January 22, 2010

#134

A truthful, austere intellectual life grabs out of our hands art, literature, and the sciences, in order to prepare us to confront fate all alone.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 43

3 comments:

  1. The original Spanish is:

    Una vida intelectual veraz y austera nos rapa de las manos artes, letras, ciencias, para reducirnos a la escueta confrontación con el destino.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cf. Notas, p. 360:

    "The study of philosophy can, like science, become an occasion to entertain oneself and, thus, to forget our authentic task of thinking."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cf. Jean-Pierre de Caussade, Abandonment to Divine Providence, ch. 1, §5 (tr. John Beevers):

    "The reading of good books and any other pious exercises are useless unless they are the channels through which God operates."

    ReplyDelete