Rather than the obsession with impurity, you'd do better to fear the nostalgia for purity. Georges Bernanos More Quotes by Georges Bernanos More Quotes From Georges Bernanos It is the perpetual dread of fear, the fear of fear, that shapes the face of a brave man. Georges Bernanos bravery fear men But I shall give less thought to the future, I shall work in the present. I feel such work is within my power. For I only succeed in small things, and when I am tried by anxiety, I am bound to say it is the small joys that release me. Georges Bernanos anxiety joy giving Truth is meant to save you first, and the comfort comes afterwards. Georges Bernanos truth comfort firsts A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all. Georges Bernanos inspiration wisdom doe I don't think we can ever learn much from ultra-sensitive, shifty faces, skilled in disguise, that hide themselves in lust, as beasts hide to die. Georges Bernanos lust faces thinking There is nothing that God hates so much as a liar. Georges Bernanos hate liars And what have you laymen made of hell? A kind of penal servitude for eternity, on the lines of your convict prisons on earth, to which you condemn in advance all the wretched felons your police have hunted from the beginning - enemies of society, as you call them. You're kind enough to include the blasphemers and the profane. What proud or reasonable man could stomach such a notion of God's justice? And when you find that notion inconvenient it's easy enough for you to put it on one side. Hell is not to love any more, Madame. Not to love any more! Georges Bernanos police justice men When writing of oneself one should show no mercy. Yet why at the first attempt to discover one's own truth does all inner strength seem to melt away in floods of self-pity and tenderness and rising tears? Georges Bernanos inner-strength self writing Suicide only really frightens those who are never tempted by it and never will be, for its darkness only welcomes those who are predestined to it. Georges Bernanos tempted suicide darkness What a cunning mixture of sentiment, pity, tenderness, irony surrounds adolescence, what knowing watchfulness! Young birds on their first flight are hardly so hovered around. Georges Bernanos teenage knowing bird Who are you to condemn another's sin? He who condemns sin becomes part of it, espouses it. Georges Bernanos sin Have you never been moved by poor men's fidelity, the image of you they form in their simple minds? Why should you always talk of their envy, without understanding that what they ask of you is not so much your worldly goods, as something very hard to define, which they themselves can put no name to; yet at times it consoles their loneliness; a dream of splendor, of magnificence, a tawdry dream, a poor man's dream -and yet God blesses it! Georges Bernanos loneliness simple dream I have just discovered something I have always known: we can no more escape from one another than we can escape from God. Georges Bernanos known Appearances are nothing.... And first of all they should not be feared, they are only dangerous to the weak. Georges Bernanos appearance weak firsts Optimism approves of everything, submits to everything, believes everything; it is the virtue above all of the taxpayer. Georges Bernanos optimism virtue believe A man given to vice is always an idealist. Georges Bernanos given vices men [P]ride has no intrinsic substance, being no more than the name given to the soul devouring itself. When that loathsome perversion of love has borne its fruit, it has another, more meaningful and weightier name. We call it hatred. Georges Bernanos hatred names meaningful I know the compassion of others is a relief at first. I don't despise it. But it can't quench pain, it slips through your soul as through a sieve. And when our suffering has been dragged from one pity to another, as from one mouth to another, we can no longer respect or love it. Georges Bernanos pain compassion love Hell, madame, is to love no longer. Georges Bernanos friendship-love love friendship [A] good Christian does not care for miracles very much, because a miracle is God looking after His own affairs, and we prefer looking after them for Him. Georges Bernanos miracle christian doe
