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Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt. And a citizen who barters with such a state shares in its corruption and lawlessness. . . . Disobedience to be civil implies discipline, thought, care, attention. . . . Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good. . . . Nonviolent action without the cooperation of the heart and the head cannot produce the intended result. — Mohandas Gandhi

Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck—but, most of all, endurance. — James Baldwin

Chances are good that you can generate the desire for a more comprehensive social or theological analysis from the ground of concrete involvement. Chances are slim that you can generate concrete involvement simply from a comprehensive analysis. In fact, analysis devoid of conviction often becomes a substitute for conviction. — Ken Sehested

All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition: That they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors. — John Calvin

Acedia . . . is a profound withdrawal into self. Action is no longer perceived as a gift of oneself, as the response to a prior love that calls us. . . . It is seen instead as an uninhibited seeking of personal satisfaction in the fear of “losing” something. The desire to save one’s “freedom” at any price reveals, in reality, a deeper enslavement to the “self.” There is no longer any room for an abandonment . . . to the other or for the joy of gift; what remains is sadness or bitterness within the one who distances himself from the community and who, being separated from others, finds himself likewise separated from God. — Jean-Charles Nault, OSB

Friend Jesus, you have said to us, “My peace I leave with you.” This peace that you give is not that of this world: it is not the peace of order, when order oppresses; it is not the peace of silence, when silence is born of suppression; it is not the peace of resignation, when such resignation is unworthy. Your peace is love for all people, is justice for all people, is truth for all people, the truth that liberates and stimulates growth. Lord, it is this peace we believe in because of your promise. Grant us peace, and may we give this peace to others. — Prayer from the Italian Waldensian Community

Begin to weave and God will give you the thread. — German proverb

It is not at all clear that these three features of modern society—fun industries, fashions, and celebrity cult—banish boredom. Analogy with aspirin is appropriate: high dosage means not the absence but the presence of pain. — Orrin E. Klapp

Most of us want to be safe. We want to find a cocoon, a spiritually, psychologically, economically, and physically gated community in which to live without danger and disturbance. The care-free life, a life a-cedia, is our cultural ideal. — R.R. Reno

We may say this of the face of Sloth: . . . it is the face of those . . . in whom the sap seems never to have arisen. — Henry Fairlie