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)