John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801 – 1890)
English convert to Catholicism, later made a cardinal.
There is a knowledge which is desirable, though nothing come of it, as being of itself a treasure, and a sufficient remuneration of years of labor.
The world is content with setting right the surface of things.
It is thy very energy of thought
Which keeps thee from thy God.
Where good and ill together blent,
Wage an undying strife.
Flagrant evils cure themselves by being flagrant.
A great memory does not make a philosopher, any more than a dictionary can be called grammar.
May He support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done! Then in His mercy may He give us safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last!
To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.
In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.
We can believe what we choose. We are answerable for what we choose to believe.
Nothing would be done at all, if a man waited till he could do it so well, that no one could find fault with it.
Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home—
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet: I do not ask to see
The distant scene,—one step enough for me.
Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem!
Firmly I believe and truly God is Three, and God is One;
And I next acknowledge duly Manhood taken by the Son.
So living Nature, not dull Art,
Shall plan my ways and rule my heart.
There is in stillness oft a magic power
To calm the breast, when struggling passions lower;
Touch'd by its influence, in the soul arise
Diviner feelings, kindred with the skies.
Sin can read sin, but dimly scans high grace.
Christian! hence learn to do thy part,
And leave the rest to Heaven.
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since and lost awhile.
Growth is the only evidence of life.