Quote of the Day: 30 September 2023 #QotD

“The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone.” -G. K. Chesterton
[So, how do I ensure that I synthesize them in my life, and truly follow Christ?]

Quote of the Day: 29 September 2023 #QotD

“Seems to be a deep instinct in human beings for making everything compulsory that isn’t forbidden.” -Manuel Garcia O’Kelly-Davis, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
[This is an impulse we would do well to deny. However, how can we prevent others from attempting to impose their will on us?]

Quote of the Day: 28 September 2023 #QotD

“The more you know, the harder it is to take decisive action.… Being a man of action, I can’t afford to take that risk.” -Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes
[Ahh, how ignorance can be blissful.]

Quote of the Day: 27 September 2023 #QotD

“There’s a powerful magic in songs, you know. They can aim the heart, point it at what matters.” -Armulyn the Bard, The Warden and the Wolf King
[Music is a lot like stories. We need both. They are part of what make us human.]

Quote of the Day: 26 September 2023 #QotD

“We need stories.” -Hoid, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
[They rule how we understand the world, and thus how we operate within it.]

Quote of the Day: 25 September 2023 #QotD

“What is normal? Normal is yesterday and last week and last month taken together.” -Havelock Vetinari, Snuff
[Normalcy bias is a thing. It really is, and it's weighted to the recent past. Put it together with recency bias, and you've got a recipe for ignoring anything that might indicate things could quickly get spicy.]

Quote of the Day: 24 September 2023 #QotD

“True joy rests on our willingness to come closer to Christ and witness for ourselves.” -Bonnie H. Cordon

Quote of the Day: 23 September 2023 #QotD

“Please don’t add perspective to my life.” -Neighbor Bob, Pearls Before Swine
[Most people actually feel this way. The majority of them don't want to admit it, but it's true.]

Quote of the Day: 22 September 2023 #QotD

“The most satisfying victories occur over adversaries who do not realize they have been conquered.” -Damak, A World Without Heroes
[I mean, unless you're seeking revenge and humiliation.]

Quote of the Day: 21 September 2023 #QotD

“Whatever you do, do it for love. If you keep to that, your path will never wander so far from the light that you can never return.” -Uriel, Changes
[Love is always a good motivation. Make sure what you do is checked by reason, and doesn't conflict with your values, and you ought to be alright.]

Quote of the Day: 20 September 2023 #QotD

“Every trail has its end, and every calamity brings its lesson!” -Hawkeye, The Last of the Mohicans
[Sometimes, things end, and that's OK. You also grow through all your adversities.]

Quote of the Day: 19 September 2023 #QotD

“There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating——people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.” -Lord Henry Wotton, The Picture of Dorian Gray

[Too bad there are so many of the latter and so few of the former. Most of them aren't even that interesting.]

Quote of the Day: 18 September 2023 #QotD

“Virtually everything that we today recognize as civilization dates from the beginning of agriculture, and with it the beginning of cities.” -Thomas Sowell
[As has been amply demonstrated, cities have pathologies all their own. Sadly, too few are willing to deal with those pathologies to take corrective action.]

Quote of the Day: 17 September 2023 #QotD

“We were created to have joy. It is our intended destiny as children of a loving Heavenly Father. He wants to share His joy with us.” -Craig C. Christensen

Quote of the Day: 16 September 2023 #QotD

“[I]t’s more important to always do the right thing than a big thing.” -Jagdish, Tower of Silence
[But it's incredibly difficult to get people to live by this. By and large, we really want the recognition.]

Quote of the Day: 15 September 2023 #QotD

“One might define adulthood as the age at which a person learns that he must die … and accepts his sentence undismayed.” -Bernardo de la Paz, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
[Transition to adulthood is a hard thing for everyone. Not all make this particular transition, though.]

Quote of the Day: 14 September 2023 #QotD

“I left the fairy tales lying on the floor of the nursery, and I have not found any books so sensible since.” -G. K. Chesterton
[There are truths embedded in the tales told to children, precisely because they are told to children. Let us not abandon those truths for the sake of placating overgrown toddlers throwing temper tantrums.]

Quote of the Day: 13 September 2023 #QotD

“History is the fiction we invent to persuade ourselves that events are knowable and that life has order and direction. That’s why events are always reinterpreted when values change. We need new versions of history to allow for our current prejudices.” -Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes
[A rather cynical view of things, but one that is likely more correct than not for a lot of published historical accounts.]

Quote of the Day: 12 September 2023 #QotD

“Sometimes, somebody needs to kick despair in the rump. There’s always a way out[.]” -Podo Helmer, The Warden and the Wolf King
[Doomerism needs to go die in a fire.]

Quote of the Day: 11 September 2023 #QotD

“Cynicism isn’t interesting; it is often no more than a mask we place over tedium.” -Hoid, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
[Twenty-two years ago a group of malicious men attacked innocent people. Don't allow your skepticism, or incredulity to cloud the reality of what happened that day.]

Quote of the Day: 10 September 2023 #QotD

“I invite you to bear your testimony of Jesus Christ more often. Bear testimony of what you know and believe and what you feel, not just of what you are thankful for.” -M. Russell Ballard

Quote of the Day: 9 September 2023 #QotD

“[H]e hated thinking of them as civilians. What was a policeman, if not a civilian with a uniform and a badge?” -Terry Pratchett
[It is dangerous to think of the police force as something separate from the general populous. thinking that way leads us to where we are, and places far worse.]

Quote of the Day: 8 September 2023 #QotD

“Books are communication. They aren’t complete till they’re read.” -Sarah Hoyt
[Happy Literacy Day!]

Quote of the Day: 7 September 2023 #QotD

“If you can’t stop the bad thoughts from coming to visit, at least you can make fun of them while they’re hanging around.” -Harry Dresden, Turn Coat
[Mockery is powerful. Make use of it whenever you can.]

Quote of the Day: 6 September 2023 #QotD

“Books make good friends sometimes, Falcio. Take as many as you like from the library.” -King Paelis, Traitor’s Blade
[Happy National Read a Book Day.

I hope you find one that you enjoy!]

Quote of the Day: 5 September 2023 #QotD

“It is a sad thing to think of, but there is no doubt that genius lasts longer than beauty.” -Lord Henry Wotton, The Picture of Dorian Gray
[So, what do you value, and why? Is beauty useless because it fades? Certainly not. But it shouldn't be valued as highly as it has been in our culture.]

Quote of the Day: 4 September 2023 #QotD

“Unionization, like minimum wage laws, protect those who are already established on the inside, at the expense of those on the outside.” -Thomas Sowell
[Happy Labor Day.

Or at least, something to ponder for this day.]

Quote of the Day: 3 September 2023 #QotD

“Jesus did not speak of the possibility of rain and flood and wind in our lives; He spoke of the certainty that storms will arise. The variable in this parable is not whether storms will come but how we have responded to His loving invitation to both hear and do what He has taught. There is no other way to survive.” -Evan A. Schmutz

Quote of the Day: 2 September 2023 #QotD

“There is no law you can pass, no one thing you can ban, and nothing you can say or do that will stop some men from choosing evil.” -Larry Correia
[You can't stop evil with good intentions, or by disarming the peaceful. All you do is embolden the truly malignant. They know that the only thing stopping them from getting what they want are harsh words.]

Quote of the Day: 1 September 2023 #QotD

“Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes.” -Lt.-Col. Jean V. Dubois, Starship Troopers
[It isn't o much that we fail to learn the lessons of history, as it is that humans naturally desire security. But we fail to properly evaluate the risk of tyranny.]