WIST Quotations

Petrarch -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 19:23:53 +0000

Love is the crowning grace of humanity, the holiest right of the soul, the golden link which binds us to duty and truth, the redeeming principle that chiefly reconciles the heart to life, and is prophetic of eternal good.

Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374) Italian scholar and poet [a.k.a. Petrarch]
(Attributed)

Quoted in In Henry T. Tuckerman, "Petrarch," The American Whig Review (May 1845). The first word is sometimes quoted as "charity".

King, Martin Luther -- Sermon (1957-11-17), “Loving Your Enemies,” Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery

Dave — Sat, 01 Jul 2017 01:38:54 +0000

In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Sermon (1957-11-17), “Loving Your Enemies,” Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery

Heinlein, Robert A. -- Time Enough For Love [Lazarus Long] (1973)

Dave — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 13:17:17 +0000

But, Minerva, love is what still goes on when you are not horny.

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American writer
Time Enough For Love [Lazarus Long] (1973)

Niebuhr, Reinhold -- Christian Realism and Political Problems, ch. 8 (1953)

Dave — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 12:15:23 +0000

The real problem of our existence lies in the fact that we ought to love one another, but do not.

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American theologian and clergyman
Christian Realism and Political Problems, ch. 8 (1953)

Francis I (Pope) -- “How the Church Will Change,” interview with Eugenio Scalfari, La Repubblica (1 Oct 2013) [tr. K Wallace]

Dave — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 12:51:29 +0000

Agape, the love of each one of us for the other, from the closest to the furthest, is in fact the only way that Jesus has given us to find the way of salvation and of the Beatitudes.

Francis I (1936–2025) Argentinian Catholic Pope (2013–2025) [b. Jorge Mario Bergoglio]
“How the Church Will Change,” interview with Eugenio Scalfari, La Repubblica (1 Oct 2013) [tr. K Wallace]