“By “the Permanent Things” [T. S. Eliot] meant those elements in the human condition that give us our nature, without which we are as the beasts that perish. They work upon us all in the sense that both they and… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
The aim of great books is ethical: to teach what it means to be a man. Every major form of literary art has taken for its deeper themes what T.S. Eliot called "the permanent things"-the norms of human action. — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
“Only portions of the globe still enslaved by the enemies of the people refrained from congratulating President Zingu and Premier Villiers-Kolama upon the astounding… — Russell Kirk Copy Share
“Manfredo -- Your Excellency -- how can you, even you, hope...?" "Life is a jest, and all things show it, my dear," I replied;… — Russell Kirk Copy Share
“Today, as in the past, we ought to remind ourselves that the true natural law is not a mere congeries of appetites, and that… — Russell Kirk Copy Share
Moral decay first hampers and then strangles honest government, regular commerce, and even the ability to take genuine pleasure in the goods of this… — Russell Kirk Copy Share
“Men are put into this world, he [the enlightened conservative] realizes, to struggle, to suffer, to contend against the evil that is in their… — Russell Kirk Copy Share
Mine was not an Enlightened mind, I now was aware: it was a Gothic mind, medieval in its temper and structure. I did not… — Russell Kirk Copy Share
Humility, which Burke ranked high among the virtues, is the only effectual restraint upon this congenital vanity; yet our world has nearly forgotten the… — Russell Kirk Copy Share
Rousseau and his disciples were resolved to force men to be free; in most of the world, they triumphed; men are set free from… — Russell Kirk Copy Share
If men are discharged of reverence for ancient usage, they will treat this world, almost certainly, as if it were their private property, to… — Russell Kirk Copy Share
“The Conservative Mind describes a cast of intellect or a type of character, an inclination to cherish the permanent things in human existence. On… — Russell Kirk Copy Share
“There are six canons of conservative thought: 1) Belief in a transcendent order, or body of natural law, which rules society as well as… — Russell Kirk Copy Share
The Secular City, having legislated and litigated itself out of any entanglement with the City of God, would be a hell upon earth . — Russell Kirk Copy Share
Why do we not exhaust the heritage of the ages, spiritual and material for our immediate pleasure, and let posterity go hang? So far… — Russell Kirk Copy Share
![“By “the Permanent Things” [T. S. Eliot] meant those elements in the human condition that give us our nature, without which we are as the beasts that perish. They work upon us all in the sense that both they and we are bound up in that continuity of belief and institution called the great…” quote by Russell Kirk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/904/russell-kirk-6909_culture_by-the-permanent-things-t-s-eliot-meant_716881.jpg)
