreedom of people of color. <...> He believed in fighting for justice instead of simply expecting it to happen. He firmly believed that we could build a more just society — and that we have a moral obligation to do so."

"Kailangan mo talagang kumilos para mag-lose ka ng weight (You really need to take action to lose weight)."

"So ngayon, hindi ko naman po siya hinahanap kasi happy naman po ako sa buhay (So now, I'm not looking for him because I'm happy with life)."

"At siyempre po, iba na po ang outlook ko ngayon sa buhay—very, very positive po (And of course, my outlook on life is different now—very, very positive)."

""Noong nag-asawa ako, naging ‘chemist’ ako—ke mister umaasa (When I got married, I became a chemist— cheMister hoping)!”"

"Tapos yun, bigla, na-meet ko siya. Kaya nga dapat, huwag kang mawalan ng pag-asa (Then, suddenly, I met him. That's why you shouldn't lose hope)."

"Kailangan, same page kayo. Kapag magkaiba kayo, hindi kayo tatagal (You have to be on the same page. If you're different, you won't last long)."

"Noong 2020 talaga dapat yung comeback ko and, sad to say, God has other plans for me (My comeback was supposed to be in 2020 and, sad to say, God has other plans for me)."

"Tanggap ko na yung reason, yung path Niya para sa akin (I accept the reason, His path for me). I’m really happy [with] where I’m at right now."

"You will know when your plant is happy once it’s sprouting. Sometimes you just have to move them to a different area in your place for them to grow, maybe because they want the bright sun or they want in a shaded area."

"Only in manner of dressing – sometimes, but not so much in attitude."

"Siyempre (Of course), through maintenance. I watch what I eat."

"I’m choosy with food – luckily. I avoid sweets. No softdrinks for me, not even iced tea. Sorry but I can’t be a vegetarian because I don’t eat vegetables. I’m not much of an eater, also luckily. I eat like a bird. As much as possible, I skip dinner. Nothing after six."

"There is a sort of republican plainness and simplicity in their address, quite in harmony with the institutions of their country. An American bows less than an Englishman; he deals less in mere conventional forms and expressions of civility; he pays few or no compliments; makes no unmeaning or overstrained professions; but he takes you by the hand with a cordiality which at once intimates, that he is disposed to regard you as a friend....Perhaps I was the more flattered by the kindness of my reception, from having formed anticipations of a less pleasing character. The Americans I had met in Europe had generally been distinguished by a certain reserve, and something even approaching to the offensive in manner, which had not contributed to create a prepossession in their favour. It seemed, as if each individual were impressed with the conviction that the whole dignity of his country was concentred in his person."

"The devout and politically free inhabitant of New England is a kind of Laocoön who makes not the least effort to escape from the serpents which are crushing him. Mammon is his idol which he adores not only with his lips but with the whole force of his body and mind. In his view the world is no more than a Stock Exchange, and he is convinced that he has no other destiny here below than to become richer than his neighbor. Trade has seized upon all his thoughts, and he has no other recreation than to exchange objects. When he travels he carries, so to speak, his goods and his counter on his back and talks only of interest and profit. If he loses sight of his own business for an instant it is only in order to pry into the business of his competitors."

"Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”"

"Come to me, all you that need instruction, and learn in my school.| Why do you admit that you are ignorant and do nothing about it? | Here is what I say: It costs nothing to be wise."

"While I was still young, before I went on my travels,"