#benevolence

It comes as no surprise to find [Norman] Mailer embracing [in the book On God] a form of Manicheanism, pitting the forces of light and darkness against each other in a permanent stand-off, with humanity as the battlefield. (When asked if Jesus is part of this battle, he responds rather loftily that he thinks it is a distinct possibility.) But it is at points like this that he talks as if all the late-night undergraduate talk sessions on the question of theism had become rolled into one. 'How can we not face up to the fact that if God is All-Powerful, He cannot be All-Good. Or She cannot be All-Good.' Mailer says that questions such as this have bedevilled 'theologians', whereas it would be more accurate to say that such questions, posed by philosophers, have attempted to put theologians out of business. A long exchange on the probability of reincarnation (known to Mailer sometimes as “karmic reassignment”) manages to fall slightly below the level of those undergraduate talk sessions. The Manichean stand-off leads Mailer, in closing, to speculate on what God might desire politically and to say: 'In different times, the heavens may have been partial to monarchy, to communism, and certainly the Lord was interested in democracy, in capitalism. (As was the Devil!)' I think it was at this point that I decided I would rather remember Mailer as the author of Harlot's Ghost and The Armies of the Night. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#capitalism #communism #democracy #devil #god

For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#benevolence #confidence #disposition #justice #mere

We never think lightly of those who walk with us on our uphill days. ↗

— Richelle E. Goodrich

#charity #friends #friendship #giving #kindness

The nicest feeling in the world is to do a good deed anonymously-and have somebody find out. ↗

— Oscar Wilde

#benevolence #epigram #reputation #wild

Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#absence #benevolence #confidence #disposition #justice

Generosity during life is a very different thing from generosity in the hour of death; one proceeds from genuine liberality and benevolence, the other from pride or fear. ↗

— Horace Mann

#death #different #different thing #during #fear

To remove ignorance is an important branch of benevolence. ↗

— Ann Plato

#branch #ignorance #important #remove

There is no truer cause of unhappiness amongst men than, where naturally expecting charity and benevolence, they receive harm and vexation. ↗

— Francois Rabelais

#benevolence #cause #charity #expecting #harm

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. ↗

— Adam Smith

#baker #benevolence #butcher #dinner #expect

The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful then a thousand heads bowing in prayer. ↗

— Mahatma Gandhi

#charity #compassion #kindness #acting