Quotes from Alan Jacobs

when you know your Self you too shall be known! You'll be aware that you're the sons and daughters of our living Father. But if you fail to know your own Self you're in hardship and are that hardship.

I know what it's like to make common cause with people who are in some ways alien to me; I know how such experiences can expand my understanding of the world; I know how they can force me to confront the narrowness of my vision and my tendency to simplistic thinking—sometimes to not thinking at all.

O western wind, when wilt thou blow That the small rain down can rain? Christ, that my love were in my arms And I in my bed again!

All books want our attention, but not all of them want the same kind of attention, and good readers know this and make the necessary adjustments.

The Virtue and unpretentiousness of the wise man, which I am talking about, goes unnoticed because of its transparent ordinariness.

We cannot understand the Higher Wisdom. Later, well after the event, we may see the lesson contained in the event, and be truly grateful. We must, however, submit to what happens, accepting all that unfolds gracefully. This is the key. All your tragedies in life and in the theatre come about because of non-acceptance of the will of the Gods. Not my petty little ant-like will, but the Gods omnipotent will, let that will be done, I say. This is the beginning and end of the virtuous life.

Masterpieces should be kept for High Holidays of the Spirit"—for our own personal Christmases and Easters, not for any old Wednesday.

Socrates: Yes mercy and grace are all linked with Love. Let your tears of gratitude wash away the dark dirt of ignorance obscuring your own dear Self which is Love. Charmides: So Love has nothing to do with lust then? Socrates: No! Lust is from the selfish false sense of a 'me' desperate for some pleasurable, momentary relief from its anguish and boredom. Love is refined, and her amorous advances are from the spirit, not the body.

I gave up Christianity at about fourteen. Came back to it when getting on for thirty. An almost purely philosophical conversion. I didn't want to. I'm not the religious type. I want to be let alone, to feel I'm my own master: but since the facts seemed to be the opposite I had to give in.

a first encounter with a worthwhile book is never a complete encounter, and we are usually in error to make it a final one.