Quotes Jun 1st

...it being as difficult or impossible for a sub-Saharan African to deny the power of magic as for an inhabitant of the Arabian peninsula deny the power of Allah.  - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.121

The first principle (of overcoming poverty)is that in order to move up, the poor must not only work, they must work harder than the classes above the.  - George Gilder, Wealth and Poverty, quoted in E Calvin Beisner, Prosperity and Poverty

... it is the Christian world which finally gave birth in a clear articulate fashion to the experimental method of science itself. - Len Eisley, Darwin's Century quoted in - THE SOUL OF SCIENCE by PEARCEY & THAXTON, p1

Far be it from me to confine the Almighty to one way of acting, or say, that all undergo an equal degree of conviction: no, there is a holy variety in God's methods of calling home his elect.- George Whitefield@WhitefieldG

It is not good for man to be alone, but sometimes it helps. –Groucho Marx

Quotes 31 May

As Sir Roy Welensky, the prime minister of the ill fated and short lived Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, once described himself, he was,'half Polish, has Jewish, one hundred per cent British.' - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.311

... the state was the means by which everyone seeks to live at everyone else's expense. - Frederic Bastiat quoted in Theodore Dalrymple, The Knife Went In, p216

I confess that I wouldn't want 'free-will' even if it were given to me! If my salvation were left to em I would be no match for all the dangers, difficulties and devils that I have to fight... my salvation is in God's hands and not my own.- Martin Luther, Grace Essentials, The Bondage of the Will, p 32

Arminianism is very close to the teaching of Rome about salvation, for both teach that God is unable to save a sinner without his co-operation! - Clifford Pond in Grace Essentials, The Bondage of the Will, p.82

Quotes 30 May

The law of unintended consequences is stronger than the most absolute power. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.311

John only refers to himself in his own gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loves.”
We tend to think identity comes from who we love. John sees it as coming from being loved by Christ. That is ultimately who he is.- Sam Allberry

I am glad you have made Christ your 'one thing.' Many painfully toil in seeking many things, and their many things are nothing. Set yourself apart for Christ alone. -Samuel Rutherford@SR_SDG

“The first office of justice is to keep one man from doing harm to another,” - Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Officiis  (On Duties/Obligations)

But there's nothing half so sweet in life
As love's young dream.
     --Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
      _Irish Melodies_ [1807-1835],
      "Love's Young Dream," Stanza 1

Quotes May 29

The fanatics and the bombers do not represent a resurgence of unreformed, fundamentalist Islam, but its death rattle. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.295

We often pray best, when we can speak least. There are times when the heart is too big to speak: and the spirit itself maketh intercession for the saints, and that too according to the will of God, with groanings that cannot be uttered.- George Whitefield@WhitefieldG

The type of thinking down today as scientific, with its emphasis upon experiment and mathematical formulation, arose in one culture - Western Europe - and in no other. - THE SOUL OF SCIENCE by PEARCEY & THAXTON, p17

When once the light of Divine Providence has
illumined the believer's soul, he is relieved and
set free, not only from the extreme fear and
anxiety which formerly oppressed him, but
from all care.
For as he justly shudders at the idea of chance,
so he can confidently commit himself to God.
--John Calvin (1509-1564)
_Institutes Of The Christian Religion_ [1536]

God will not permit any troubles to come upon us,
unless He has a specific plan by which great
blessing can come out of the difficulty.
     --Peter Marshall (1902-1949)
      (In George Sweeting's
      _Who Said That?_ [1995], "Adversity")

Quotes May 27

In the psyho-therapeutic worldview to which all good liberals subscribe, there is no evil, only victimhood. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.260

I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms.—John G. Paton

If you are not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't
want to go there.
     --Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Mirth is God's medicine.  Everybody ought to bathe
in it.  Grim care, moroseness, anxiety--all this rust of
life--ought to be scoured off by the oil of mirth.
     --Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)

Quotes May 25

Transsexuals, in my experience, exude a triumphalist moral superiority, conscious of having forced the world to accept what it previously deemed unacceptable. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.249

 “the further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it”. - Orwell

1. Never settle, never surrender.
2. Counter-attack, counter-sue immediately.
3. No matter what happens, no matter how deeply into the muck you get, claim victory and never admit defeat.
Roy Cohn's three principle he taught to Donald Trump whose father hired Cohn to mentor Donald.

