Reality has actually very little to do with truth; there is no necessary connection between the two. Edith Hamilton More Quotes by Edith Hamilton More Quotes From Edith Hamilton Freedom was born in Greece because there men limited their own freedom. ... The limits to action established by law were a mere nothing compared to the limits established by a man's free choice. Edith Hamilton choiceslawmen ... clear thinking is not the characteristic which distinguishes our literature today. We are more and more caught up by the unintelligible. People like it. This argues an inability to think, or, almost as bad, a disinclination to think. Edith Hamilton literaturepeoplethinking There is no better indication of what the people of any period are like than the plays they go to see. Edith Hamilton theaterplaypeople In theology the conservative temper tends to formalism. Edith Hamilton temperconservativereligion One form of religion perpetually gives way to another; if religion did not change it would be dead. ... Each time the new ideas appear they are seen at first as a deadly foe threatening to make religion perish from the earth; but in the end there is a deeper insight and a better life with ancient follies and prejudices gone. Edith Hamilton givingideasreligion When the world is storm-driven and bad things happen, then we need to know all the strong fortresses of the spirit which men have built through the ages. Edith Hamilton strongadvicemen Convention, so often a mask for injustice. Edith Hamilton conventionsmaskinjustice To rejoice in life, to find the world beautiful and delightful to live in, was a mark of the Greek spirit which distinguished it from all that had gone before. It is a vital distinction. Edith Hamilton greekgonebeautiful Great art is the expression of a solution of the conflict between the demands of the world without and that within. Edith Hamilton expressionworldart Christ must be rediscovered perpetually. Edith Hamilton jesus-christjesuschrist A people's literature is the great text-book for real knowledge of them. Edith Hamilton realbookpeople Myths are early science, the result of men's first trying to explain what they saw around them. Edith Hamilton sawstryingmen The temper of mind that sees tragedy in life has not for its opposite the temper that sees joy. The opposite pole to the tragic view of life is the sordid view. Edith Hamilton perspectiveviewsopposites Poetry and preaching do not go well together; when the preacher mounts the pulpit the poet usually goes away. Edith Hamilton pulpitpoetrytogether The Old Testament is the record of men's conviction that God speaks directly to men. Edith Hamilton recordsbiblemen He was, first and last, the born fighter, to whom the consciousness of being matched against a great adversary suffices and who can dispense with success. Life for him was an adventure, perilous indeed, but men are not made for safe havens. The fullness of life is in the hazards of life. And, at the worst, there is that in us which can turn defeat into victory. Edith Hamilton The fundamental fact about the Greek was that he had to use his mind. The ancient priests had said, Thus far and no farther. We set the limits of thought. The Greek said, All things are to be examined and called into question. There are no limits set on thought. Edith Hamilton What the people wanted was a government which would provide a comfortable life for them, and with this as the foremost object ideas of freedom and self-reliance and service to the community were obscured to the point of disappearing. Athens was more and more looked on as a co-operative business possessed of great wealth in which all citizens had a right to share. Athens had reached the point of rejecting independence, and the freedom she now wanted was freedom from responsibility. There could be only one result. If men insisted on being free from the burden of a life that was self-dependent and also responsible for the common good, they would cease to be free at all. Responsibility was the price every man must pay for freedom. It was to be had on no other terms. Edith Hamilton
