Divinity United

Great quote at the beginning of chapter 15 of Dorothy Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey novel Gaudy Night . Do but consider what an excellent thing sleep is: it is so inestimable a jewel that, if a tyrant would give his crown for an hour's slumber, it cannot be bought: of so beautiful a shape is it, that though a man lie with an Empress, his heart cannot beat quiet till he leaves her embracements to be at rest with the other: yea, so greatly indebted are we to this kinsman of death, that we owe the better tributary half our life to him: and there is good cause why we should do so: for sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together. Who complains of want? of wounds? of cares? of great men's oppressions? of captivity? whilst he sleepeth? Beggars in their beds take as much pleasure as kings: can we therefore surfeit on this delicate Ambrosia? Can we drink too much of that whereof to taste too little tumbles us into a churchyard, and to use it but indifferently ...

"It is at the cost of a vast outlay of time and of vast discomfort to the ears of others that we win such praise as this: 'What a learned man you are!' Let us be content with this recommendation, less citified ( rusticore ): 'What a good man you are!'" (372-73 [v. 2, 88.38-39]).

"The whole are of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards." -- Anatole France, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard (1920) as cited in Susan Vanzanten, Joining the Mission: A Guide for (Mainly) New College Faculty (Eerdmans, 2011) 54-55.

"...for the love of letters, and the benefit of reading, are bounded, not by the time spent at school, but by the extent of life."  -- Quintilian, Institutio oratorio , 1.8.12. A great little reminder that learning is not about formal education, but learning is for life.

"If a man will only be humble about his own short-comings, how little it takes to disarm ill-feeling, how little it costs to put things right! It's humble people God protects and preserves, God loves and comforts; he stoops down and gives his grace lavishly, raising the humble man to heights of glory, as soon as neglect has done its work. Such a man he chooses fro his confidant, beckons to him gently and class him apart. Only a humble man takes it calmly when he is put to the blush; what does it matter? It is God, not the world, that gives him countenance. Never think that you have made any progress, till you have learned to regard all men as your betters."    -- Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ , 2.2.2

"What a half-hearted, careless state we must have fallen into, that we should have lost, so soon, our early enthusiasm; that we should be tired out, lukewarm, weary of life itself! Never be it said that you fell asleep over your task of growth in holiness, you, who have had all these examples of devotion constantly before your eyes." -- Thomas á Kempis, The Imitation of Christ , 1.18.6.

"The challenge of the Christian interpreter in our day is to hear the full range of notes within all Scripture, to wrestle with the theological implication of this biblical witness, and above all, to come to grips with the agony of our age before a living God who still speaks through the Prophets and Apostles." --the concluding sentence of Brevard S. Childs, "Psalm 8 in the Context of the Christian Canon," Interpretation 23.1 (1969), 20-31 (31).