Quotes
Quotes about Events
Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary Even the most traditional theologian will be anxious to point out that the classical images which have been used, with more or less success, to depict different aspects of the Redemptionâthe winning of a battle, the liberation of captives, the payment of a fine or debt, the curing of a disease, and so onâare not to be interpreted literally, any more than, when we say that the eternal Word "came down from Heaven", we are describing a process of spatial translation. For here we are dealing with processes and events which, by the nature of the case, cannot be precisely described in everyday language... The matter is quite different with such a statement as that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary; for, whatever aspects of the Incarnation outstrip the descriptive power of ordinary language, this at least is plainly statable in it. It means that Jesus was conceived in his mother's womb without previous sexual intercourse on her part with any male human being, and this is a straightforward statement which is either true or false. To say that the birth... of Jesus Christ cannot simply be thought of as a biological event, and to add that this is [not] what the Virgin Birth means, is a plain misuse of language; and no amount of talk about the appealing character of the "Christmas myth" can validly gloss this over.
Feast of Thomas the Apostle We have still much to learn as to the laws according to which the mind and body act on one another, and according to which one mind acts on another; but it is certain that a great part of this mutual action can be reduced to general laws, and that the more we know of such laws, the greater our power to benefit others will be. When, through the operation of such laws, surprising events take place, [we may] cry out, ... "Such is the will of God," instead of setting ourselves to inquire whether it is the will of God to give us power to bring about or prevent such results; then our conduct is not piety but sinful laziness.
The Gospel is not presented to mankind as an argument about religious principles. Nor is it offered as a philosophy of life. Christianity is a witness to certain factsâto events that have happened, to hopes that have been fulfilled, to realities that have been experienced, to a Person who has lived and died and been raised from the dead to reign for ever.
Feast of Simon & Jude, Apostles True spiritual power of the Christian order is a kind of possessedness. It arises in and flows through a life hid with Christ in God. Its source is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the potency of the Holy Spirit. True spiritual power is the child of two parents: the truth as it is revealed in Jesus and our own experience resulting upon our acceptance of Him and His truth. The objective factor is that whole set of facts and truths, of historic events, and of interpretation of them, which is held by the church and set forth in the Bible. The subjective factor is what happens in the crucible of your life and mine when we accept the set of facts and truths and interpretations, and it begins to work in us.
Events are less important than our response to them.
There are more ideas on earth than intellectuals imagine. And these ideas are more active, stronger, more resistant, more passionate than "politicians" think. We have to be there at the birth of ideas, the bursting outward of their force: not in books expressing them, but in events manifesting this force, in struggles carried on around ideas, for or against them. Ideas do not rule the world. But it is because the world has ideas... that it is not passively ruled by those who are its leaders or those who would like to teach it, once and for all, what it must think.
The consequences of things are not always proportionate to the apparent magnitude of those events that have produced them. Thus the American Revolution, from which little was expected, produced much; but the French Revolution, from which much was expected, produced little.
All science is concerned with the relationship of cause and effect. Each scientific discovery increases man's ability to predict the consequences of his actions and thus his ability to control future events.
The advantage of a classical education is that it enables you to despise the wealth which it prevents you from achieving.
Man is troubled not by events, but by the meaning he gives them.
Evil events from evil causes spring.
Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.
Ignorance of God's prophetic outline, failure to know God's program for the Church, the nations, and Israel, is the cause of the overwhelming amount of error and misunderstanding of the events of the future.
The City's reluctance to take a stand on an issue like the British Gas pay row makes a mockery of corporate governance and shareholders' ability to influence annual general meetings. Institutions should be obliged to make public how they vote at such events. They should be obliged to provide customers with a record of how they vote on every kind of issue.
But I will trace the footsteps of the chief events. [Lat., Sed summa sequar fastigia rerum.]
The purpose of foreign policy is not to provide an outlet for our own sentiments of hope or indignation; it is to shape real events in a real world.
It is a madness to make fortune the mistress of events, because in herself she is nothing, but is ruled by prudence.
'Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, And coming events cast their shadows before.
Certain signs precede certain events. [Lat., Certis rebus certa signa praecurrunt.]
. . . So often do the spirits Of great events stride on before the events, And in to-day already walks to-morrow.
And better skilled in dark events to come.
That man is prudent who neither hopes nor fears anything from the uncertain events of the future.
Every work of Genius is tinctured by the feelings, and often originates in the events of times.
History: An account, mostly false, of events unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.
History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren't there.
