Leo Wong

If we fall seven times, we must pray at least seven times.

In the same way that we do not think as we would like to, and the course of our thoughts depends principally on what we see, hear and touch, it is quite reasonable to give ourselves certain sights, in order to give ourselves the reveries that are attached to them. This is how religious rites have a value. But they are only a means; they are not the end; so we should not visit the dead in the same way that others listen to the Mass or say their rosary. —Alain

Hmm, “should not,” which is to say listening to the Mass is the end, saying the rosary is the end?

Alain’s brevities assume shared knowledge.

“In the république des instituteurs, Emile-Auguste Chartier was sovereign. He signed himself “Alain.” His was, unquestionably, a commanding presence in European moral and intellectual history. His influence permeated French education and significant elements in French politics from 1906, the year of Dreyfus’s rehabilitation, to the late 1940s. Alain’s prose possesses unsurpassed economy and clarity. His stoic integrity held generations of pupils and disciples spellbound. Comparison with Socrates became routine. Alain was “the sage in the city,” the Maître des maîtres. In addition to philosophical and… waisberg.micro.blog

A basket full of books. —quoted by David Mills, “Grim, pessimistic, unsentimental wisdom to live by from the ancients”

To enslave is to reduce to slavery or to make a slave of. To buy or own a slave does not enslave the slave, and the person who does either is not an enslaver.

A notable thing about the parables is that there are many tests, but for each person there is just one test. Find out what your test is.

A couple we know are visiting Athens.

Hate should not be a crime.

Yet this is in thy favour, thou dost abhor the ways of the Nicolations, as I, too, abhor them. —Ronald Knox’s translation of Apocalypse 2:6. Other translations.

In “a woman and her doctor,” “woman” means a woman with child.

“Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” —Declaration of Independence

“Endowed by their Creator,” but when? Most probably not after birth, like fairies' gifts or according to the mother’s choice.

Heine died in poverty, deserted by his friends. The sole person to attend his deathbed in his squalid Parisian garret was the composer Berlioz. “I always thought you were an original, Berlioz,” observed the dying man. (The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, ed. Clifton Fadiman)

During the winter of 1894–95 Hamsun visited Paris for the first time. On his return home someone asked him, “At the beginning, didn’t you have trouble with your French?”

“No,” he replied, “but the French did.” (The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, ed. Clifton Fadiman)

"My long pupilship with Jacques Barzun began when I was a sophomore at Columbia College and he was an instructor teaching a course entitled “The Historical Background of English Literature.” We students were asked to read a long series of excerpts from notable authors, together with Trevelyan’s History of England, but the class discussions took an unexpected turn. At the first meeting, as I remember it, Mr. Barzun introduced Byron’s irregular sonnet beginning “She walks in beauty like the night” to illustrate the method of relating a literary work to the historical setting in which it was produced. T... waisberg.micro.blog

Carneades used to say that the sons of princes learned nothing rightly but how to manage horses, since in every other exercise everyone gives way to them and lets them win; but a horse, who is neither a flatterer nor a courtier, will throw the son of a king just as he would the son of a porter. (Essays, Montaigne, tr. Donald Frame)

Qui voudrait jouer aux cartes sans risquer jamais de perdre? Voici un vieux roi qui joue avec des courtisans; quand il perd, il se met en colère, et les courtisans le savent bien; depuis que les courtisans ont bien appris à jouer, le roi ne perd jamais. Aussi voyez comme il repousse les cartes. Il se lève, il monte à cheval; il part pour la chasse; mais c’est une chasse de roi, le gibier lui vient dans les jambes; les chevreuils aussi sont courtisans. (22 Janvier 1908, Propos Sur le Bonheur, Alain)

Some months after the end of his term as president, Eisenhower was asked if leaving the White House had affected his golf game. “Yes,” he replied, “a lot more people beat me now.” (The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, ed. Clifton Fadiman)

During the Peloponnesian War an eclipse occurred when Pericles was about to set out to sea. As the pilot was too terrified to perform his duties, Pericles stepped forward and covered the man’s head with his cloak. “does this frighten you?” he asked. “No,” said the pilot. “Then what difference is there between the two events,” inquired Pericles, “except that the sun is covered by a larger object than my cloak?” (The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, ed. Clifton Fadiman)

Alain (Émile Chartier) in English twitter.com/spernerev… @Waisberg

According to Christ, sinners are punished, but not by Christians.

Shortly before Austria went fascist, in 1938, Schuschnigg is reported to have said that 25 per cent of the population were for him, 25 per cent for Hitler, and that the rest would go the way the cat jumped. This principle deserves the name of Schuschnigg’s Constant. The only doubt is whether he did not grossly exaggerate the number of those having opinions. (Jacques Barzun, Of Human Freedom)