There are moments when everything goes well;
don't be frightened, it won't last.
     --Jules Renard (1864-1910)
      _Journal_ [1925]

Quoted May 24

...in a debate in the House of Lords ... one of the noble lords was reported to have replies to the question whether he would mind if his daughter read Lady Chatterley's Lover that he wouldn't mind in the least, but he would mind very much if his gamekeeper read it. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.57

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”-  Orwell

"Always reality asserts itself, to the confusion of those who hold false principles. They must then shout those false principles louder and louder." -- Marion Montgomery, THE TRUTH OF THINGS

In an interesting example of changing language in order to promote a political agenda, the editor of the Guardian has just ‘suggested’ (you can guess what happens to employees who beg to differ) that Guardian journalists adopt the following practices:
Use climate emergency, crisis or breakdown instead of climate change
Use global heating instead of global warming
Use wildlife instead of bio-diversity (when appropriate)
Use fish populations instead of fish stocks
Use climate science denier or climate denier instead of climate sceptic.
- Mike17

Quotes May 23

The loss of the religious understanding of the human condition - that man is a fallen creature for whom virtue is necessary but never fully attainable - is a loss, not a sin, in true sophistication. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.53

the case of Israel Folau, who this week was sacked by Rugby Australia.
“Rugby must be inclusive of all,” said Rugby Australia’s CEO, Raylene Castle, adding “that Rugby Australia fully supports the rights of players to their own beliefs … People need to feel safe in our game regardless of their gender, race, background, religion or sexuality”.
It is the classic example of Orwellian Newspeak. We are inclusive but we are going to exclude anyone who does not share our (or our sponsors’) views. We want people to ‘feel safe’ regardless of their religion, unless their religion goes against something that we believe. Folau is considered to be guilty of the violence of hate speech and therefore his contract is terminated. Meanwhile players who have actually been violent and abusive continue with their contracts. Go figure.-  - David Robertson, https://theweeflea.com/2019/05/20/i-hate-hate-speech/

The more men exercise their grace in duties of obedience, the more it is strengthened and increased; and the more men exert and put forth the fruits of their lust, the more is that enraged and increased in them; — it feeds upon itself. ~ John Owen @John_OwenQuotes

Q: What goes well with hip clothes and a voluptuous bank account?
A: Moth and rust. - Joshua D Jones@BlueCheezWhisky

Quotes May 22

Only if we keep the rules - the rules that count - can we be free. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.4

The weightiest end of the cross that is laid upon you, lies upon your strong Saviour, for Isaiah says, 'In all your afflictions he is afflicted' Isaiah 63:9. O blessed Second who suffers with you!- Samuel Rutherford

Temptations and occasions put nothing into a man, but only draw out what was in him before, ~ John Owen@John_OwenQuotes

George Orwell in his famous 1984 novel was prophetic in his understanding of where society was heading. What he didn't see was that it would be so-called 'liberal' societies that would end up using the concept of hate speech as a form of control.
In his appendix to 1984 he explained how Newspeak worked: "The Purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. This was done partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings." - David Robertson, https://theweeflea.com/2019/05/20/i-hate-hate-speech/

“unless the lion learns to tell his own story, his history will always be written by the hunters”. - Chinua Achebe

Quotes May 21

... it is the media in general, and the BBC in particular, that has been the strongest factor in the long battle  to vanquish social conservatism in Britain. - Robn Aitken, The Noble Liar, p.40

Original sin - that is to say, the sin of having been born with human nature that contains within it the temptation to evil - will always make a mockery of attempts at perfection based on manipulation of the environment. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.37

When you say a situation or a person is hopeless,
you are slamming the door in the face of God.
     --Charles Livingston Allen (1913-2005)

Quotes May 20

... a concept originated in Plato's Republic:a 'noble lie' is a myth or an untruth knowingly propagated by an elite, in order to promote and maintain social harmony or advance an agenda. - Robin Aitken, The Noble Liar, p.13

'If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.'- George Washington

"I know of nothing, dear friends, which I would choose to have, as the subject of my ambition for life, than to be kept faithful to my God to death."
- Charles Spurgeon

Those who think that an understanding of the double helix is the same as an understanding of ourselves are not only prey to an illusion but are stunting themselves as human beings, condemning themselves no to an advance in self understanding but ti a positive retrogression. - - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.29

