“…because these saints were in a hurry and said everything and said it well, and you can no longer open the mouth to say something."

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

"I'm frightened. Of us. I want to go home. Oh God, I want to go home."

He looked from face to face. Then, at the moment of greatest passion and conviction, that curtain flapped in his head and he forgot what he had been driving at. He knelt there, his fist clenched, gazing solemnly from one to the other. Then the curtain whisked back.

CHAP. XXIV. The Master said, “The superior man wishes to be slow in his speech and earnest in his conduct.”

CHAP. XXV. The Master said, “Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.”

“None will ever be a true Parisian who has not learned to wear a mask of gaiety over his sorrows and one of sadness, boredom, or indifference over his inward joy."

“There is a Party slogan dealing with the control of the past,' he (O’Brien) said. 'Repeat it, if you please.'
‘“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past,"' repeated Winston obediently.
‘“Who controls the present controls the past,"' said O'Brien, nodding his head with slow approval. 'Is it your opinion, Winston, that the past has real existence?'
Again the feeling of helplessness descended upon Winston. His eyes flitted towards the dial. He not only did not know whether 'yes' or 'no' was the answer that would save him from pain; he did not even know which answer he believed to be the true one.”

“Nay, alone I am a weak creature, having no strength or might in me; yet in times past hath God made me a great vessel of wrath and a sword of deliverance. And I trust, shall do so again."

“Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one…”

“The bud disappears in the bursting-forth of the blossom, and one might say that the former is refuted by the latter; similarly, when the fruit appears, the blossom is shown up in its turn as a false manifestation of the plant, and the fruit now emerges as the truth of it instead. These forms are not just distinguished from one another, they also supplant one another as mutually incompatible. Yet at the same time their fluid nature makes them moments of an organic unity in which they not only do not conflict, but in which each is as necessary as the other; and this mutual necessity alone constitutes the life of the whole."

BY THE time it came to the edge of the Forest the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, "There is no hurry. We shall get there some day." But all the little streams higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.

“ "A beast?"

"No; a reptile--a dinosaur. Nothing else could have left such a track. They puzzled a worthy Sussex doctor some ninety years ago; but who in the world could have hoped--hoped--to have seen a sight like that?" 

His words died away into a whisper, and we all stood in motionless amazement. Following the tracks, we had left the morass and passed through a screen of brushwood and trees. Beyond was an open glade, and in this were five of the most extraordinary creatures that I have ever seen. Crouching down among the bushes, we observed them at our leisure. 

There were, as I say, five of them, two being adults and three young ones. In size they were enormous. Even the babies were as big as elephants, while the two large ones were far beyond all creatures I have ever seen. They had slate-colored skin, which was scaled like a lizard's and shimmered where the sun shone upon it. All five were sitting up, balancing themselves upon their broad, powerful tails and their huge three-toed hind-feet, while with their small five-fingered front-feet they pulled down the branches upon which they browsed. I do not know that I can bring their appearance home to you better than by saying that they looked like monstrous kangaroos, twenty feet in length, and with skins like black crocodiles."

“...We stood dumb with fear. They approach us close: on one side the crocodile, on the other the serpent. The remainder of the sea monsters have disappeared. I prepare to fire. Hans stops me by a gesture. The two monsters pass within a hundred and fifty yards of the raft, and hurl themselves the one upon the other, with a fury which prevents them from seeing us.

At three hundred yards from us the battle was fought. We could distinctly observe the two monsters engaged in deadly conflict. But it now seems to me as if the other animals were taking part in the fray—the porpoise, the whale, the lizard, the tortoise. Every moment I seem to see one or other of them. I point them to the Icelander. He shakes his head negatively.

“Tva,” says he.

“What two? Does he mean that there are only two animals?”

“He is right,” said my uncle, whose glass has never left his eye.

“Surely you must be mistaken,” I cried.

“No: the first of those monsters has a porpoise’s snout, a lizard’s head, a crocodile’s teeth; and hence our mistake. It is the ichthyosaurus (the fish lizard), the most terrible of the ancient monsters of the deep.”

“And the other?”

“The other is a plesiosaurus (almost lizard), a serpent, armoured with the carapace and the paddles of a turtle; he is the dreadful enemy of the other.”

Hans had spoken truly. Two monsters only were creating all this commotion; and before my eyes are two reptiles of the primitive world. I can distinguish the eye of the ichthyosaurus glowing like a red-hot coal, and as large as a man’s head. Nature has endowed it with an optical apparatus of extreme power, and capable of resisting the pressure of the great volume of water in the depths it inhabits. It has been appropriately called the saurian whale, for it has both the swiftness and the rapid movements of this monster of our own day. This one is not less than a hundred feet long, and I can judge of its size when it sweeps over the waters the vertical coils of its tail. Its jaw is enormous, and according to naturalists it is armed with no less than one hundred and eighty-two teeth.

