#tempt

Events that are predestined require but little management. They manage themselves. They slip into place while we sleep, and suddenly we are aware that the thing we fear to attempt, is already accomplished. ↗

— Amelia Barr

#already #attempt #aware #events #fear

In answer to modern requests for signs and wonders, Our Lord might say, 'You repeat Satan's temptation, whenever you admire the wonders of science, and forget that I am the Author of the Universe and its science. Your scientists are the proofreaders, but not the authors of the Book of Nature; they can see and examine My handiwork, but they cannot create one atom themselves. You would tempt Me to prove Myself omnipotent by meaningless tests...You tempt Me after you have willfully destroyed your own cities with bombs by shrieking out, "Why does God not stop this war?" You tempt Me, saying that I have no power, unless I show it at your beck and call. This, if you remember, is exactly how Satan tempted Me in the desert. I have never had many followers on the lofty heights of Divine truth, I know; for instance, I have hardly had the intelligentsia. I refuse to perform stunts to win them, for they would not really be won that way. It is only when I am seen on the Cross that I really draw men to Myself; it is by sacrifice, and not by marvels, that I must make My appeal. I must win followers not with test tubes, but with My blood; not with material power, but with love; not with celestial fireworks, but with the right use of reason and free will. ↗

— Fulton J. Sheen

#christianity #jesus #miracles #satan #temptation

Attempt something so impossible that unless God is in it, it's doomed to failure. ↗

— John Haggai

#doomed #failure #god #impossible #something

I remember when my daddy gave me that gun. He told me that I should never point it at anything in the house; and that he'd rather I'd shoot at tin cans in the backyard. But he said that sooner or later he supposed the temptation to go after birds would be too much, and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted - if I could hit 'em; but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird. ↗

— Harper Lee

#temptation

Sometimes, looking at the many books I have at home, I feel I shall die before I come to the end of them, yet I cannot resist the temptation of buying new books. Whenever I walk into a bookstore and find a book on one of my hobbies — for example, Old English or Old Norse poetry — I say to myself, “What a pity I can’t buy that book, for I already have a copy at home. ↗

— Jorge Luis Borges

#book-collecting #poetry #temptation

But fear no more! I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not wish for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo. ↗

— J.R.R. Tolkien

#faramir #temptation #the-one-ring #temptation

Being free means "being free for the other," because the other has bound me to him. Only in relationship with the other am I free ↗

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

#creation #temptation #temptation

Nice try,' he murmured, his lips brushing mine as he spoke. I nibbled his lower lip. 'If you could see into my past just by touching my back, you'd have a hard time resisting the temptation too.' 'I have a hard time keeping my hands off you without that added bonus. ↗

— Becca Fitzpatrick

#nora-grey #patch-cipriano #temptation

It was a Friday night, she was at a club, and a good-looking man was currently giving her the I-want-to-take-you-home-and-I-hope-I-last-longer-than-five-minutes look… and she was thinking about pie, a young adult book, and feeding her cat. She was so turning into the cat lady at twenty-seven. Sweet. ↗

— J. Lynn

#jennifer-l-armentrout #tempting-the-player #young-adult

When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?' ↗

— Sydney J. Harris

#always #am #ask #compared #hard