"The ultimate meaning of the active life is to make possible the happiness of contemplation."

--

Source : Josef Pieper (1989). “An Anthology”, p.42, Ignatius Press

Josef Pieper

#Life Is Quotes #Contemplation Quotes #Active Quotes

“It's unnatural for people to run around the city streets unless they are thieves or victims. It makes people nervous to see someone running. I know that when I see someone running on my street, my instincts tell me to let the dog go after him.”
“So often with beginning writers, the story that they want to start with is the most important story of their life - my molestation, my this, my horrible drug addiction - they want to tell that most important story, and they don't have the skills to tell it yet, so it ends up becoming a comedy. A powerful story told poorly becomes funny, it just makes people laugh behind their hands.”
“The German huts, open on every side to the eye of indiscretion or jealousy, were a better safeguard of conjugal fidelity than the walls, the bolts, and the eunuchs of a persian harem. To this reason, another may be added of a more honourable nature. The Germans treated their women with esteem and confidence, consulted them on every occasion of importance, and fondly believed that in their breasts resided a sanctity and wisdom more than human.”
“Donald Trump can have some advantage in negotiations. NAFTA is high on his agenda.But if he goes too far, I think the president of Mexico Enrique Pena and the Mexicans will decide they would just as soon get out of NAFTA, and we don't want that either. There may need to be some changes, but to re-imagine the entire world we have had an international order. It's not perfect, but for 70 years, it has kept Europe whole and free and safe, and we need to keep it in place.”
“If I had killed somebody, it wouldn't have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But f-ing, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to f- young girls. Juries want to f- young girls. Everyone wants to f- young girls!”
“If the saying "the Temple Mount in our hands," is portrayed as incitement to the police, there's no need to change the saying, but the police.”
“It's only when movement becomes the most natural state in our lives that we can finally begin to enjoy the motion. And it's only when standing still becomes impossible that we can finally embrace the kinds of changes that are inevitable in our lives. We were not designed to stand still. If we were, we'd have at least three legs. We were designed to move. Our bodies are bodies that have walked across vast continents. Our bodies are bodies that have carried objects of art and war over great distances. We are no less mobile than our ancestors. We are athletes. We are warriors. We are human.”
“Even if Mays is given every conceivable break on every unknown - defense, base running, clutch hitting - his performance still would not match Mantle's.”

Source : Bill James (1988). “The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract”, Random House Incorporated

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