#ascetic

The student who deceives himself into thinking that he is giving his life like an ascetic in the spirit of sacrifice for art, is the victim of a deplorable species of egotism. ↗

— Alma Gluck

#ascetic #deceives #deplorable #egotism #giving

No sane man can afford to dispense with debilitating pleasures. No ascetic can be considered reliably sane. ↗

— A. J. Liebling

#ascetic #considered #debilitating #dispense #man

I'm not an ascetic. ↗

— David Mamet

#i

A commercial society whose members are essentially ascetic and indifferent in social ritual has to be provided with blueprints and specifications for evoking the right tone for every occasion. ↗

— Marshall McLuhan

#blueprints #commercial #essentially #every #evoking

Religions, which condemn the pleasures of sense, drive men to seek the pleasures of power. Throughout history power has been the vice of the ascetic. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#been #condemn #drive #history #men

If there is no element of asceticism in our lives, if we give free rein to the desires of the flesh (taking care of course to keep within the limits of what seems permissible to the world), we shall find it hard to train for the service of Christ. When the flesh is satisfied it is hard to pray with cheerfulness or to devote oneself to a life of service which calls for much self-renunciation. ↗

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

#christ #christianity #discipleship #discipline #fasting

No sane man can afford to dispense with debilitating pleasures; no ascetic can be considered reliably sane. ↗

— Robert M. Parker, Jr.

#ascetic #considered #debilitating #dispense #man

There is no 'eugenics' in Nietzsche - despite occasional references to 'breeding'- at least no more than is implicit in the recommendation to choose a partner under decent lightning conditions and with one's self-respect intact. Everything else falls under training, discipline, education and self-design - the Übermensch implies not a biological but an artistic, not to say an acrobatic programme. The only thought-provoking aspect of the marriage recommendation quoted above is the difference between onward and upward propagation. This coincides with a critique of mere repetition - obviously it will no longer suffice in future for children, as one says, to 'return' in their children. There may be a right to imperfection, but not to triviality. ↗

— Peter Sloterdijk

#education #marriage #self-design #training #design

It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men's badness, which is impossible. ↗

— Marcus Aurelius

#ethics #evil #morality #renunciation #stoic

The cacophony of contemporary popular culture makes it hard to discern the call of truth and wisdom. There is no area in which practicing asceticism is more important. ↗

— Rod Dreher

#pop-culture #truth #wisdom #love