“The world says: ‘You have needs— satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don’t hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more.’ This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“The tyrant is a child of Pride
Who drinks from his sickening cup
Recklessness and vanity,
Until from his high crest headlong
He plummets to the dust of hope.”
Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
“Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget!”
Rudyard Kipling
“Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me: for you are the God of my salvation; and I wait for you all the day.
Remember, O Lord, your tender mercies and loving kindness, as they have ever been of old.”
Psalm 25:4-6
When I was a kid, in sixth grade actually, I was handed The Brothers Karamazov by my aunt to read. It took a while. I preferred a thrilling story with less subtlety.
But I read it and I got it.
“There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it. Stop thinking, let things happen, and just be the ball.”
Ty Webb
2 Timothy 2:7 KJV… “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.”
The Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul.