We shall not hold the dangerous axiom that 'truth is the best policy,' because policy is but a means to an end; and truth is an end, not a means. Vincent McNabb More Quotes by Vincent McNabb More Quotes From Vincent McNabb Beauty is the radiance of truth, and the frangrance of goodness. Vincent McNabb radiancegoodnessdream Buy boots you can walk in. Walk in them. Even if you lessen the income of the General Omnibus Company, or your family doctor; you will discover the human foot. On discovering it, your joy will be as great as if you had invented it. But this joy is the greatest, because no human invention even of Mr. Ford or Mr. Marconi is within a mile of a foot. Vincent McNabb doctorsfeetjoy Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace that God gives us to control our fears, not to oust them. Vincent McNabb spiritualhopegiving There are no short cuts to Heaven, only the ordinary way of ordinary things. Vincent McNabb cuttingpatienceheaven Sometimes it is a great joy just to listen to someone we love talking. Vincent McNabb liking-someonejoytalking What great delight it is to see the ones we love and then to have speech with them. Vincent McNabb delightspeechconversation Of a truth, there is an inward, formless, inarticulate, almost unconscious, prayer, the very breath of love, whereby the soul is knit fast to the God whom it has tracked, amidst the tangled underwood of human life, to his covert on the eternal hills. Vincent McNabb truthgodlovelife Perhaps no General Council has been more naturally fitted than the Vatican Council to produce a masterpiece of religious thought and literature. No assembly of men since the time of Christ has ever been so representative of Christian and national thought. Vincent McNabb thoughtliteraturetimemen What is superfluous to your poor estate, distribute. This is distributive charity: a virtue so sacred that crimes against it are the forerunner of inevitable doom. Vincent McNabb yourcharityvirtuepoor St. Thomas is right. The essential prayer is the prayer of petition. Vincent McNabb petitionessentialrightprayer Quit Babylon for love of the Babylonians.And do not seek ease or security you can obtain by using Babylon. What will it avail you to cease living in Babylon if you do not also cease living on Babylon? Vincent McNabb willyousecuritylove How different would this country be if few were engaged in making money and many in making things. Vincent McNabb thingsmaking-moneymoneycountry We shall seek first to tell the truth rather than to study the subtle art of adjusting it to the circumstances of time and person. Vincent McNabb truthcircumstancestimeart The forms of thought, into which we throw our timid views of God, are but symbols of truths greater than our thoughts. Yet we may not set them aside as worthless, for they are the rungs on which we dwellers in the cave climb to the full view of the Truth, as he is. Vincent McNabb thoughtsviewtruthgod That mystic clasp of love lies not on the threshold but at the end of spiritual life, and can be reached for the most part only after much spiritual exercising, many denials, self-denials, watchings, and, it may be, the Cross of pain and disillusionment. Vincent McNabb painspirituallovelife One of the essential and most valid objections against the act of faith is that it is irrational, inasmuch as it offends against the syllogistic rule that the conclusion of an argument shall contain nothing more than the premises. Vincent McNabb morenothingargumentfaith Though many men would be content to follow Christ by taking up their cross, few would be willing to follow Him by denying their reason. Vincent McNabb followreasonmenchrist It is no more irrational for the mind to take the word of the Eternal Word than for the eye to use light and for the ear to welcome sound. Vincent McNabb welcomelighteyemind The deductive reasons for a course of action usually follow rather than precede the course of action. Thought follows life. Vincent McNabb followthoughtactionlife Certain gifts God makes to the human soul without its asking or desiring; but there are other gifts which the grown-up soul, with the use of reason, can only have by its desire. Vincent McNabb soulgodreasondesire
