The happy life does not mean loving what we possess, but possessing what we love." Possession of the beloved, St. Thomas holds,… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
Only those are called liberal or free which are concerned with knowledge; those which are concerned with utilitarian ends... are called servile...The… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
The ultimate meaning of the active life is to make possible the happiness of contemplation. — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
Modern religious teaching have little or nothing to say about the place of prudence in life or in the hierarchy of virtues. — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
Now the code of life of the High Middle Ages said something entirely opposite to this: that it was precisely lack of… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
“The "whole good" cannot be had, it would seem, without mustering all the strength of our inner life. Even in the sphere… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
“Beauty is not so much a fulfillment as rather a promise." In other words, by absorbing beauty with the right disposition, we… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
“Perhaps when all the consequences of a false presupposition suddenly becomes a direct threat mean in their great terror will become aware… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
“The restoration of man’s inner eyes can hardly be expected in this day and age — unless, first of all, one were… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
“The really human thing is to see the stars above the roof, to preserve our apprehension of the universality of things in… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
Leisure is only possible when we are at one with ourselves. We tend to overwork as a means of self-escape, as a… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
Of course the world of work begins to become - threatens to become - our only world, to the exclusion of all… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
“Who among us has not suddenly looked into his child's face, in the midst of the toils and troubles of everyday life,… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
The delight we take in our senses is an implicit desire to know the ultimate reason for things, the highest cause. The desire for… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
“The vacancy left by absence of worship is filled by mere killing of time and by boredom, which is directly related to inability to… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
“Patience is not the indiscriminate acceptance of any sort of evil: "It is not the one who does not flee from evil who is… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
Contemplation does not ignore the 'historical Gethsemane', does not ignore the mystery of evil, guilt and its bloody atonement. The happiness of contemplation is… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
Justice is a habit (habitus), whereby a man renders to each one his due with constant and perpetual will. — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
The happy life does not mean loving what we possess, but possessing what we love." Possession of the beloved, St. Thomas holds, takes place… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
The brave man uses wrath for his own act, above all in attack, 'for it is peculiar to wrath to pounce upon evil. Thus… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
What distinguishes - in both senses of that word - contemplation is rather this: it is a knowing which is inspired by love. "Without… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
Beauty, however, must here be understood in its original meaning: as the glow of the true and the good irradiating from every ordered state… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
Unless we regain the art of silence and insight, the ability for nonactivity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
If God really became incarnate, and if His Incarnation can with justice compel man to change his life,then we have no alternative but to… — Josef Pieper Copy Share Image
