WIST Quotations

Lewis, C.S. -- An Experiment in Criticism, Epilogue (1961)

Dave — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 06:11:16 +0000

But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.

C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
An Experiment in Criticism, Epilogue (1961)
(Source)

Closing words.

Bible, Vol. 2. New Testament -- Book 8. 2nd Letter to the Corinthians 4:18 (2 Cor 4:18) 4: 18 [KJV (1611)]

Dave — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 16:52:32 +0000

We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

[μὴ σκοπούντων ἡμῶν τὰ βλεπόμενα ἀλλὰ τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα· τὰ γὰρ βλεπόμενα πρόσκαιρα, τὰ δὲ μὴ βλεπόμενα αἰώνια.]

The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Book 8. 2nd Letter to the Corinthians 4:18 (2 Cor 4:18) 4: 18 [KJV (1611)]
(Source)

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

And so we have no eyes for things that are visible, but only for things that are invisible; for visible things last only for a time, and the invisible things are eternal.
[JB (1966)]

What we aim for is not visible but invisible. Visible things are transitory, but invisible things eternal.
[NJB (1985)]

For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.
[GNT (1992 ed.)]

We don’t focus on the things that can be seen but on the things that can’t be seen. The things that can be seen don’t last, but the things that can’t be seen are eternal.
[CEB (2011)]

We look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]

Russell, Bertrand -- Conquest of Happiness, Part 1, ch. 5 “Fatigue” (1930)

Dave — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 15:25:28 +0000

Our doings are not so important as we naturally suppose; our successes and failures do not after all matter very much. Even great sorrows can be survived; troubles which seem as if they must put an end to happiness for life, fade with the lapse of time until it becomes almost impossible to remember their poignancy. But over and above these self-centered considerations is the fact that one’s ego is no very large part of the world. The man who can center his thoughts and hopes upon something transcending self can find a certain peace in the ordinary troubles of life which is impossible to the pure egoist.

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 1, ch. 5 “Fatigue” (1930)
(Source)

Nin, Anais -- Diary (1935-04)

Dave — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 15:28:14 +0000

The body is an instrument which only gives off music when it is used as a body. Always an orchestra, and just as music traverses walls, so sensuality traverses the body and reaches up to ecstasy.

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist
Diary (1935-04)
(Source)

Oliver, Mary -- “The Ponds,” House of Light (1990)

Dave — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 23:16:53 +0000

Still, what I want in my life
is to be willing
to be dazzled —
to cast aside the weight of facts

and maybe even
to float a little
above this difficult world.

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American poet
“The Ponds,” House of Light (1990)
(Source)

Carlyle, Thomas -- Sartor Resartus, Book 3, ch. 8 (1834)

Dave — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 21:45:45 +0000

Philosophy complains that Custom has hoodwinked us, from the first; that we do everything by Custom, even Believe by it; that our very Axioms, let us boast of Free-thinking as we may, are oftenest simply such Beliefs as we have never heard questioned. Nay, what is Philosophy throughout but a continual battle against Custom; an ever-renewed effort to transcend the sphere of blind Custom, and so become Transcendental?

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Sartor Resartus, Book 3, ch. 8 (1834)
(Source)

Quoting Herr Teufelsdröckh.

This chapter first appeared in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, Vol. 10, No. 55 (1834-07).

Bell, Clive -- Art, ch. 1 (1913)

Dave — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 17:00:37 +0000

Art and Religion are, then, two roads by which men escape from circumstance to ecstasy.

Clive Bell (1881–1964) English art critic
Art, ch. 1 (1913)
(Source)

Lewis, C.S. -- Mere Christianity, “Faith” (1952)

Dave — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 13:59:29 +0000

I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond.

C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
Mere Christianity, “Faith” (1952)
(Source)

Kaveney, Roz -- “On Good Friday, I may not have faith, but that doesn’t make me an atheist,” The Guardian (29 Mar 2013)

Dave — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 13:59:14 +0000

I am an agnostic partly because I don’t think it is part of the human condition ever to have very much certainty about anything but moments of pleasure and of imminent and immanent death. I don’t think we have a language, will ever have a language, that can describe transcendence in any useful way and am aware that transcendence may be nothing more than the illusory aspiration of a decaying piece of meat on a random rock. The thing is to be humble enough to be content with that while acting to other people as generously as if better things were true, and making art as if it might survive and do good in the world. Because what else are we going to do with the few short years of our life?

Roz Kaveney (b. 1949) British writer, critic, poet
“On Good Friday, I may not have faith, but that doesn’t make me an atheist,” The Guardian (29 Mar 2013)
(Source)

Huxley, Aldous -- “The Rest is Silence,” Music at Night and Other Essays (1931)

Dave — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:25:12 +0000

After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
“The Rest is Silence,” Music at Night and Other Essays (1931)
(Source)