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December 15, 2009

Thought for Tuesday

Hugh Kingsmill (1944), from "The Poisoned Crown "
"What is divine in man is elusive and impalpable, and he is easily tempted to embody it in a collective form - a church, a country, a social system, a leader, so that he may realize it with less effort and serve it with more profit...Yet the attempt to externalize The Kingdom of Heaven in a temporal form must end in disaster. It cannot be created by charters or constitutions, nor established by arms. Those who set out for it alone will reach it together, and those who seek it in company will perish by themselves"

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Outstanding. Do we have a series?

If so, Rhod, I would like to vote that every Friday your quote has something to do with being "mad as hell and not going to take it any more."

In all seriousness, thank you for the excellent food for thought. The pursuit of truth and the God who authors that truth is an individual matter, although others are met along the way. I am reminded of Pilgrim's Progress.

And by the way, the picture is fantastic, too.

Rhod said...

DC, the painting is one of Hopper's Cape Cod tableaus (in the 1940's). It's sublime, isn't it?

I hadn't considered a series, because Quote for the Day can lead to trivialization and wisdom overload. But I have a couple more that are unusual.

My Howard Beal-ness? Gone.

RightKlik said...

...for example, the Obama Hopenchange Craze.

Anonymous said...

I understand, Rhod re: the series.

No more Howard Beal-ness ... well, we'll miss it. But the new stuff is great, too.

And yes, sublime is the adjective I was looking for.