The plesiosaurus, a serpent with a cylindrical body and a short tail, has four flappers or paddles to act like oars. Its body is entirely covered with a thick armour of scales, and its neck, as flexible as a swan’s, rises thirty feet above the waves.

Those huge creatures attacked each other with the greatest animosity. They heaved around them liquid mountains, which rolled even to our raft and rocked it perilously. Twenty times we were near capsizing. Hissings of prodigious force are heard. The two beasts are fast locked together; I cannot distinguish the one from the other. The probable rage of the conqueror inspires us with intense fear.

One hour, two hours, pass away. The struggle continues with unabated ferocity. The combatants alternately approach and recede from our raft. We remain motionless, ready to fire. Suddenly the ichthyosaurus and the plesiosaurus disappear below, leaving a whirlpool eddying in the water. Several minutes pass by while the fight goes on under water..."

Consider that the next time you give money to a homeless person, but fail to make eye contact with him or her: you are relieving the material want, but failing to acknowledge the shared humanity between the beggar and you.

“Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.

“Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

“Paul prays that we would know Christ's exaltation over all things and his filling of all things. God raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at his right hand of power for an interminable length of time in a position that is far above all rule, authority, power, and dominion. Therefore, all rulers, authorities, powers, and dominions that ar not in line with Christ's assertive reign are liable to dismantling,, destruction, and everlasting conscious torment. That is what awaits all the evildoers who cling to their treasonous sin. Christ's filling all things corresponds to his authoritative will extending to every place, even hell. Every tear of those found faithful in Christ Jesus will be wiped away. And all who are found outside of Christ will justly endure his wrath.

The power and authority that are Christ's to punish his enemies are also his to make his enemies his friends. Even bloodthirsty predators who lie in wait for the blood of innocent people may yet repent of their sin and accept Jesus's offer of amnesty through his shed blood on the cross. Even those who are indifferent to Christ may yet be caughtup in delight in his person and work. The gospel extends to more and more people every day, while Christ tarries and his judgement is still forthcoming.

God's power, which raised Jesus from the dead, enthroned him, and subjects all things to him, is what brings about and sustains the new-creation life. The heaving contractions of death pangs that would seek to destroy the eternal Son and usurp his power have been overturned by God's power. Instead, the grave bursts open in new life as the Son of Man rises from the dead and is exalted far above all things by the power of God. This is the same power of God that will assuredly raise all those united to Christ by faith."

It is a curious fact, too, that the more humble we become, the closer we are to God. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that unless we become as children, we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We must, therefore, become simple and pure, like children, to draw near to God. And the source of this purity, says Saint John Cassian (ca. 360-435), is unavailable to us "unless we have first acquired real humility of heart."s The ascent to God, the climb towards the Divine, begins with the acquisition of humility. We approach the heights by attaining lowliness. We acquire spiritual maturity by becoming children.

In all times, the Fathers have represented the highest standard and served as paradigms who, when we measure ourselves against them, humble us because of the highness of their virtues and the lowliness of our attainments. The humility that we find in this process of comparison is not the humility of self-denying imitation. It is a far more intricate form of humility. It is humility that teaches us how imperfect we are, how far we are from spiritual attainment, and how untouchable the great spiritual giants of our Holy Church actually are. Clinging to this humility, we never reckon ourselves to be worthy of participation in the Divine —let alone by merely mimicking the holy. It is only in such real humility, in such a profound sense of unworthiness, that our desire to emulate the Fathers is ever rewarded by true union with, and participation in, the Divine.

An Elder said: "I prefer a defeat accompanied by humility to a victory accompanied by pride."

Abba Sarmatias (fl. 5th cen.) said: "I prefer a sinful man who, nonetheless, recognizes that he has sinned and who repents to a man who has not sinned and fancies that he is perhaps virtuous."

An Elder was once asked, "When does the soul acquire humility?"

He answered: "When it thinks about its own vices."

An Elder said: "Just as the earth never falls down, neither does the man who humbles himself."

An Elder said: "Just as the earth never falls down, neither does the man who humbles himself."

The Elders used to say that when we are not undergoing warfare, it is then that we are in greater need of being humbled, since God, knowing our infirmity, covers us. But if we are boastful, God removes His protection from us and we go to perdition.

Abba Matoes said: "The closer a man comes to God, all the more does he see himself to be a sinner; for when Prophet Isaiah (ca. 765 B.C.-ca. 701 B.C.) saw God in his vision, he called himself wretched and unclean."

A regime fully committed to and invested in a materialistic vision of reality finds a true threat in the very different Christian worldview, in which ultimate reality, to be encountered within the heart of each human person, transcends the material.