In death Christ had more concern for you than he had for himself. In the garden, on the cross, in the grave, his silly lost sheep were always in his mind. Love has an excellent memory and cannot forget. - Samuel Rutherford

Quotes May 18

Moralism hands starving people a cookbook. @MattSmethurst

Olivier Roy, The Failure of Political Islam. Harvard U Press, 1994. This explains in detail why Islamic society can never differentiate with separate organisations for various activities, since this is to break the primary unity of the Islamic umma (people) and so it can never escape from its original tribalism in which everyone is incorporated into the one Islamic tribe. A typical quote:
Because it sees social segmentation as negative, Islamism can envisage its return to the political arena only as sin... or a plot. The ideal Islamic society is defined as umma, an egalitarian community of believers. The political concept that expresses umma for Islamists is thus tawhid, "oneness," the negation both of social classes and of national, ethnic or tribal divisions. All differentiation is inherently a negation of umma. At the very worst, this leads to fitna, a rupture, separation, splitting of the community; this no doubt, is the supreme political sin. Segmentation is perceived as sin and not as a sociological fact. Which is why Islamist thought denies whatever may result from divisions, first and foremost the divisions of religious schools (the four traditional Sunni schools - Hanafi, Maliki, Safii, Hanbali - as well as the division between Shiism and Sunnism), but also the divisions between countries, ethnic groups, tribes, classes, social categories, interest groups, and so on. (Roy, p. 71.)
This also explains why Islamism cannot be a genuine political movement - a political party is by definition illegitimate (being a differentiation within the Islamic umma), hence it cannot campaign alongside other parties for electoral victory. The only solution is military victory and imposition of Islam by force.

People say-“I believe in a god of love-not a god who gets angry.” If you have a god who never gets angry, you can’t have a god of love, because if you never ever get angry about anything you don’t love anything. If you love and you see the thing you love threatened, you’re angry. -Timothy Keller@timkellernyc

Quotes May 17

Life is short and we have never too much time for
gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling
the dark journey with us.  Oh, be swift to love,
make haste to be kind!
     --Henri-Frederic Amiel (1821-1881)
      _Journal Intime_ [1883], "December 16, 1868"

We cannot expect the world to believe that the
Father sent the Son, that Jesus' claims are true,
and that Christianity is true, unless the world sees
some reality of oneness of true Christians.
     --Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984)
      _The Mark Of The Christian_ [2006]
- show quoted text -

... to say with Carlyle that the Qu'ran is 'a wearisome confused jumble' with endless iterations, longwindedness, entanglement' - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.290

Quotes May 16

In my experience, devout Muslims expect and demand a freedom to criticise, often with perspicacity, the doctrines and customs of others, while demanding a degree of respect and freedom from criticism for their own doctrines and customs. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.290

The truly spiritual man is indeed something of an
oddity.  He lives not for himself but to promote
the interests of Another.
He seeks to persuade people to give all to his Lord
and asks no portion or share for himself.  He delights
not to be honoured but to see his Savior glorified in
the eyes of men.  His joy is to see his Lord promoted
and himself neglected.
He finds few who care to talk about that which is
the supreme object of his interest, so he is often
silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious
shoptalk.  For this he earns the reputation of being
dull and over serious, so he is avoided and the gulf
between him and society widens.
He searches for friends upon whose garments he can
detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out
of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none, he,
like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.
--A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
      _Man: The Dwelling Place of God_ [2013],
      "The Saint Must Walk Alone"

Scratch the green rind of a sapling, or wantonly twist it in
the soil, and a scarred or crooked oak will tell of the act for
centuries to come.  So it is with the teachings of youth, which make
impressions on the mind and heart that are to last forever.
--Henri-Frederic Amiel (1821-1881)

Quotes May 15

.. Saudi ... a dynasty founded upon its supposed piety, but long since corrupted by the ways of the world. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.289

