#contemplation

The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is the cutting edge of the mind. ↗

— Diane Arbus

#contemplation #cutting #cutting edge #edge #grasped

He had read much, if one considers his long life; but his contemplation was much more than his reading. He was wont to say that if he had read as much as other men he should have known no more than other men. ↗

— Isaac Asimov

#contemplation #had #his #known #life

I feel like I'm stepping into a place of spiritual contemplation every time I enter a studio; it's always had a certain magic to me that has never worn off with familiarity. ↗

— David Knopfler

#certain #contemplation #enter #every #every time

Who among us has not suddenly looked into his child's face, in the midst of the toils and troubles of everyday life, and at that moment "seen" that everything which is good, is loved and lovable, loved by God! Such certainties all mean, at bottom, one and the same thing: that the world is plumb and sound; that everything comes to its appointed goal; that in spite of all appearances, underlying all things is - peace, salvation, gloria; that nothing and no one is lost; that "God holds in his hand the beginning, middle, and end of all that is." Such nonrational, intuitive certainties of the divine base of all that is can be vouchsafed to our gaze even when it is turned toward the most insignificant-looking things, if only it is a gaze inspired by love. That, in the precise sense, is contemplation... Out of this kind of contemplation of the created world arise in never-ending wealth all true poetry and all real art, for it is the nature of poetry and art to be paean and praise heard above all the wails of lamentation. No one who is not capable of such contemplation can grasp poetry in a poetic fashion, that is to say, in the only meaningful fashion. The indispensability, the vital function of the arts in man's life, consists above all in this: that through them contemplation of the created world is kept alive and active. ↗

— Josef Pieper

#contemplation #creation #divine #god #happiness

If you are of the opinion that the contemplation of suicide is sufficient evidence of a poetic nature, do not forget that actions speak louder than words. ↗

— Fran Lebowitz

#actions speak #contemplation #evidence #forget #louder

Action is greater than writing. A good man is a nobler object of contemplation than a great author. There are but two things worth living for: to do what is worthy of being written; and to write what is worthy of being read. ↗

— Ross Perot

#action #author #being #contemplation #good

Contemplation seems to be about the only luxury that costs nothing. ↗

— Dodie Smith

#contemplation #costs #luxury #nothing #only

The Chautauqua Institution is truly a national treasure. It is a place for contemplation and a place for reflection, a place where platitudes and slogans can be set aside and be replaced by thoughtfulness and introspection. ↗

— Eliot Spitzer

#contemplation #institution #introspection #national #place

The wise man knows how to run his life so that contemplation is Possible. ↗

— Gabriel Marcel

#his #how #knows #life #man

A day spent without the sight or sound of beauty, the contemplation of mystery, or the search of truth or perfection is a poverty-stricken day; and a succession of such days is fatal to human life. ↗

— Lewis Mumford

#contemplation #day #days #fatal #human