--William Temple (1881-1944)
(In Bill Hull's _Right Thinking_ [1985],
"Right Thinking About Prayer")
'Even if we were beaten [later], we should be no worse off than we should be in we were now to abandon the struggle.'- Churchill to the War Cabinet
'I thought Winston talked the most frightful rot'- Lord Halifax, diary, 27 May 1940 quoted in Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom by Thomas E. Ricks p96
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” - Churchill to pupils at Harrow quoted in Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom by Thomas E. Ricks p10
THE revolt against vows has been carried in our day even to the extent of a revolt against the typical vow of marriage. It is most amusing to listen to the opponents of marriage on this subject. They appear to imagine that the ideal of constancy was a yoke mysteriously imposed on mankind by the devil, instead of being, as it is, a yoke consistently imposed by all lovers on themselves. They have invented a phrase, a phrase that is a black and white contradiction in two words—'free-love'—as if a lover ever had been, or ever could be, free. It is the nature of love to bind itself, and the institution of marriage merely paid the average man the compliment of taking him at his word. Modern sages offer to the lover, with an ill-flavoured grin, the largest liberties and the fullest irresponsibility; but they do not respect him as the old Church respected him; they do not write his oath upon the heavens, as the record of his highest moment. They give him every liberty except the liberty to sell his liberty, which is the only one that he wants. --G.K. Chesterton: "A Defence of Rash Vows."
Today I arranged a marriage. God grant that it may
turn out well! It is well to pray, for the devil
is hostile to this estate and quickly assails a
marriage with poisonous tongues.
I remember what happened to me in the case of Master
Philip and his bride when, after the wedding, he was
told that she wasn't a virgin but had a tainted
body. Oh, how I suffered with Philip for a whole
week! I resolved never again to be a matchmaker.
So I advise all good people who contemplate marriage
not to be dissuaded by the slanders of men--that is,
not to believe Satan, who is bitterly hostile to
this estate.
--Martin Luther (1483-1546)
_Table Talk_ [1536], Number 3538
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