Historic Christianity has left an evil legacy.
It is responsible for the crusades, in which
Jewish people from Europe to Jerusalem
were slaughtered in seven major pogroms
(crusades).
The first crusade was declared by Pope Urban II
in 1095.  The crusaders were rapists and thieves,
forgiven in advance by the reigning pope for any sins
they might commit while on their holy campaign to
liberate Jerusalem from the "infidels."
Not one Christian in a hundred today can answer the
question: "How is it that Christianity, born through
the teachings of a Jewish rabbi named Jesus of
Nazareth, could three hundred years later kill
Jews in the name of God?"
There is a dramatic difference between historic
Christianity and the teachings of Jesus Christ.  I
publicly state that I am not a follower of historic
Christianity; I am a follower of Jesus Christ!
--John Hagee (1940-    ) _Four Blood Moons_ [2013], "Signs In The Heavens"

The Holy Scriptures tell us what we could never
learn any other way: they tell us what we are, who
we are, how we got here, why we are here, and what
we are required to do while we remain here.
--A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
(In Martin H. Manser's _The Westminster Collection of Christian Quotations_ [2001], "Bible, Purpose Of")

 To be right with God has often meant to be in
trouble with men.
     --A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
      _Man, The Dwelling Place of God_ [1992]

Melancholy is at the bottom of everything, just
as at the end of all rivers is the sea.  Can it
be otherwise in a world where nothing lasts, where
all that we have loved or shall love must die?
Is death, then, the secret of life?
     --Henri-Frederic Amiel (1821-1881)
      _Journal Intime_ [1883], "November 16, 1864"

Quotes May 14

..the fact that the whole Arab world, minus its oil, matters les to the rest of the world economically than the Nokia telephone company of Finland - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.288

One is not superior merely because one sees the world in an odious light.
-- Chateaubriand

Ask the young.  They know everything.
     --Joseph Joubert (1754-1824)
      _The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert_ [1883]

I'm not young enough to know everything.
     --Sir James M. Barrie (1860-1937)
      _The Admirable Crichton_ [1903], Act I

Who are you to judge the life I live?  I am not
perfect and I don't have to be!  Before you start
pointing fingers, make sure your hands are clean.
     --Bob Marley (1945-1981)

Quotes May 13

Where two pieties - feminism and multiculturalism - come into conflict, the only way of preserving both is an indecent silence. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.286

Philip II of Spain averred, 'I would rather sacrifice the lives os a hundred thousand people than cease my persecution heretics'. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.280

Devout Muslims can see (as Luther, Calvin and others could not) the long term consequences of Reformation and its consequent secularism: a marginalissation of the Word of God, except as an increasingly distant curl echo - as the  'melancholy, long , withdrawing roar' of the once oil 'Sea of faith' in Matthew Arnold's precisely diagnostic words. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.281

Quotes May 11

Where a reputation for intolerance is more feared than a reputation for vice itself, all manner of evil may be expected to flourish, - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.272

All opinions are free of course , but some opinions are freer than others. - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.277 (on Ray Honeyford

He (Ray Honeyford) thought that different opinions might be tolerated, not having grasped that the purpose of those who argue for cultural diversity, Is to impose ideological uniformity. - Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.280

Quotes May 10

The direction of the mind is more important than its progress.
     --Joseph Joubert (1754-1824)
      _The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert_ [1883]

There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors... I mean it. - Margaret Thatcher@MrsMThatcher

God..so filled me with love, humility, and joy, and holy confusion, that I could at last only pour out my heart before him in an awful silence. It was so full, that I could not well speak. Oh the happiness of a communion with God! - @WhitefieldG May 9, 1739

Quotes May 9

It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters. Edmund Burke

They change their skies,
but not their souls
who run across the sea.
- Horace

'... the advocates of 'diversity' - who maintain that all cultures are equal but that opinions other than their own are forbidden -...' - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.2874

Quotes May 8

There is not even a single prodigal son in the
entire family who did ever say, "I will arise, and
go unto my Father" till first the Father's grace,
veiling itself in the afflicting providence of a
mighty famine, had taught the prodigal the
miserable results of sin.
     --C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
      _Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit_, Volume 11 [1865]

I know without a doubt that it's the hand of God
that's brought me through a lot of my self-
destructive times.
I can almost hear Him say, "Not yet, Cash.  I'm not
through with you yet."  He'd straighten me out and
slap me. --Johnny Cash (1932-2003)
(In Raymond Obstfeld's _Twang: The Ultimate
 Book of Country Music Quotations_ [1997],
 "Homespun Truth & Spirituality")

