• “She had accepted the limitations of her life. It was this anguish, this contentment which created her grace.”

    Light Years
    James Salter

  • “As far as I am concerned, I resign from humanity. I no longer want to be, nor can still be, a man. What should I do? Work for a social and political system, make a girl miserable? Hunt for weaknesses in philosophical systems, fight for moral and esthetic ideals? It’s all too little. I renounce my humanity even though I may find myself alone. But am I not already alone in this world from which I no longer expect anything?”

    ― Emil Cioran, On the Heights of Despair

  • No accomplishment is worth it if it is done apart from the Lord.

    —Fr. David Hanna

  • People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.

    —Anton Chekhov

  • What a fine weather today! Can’t choose whether to drink tea or to hang myself.

    —Anton Chekhov

  • In contemporary Western society, death is like white noise to a man in good health; it fills his mind when his dreams and plans fade. With age, the noise becomes increasingly insistent, like a dull roar with the occasional screech. In another age the sound meant waiting for the kingdom of God; it is now an anticipation of death. Such is life.

    The Elementary Particles
    Michel Houellebecq

  • Bruno was definitely in the throes of a midlife crisis. Was Michel? A man in a midlife crisis is asking only to live, to live a little more, a little longer. Michel, on the other hand, had had enough; he could see no reason to go on.

    The Elementary Particles
    Michel Houellebecq

  • Unproductive pleasures pall eventually. After a while you get tired of lying on the beach. If you want to stay happy, you have to do something.

    How to Do What You Love
    Paul Graham

  • On the Parable of the Fig Tree

    This parable speaks about someone who had a vineyard wherein was a fig tree, and for three years he found no fruit on it, so he decided to cut it down. This is what we sometimes do. When I look at myself and find no fruit, but only family and work problems, with the children and with friends, and consequently I judge myself a failure. And I ask [myself], “What is the point of my life? I suffer from anger, depression, and stress.” And in the end I may say, “Cut it down; why does it use up the ground? What more could I do than that?” And then I fall into indifference.

    But the keeper of the vineyard had wisdom. He saw that there was a third factor for the growth of the tree, in order that it may bring forth fruit: time. So he said, “Leave it alone this year also,” but the factor of time alone will not [cause it to] bring forth fruit, for the year might pass, without there being fruit on it too. Therefore, the keeper of the vineyard will do two things: the first thing is to “dig around it,” that is, to pull out the weeds surrounding it which hinder growth; and the second thing is to “fertilize it,” that is, to nourish it, which is steadfastness in grace.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Develop Your Personality

  • “That is the general characteristic. Here are the particulars for a person who lacks grace: Once he has turned away from God, the person dwells on himself, and makes self the main goal of his life and activity. This is because at this point, after God, there is for him nothing higher than self, especially because, having previously received every abundance from God and having now forgotten Him, he hurries and takes care to fill himself up with something. The emptiness that has formed inside him because of his falling away from God causes an unquenchable thirst inside him that is vague but constant. The person has become a bottomless abyss. He makes every effort to fill this abyss, but he cannot see or feel it getting full. Thus, he spends his entire life in sweat, toil and great labors; he busies himself with various occupations in which he hopes to find a way to quench his unquenchable thirst. These occupations take up all his attention, all his time and all his activity. They are the highest good, in which he lives with his whole heart. Thus, it is clear why a person who makes self his exclusive goal is never himself; instead, everything is outside him, in things either created or acquired by vanity. He has fallen away from God, Who is the fullness of everything. He himself is empty; it remains for him to seemingly pour himself out into an endless variety of things and live in them. Thus, the sinner thirsts, fusses, and troubles himself with occupations and numerous things outside himself and God. This is why a characteristic trait of sinful life is, in its disregard for salvation, the care and trouble about many things (cf. Lk 10:41).”

    —St. Theophan the Recluse