Drug taking is a last man's way of pursuing happiness and wisdom, andd the short cut turns out to be the deadest of dead ends. -  -Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p225

Quotes May 7

Popular capitalism, which is the economic expression of liberty, is a far more attractive means for diffusing power in our society. Socialists cry "Power to the people" & raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they mean - power over people, power to the State- Margaret Thatcher@MrsMThatcher

In 1911, the year of my mothers birth,  there was one crime recorded for every 370 inhabitants of England and Wales.; 80 years later it was one for every 10 inhabitants,There has been a twelve fold increase since 1941 and an even greater increase in crimes of violence. -Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p9

We are poor parents if we expect perfect sanctification in our children, especially given the lower levels we ourselves have attained! - Sinclitr Ferguson, Maturity, p21

Quotes May 6

The only thing worse than having a family, I discovered, is not having a family. - - Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p 25

MACBETH         Cure her of that.
                Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased,
                Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
                Raze out the written troubles of the brain
                And with some sweet oblivious antidote
                Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff
                Which weighs upon the heart?
The Doctor      "Therein the patient Must minister to himself" (Shakespeare, 5.3.57-58).

All things within this fading world hath end,
Adversity doth still our joys attend;
No ties so strong, no friends so dear and sweet,
But with death's parting blow is sure to meet.
The sentence past is most irrevocable,
A common thing, yet oh, inevitable.
How soon, my Dear, death may my steps attend.
How soon't may be thy lot to lose thy friend,
We both are ignorant, yet love bids me
These farewell lines to recommend to thee,
That when that knot's untied that mae us one,
I may seem thine, who in effect am none.
And if I see not half my days that's due,
What nature would, God grant to yours and you;
The many faults that well you know
I have Let be interred in my oblivious grave;
If any worth or virtue were in me,
Let that live freshly in thy memory
And when thou feel'st no grief, as I no harms,
Yet love thy dead, who long lay in thine arms.
And when thy loss shall be repaid with gains
Look to my little babes, my dear remains.
And if thou love thyself, or loved'st me,
These O protect from step-dame's injury.
And if chance to thine eyes shall bring this verse,
With some sad sighs honour my absent hearse;
And kiss this paper for thy love's dear sake,
Who with salt tears this last farewell did take.
Before the Birth of One of Her Children, Anne Bradstreet

Quotes May 4

We have many pupils who can tell you that you can choose your own gender but they struggle to spell 'gender'! - David Robertson https://theweeflea.com/2019/05/02/scotlands-future-the-hope-history-hubris-humiliation-and-hypocrisy-of-nicola-sturgeon/

Everyone was to attend church on Sundays and holy days , under penalty of 12d(5p )fines  for each absence, - Act of Uniformity of Elizabeth 1, in - Peter Marshall, Heretics and Believers,p.433

The fact of progress is obvious. The life expectancy of an Indian peasant, for example, now exceeds by far that of a member of the British royal family the apogee of British power.- Theodore Dalrmple, Our Culture What's Left of It, p.ix

Quotes May 3

No one can arrive from being talented alone, work transforms talent into genius.--Anna Pavlova (1881-1931)  

The fear of some divine and supreme powers keep men in obedience.--Robert Burton (1577-1640) _The Anatomy of Melancholy_ [1621-1651]; Part 3, Section 4

Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love.--Aristotle (384-322 B

Would you repent if God spoke to you directly from heaven? In the time of Moses, God's people did hear him speak to them- at Mount Sinai in words which were loud and full of majesty. How did they respond? Whilst affected at first, they soon made the golden calf.
 - Jonathan Edwards

Christ above all else. No knowledge is more valuable.- William Bode

Quotes May 2

Multiculturalism and cultural relativism are at odds with common sense.-  Theodore Dalrymple (Summer 2004). "Multiculturalism Starts Losing Its Luster". City Journal.

(Thomas) Cromwell swore he would never abandon their (the Reformer) teaching , saying that if the king turned format 'I would fight in the field in mine own person, with my sword in my hand, against him and all others'.- - Peter Marshall, Heretics and Believers,p.280

I am going to the three Persons. with whom I have had communion: they have taken me: I did not take them. I think I cannot love Christ better than I do: I am swallowed up in God.- Thomas Goodwin, dying words in Lewis Allan & Tim Chester, The Glory of Grace.p18