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Robert Hugh Benson

107 quotes

“A great deal depends on the temper of the court. Facts depend for their interpretation upon the point of view.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man must have liberty — he was made for it; but what liberty would that be which he has not learned to use?”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is a good deal more fashionable, and considered a great deal more 'spiritual,' to stand outside creeds and churches than within them.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Just as in social things the essential bourgeois is one who, being tolerably well off, is completely complacent with his position—unlike the lowest class which has no position to be complacent about, and the highest class which does not think about it at all either way; so in matters of mind. 'How hardly shall they who trust in riches,' says our Lord, 'enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.'”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Complacency is the one obstacle to progress, in finance, in art, in intellect, and in the things of the spirit.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To-day as in Bethlehem, the bourgeois sits at home and discusses the Census, while Shepherds and Kings adore in the Stable.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The whole of Nature exists on the principle of vicarious suffering; and to reject Christianity because of the doctrine of the Atonement is to reject Nature itself on the same account.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The moment a soul recognises that there may be a Joy in Pain which is absent from Pleasure, she has taken the first step towards the practical solution of the Problem of Pain.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Divine Truth always must be extreme—it must, so to speak, always overlap at both ends, just because it is Divine, and therefore much too big for this world.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Each soul is as great as the world, and in each soul there is room for all the tragedies of the world to be re-enacted, as every puddle is great enough to hold the sun.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To each soul Christ comes, all trusting as a friend, and in each soul He is betrayed over and over again.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If a soul lives long enough on the plane of sensuality or of ambition, she finds that Christ is worth less than nothing there.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Remorse is easy enough, but repentance means love; and a soul that has lost her Lover has lost her own power of loving.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Cross is the symbol of absolutely endless expansion; it is never content; it points for ever and ever to four indefinitely receding points.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If God be Truth, and God be Love, is it not absolutely inevitable that the Love of God should bring the Truth of God down to the level of the very simplest?”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The man who says, 'Unless I feel, I will not believe,' is as narrow and foolish as the man who says, 'Unless I understand, I will not believe.'”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Religion...must at least touch the will; for however small our will may be, it is always large enough to be united to the Will of God.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We all win from God exactly what we deserve. We all get from God exactly what we really want of Him.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man’s highest life does not consist in self-expression, but in self-sacrifice.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Real love seeks not to possess, but to be possessed; not, so to speak, to devour the beloved, to satisfy self with the beloved, but the exact contrary—to be devoured and to satisfy.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Real love...is a continual emptying and slaying of self, a continual immolation of self on the altar of the beloved. ... It is exactly this that distinguishes it from its caricature—its antichrist—from lust or liking. Lust and liking desire to acquire and to win; love to be acquired and to be won.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While friendship itself has an air of eternity about it, seeming to transcend all natural limits, there is hardly any emotion so utterly at the mercy of time. We form friendships, and grow out of them. It might almost be said that we cannot retain the faculty of friendship unless we are continually making new friends.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no obstinacy like religious obstinacy; for the spiritual man encourages himself in his wrong course, by a conviction that he is following Divine guidance.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Conscience illuminated by the Presence of Jesus Christ in the heart must be the guide of every man.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Humility, obedience, simplicity — these are the virtues on which the Divine Friendship, as well as mere human friendships, alone can thrive.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Charity, it has been said, is the pardoning of the unpardonable and the loving of the unlovable.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In Christ’s Name, let us begin. For Christ has finished.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A broken heart and God's will done would be better than that God's will should be avoided and her own satisfied.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For where men have made the earth that is trodden underfoot, and have largely veiled the heavens themselves, it is but natural that they should think that they have made everything, and that it is they who rule it.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Robin felt a strange thrill of glory at the thought that he bore with him, in virtue of his priesthood only, so much consolation. He faced for the first time that tremendous call of which he had heard so much in Rheims—that desolate cry of souls that longed and longed in vain for those gifts which a priest of Christ could alone bestow.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men must have facts first and explanations afterwards.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men are once more acting along the lines which are, after all, those sanctioned by our Blessed Lord Himself in the words, "By their fruits you shall know them.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those who most confidently appeal to Reason are usually the very persons most controlled by Imagination.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You can love a person deeply and sincerely whom you do not like. You can like a person passionately whom you do not love.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It seems to me probable that any one who has a series of intolerable positions to put up with must have been responsible for them to some extent:—not that it was simply 'their fault'—I don’t mean that—but that they contributed to it by un-patience, or intolerance, or brusqueness—or some provocation.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But ah, dear Saviour, human-wise, I yearn to pierce all mysteries, To catch Thine Hands, and see Thine Eyes When evening sounds begin. There, in Thy white Robe, Thou wilt wait At dusk beside some orchard gate, And smile to see me come so late, And, smiling, call me in.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Great One in Three, of Whom are named All families in earth and heaven, Hear us, who have Thy promise claimed, And let a wealth of grace be given; Grant them in life and death to be Each knit to each, and both to Thee.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The individual saves his life by losing it, and realises the meaning of his own identity only by merging it in the commonwealth.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Individuals cannot cohere closely unless they sacrifice something of their individuality.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Competition, founded upon the conflicting interests of individuals, is in reality far less productive of wealth and enterprise than co-operation, involving though it does the constant apparent sacrifice of the individual to the common interests.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One can do no more than gather the straws that float on the surface, and try to trace the course and meaning of their movements.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To assimilate blindfold will sooner or later end in poisoning.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Church, like her Master and His ordinances, must have an earthly as well as a divine nature, if she is to do His work.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Since God is approaching man, it is not a degradation, but a triumph of His love, that He should come so far down to meet him.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The real and only satisfactory motive for submission does not lie in superficial things, but in the deep, still current of faith that comes from God direct, and bears the soul along.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Growth means the unfolding of interior capacities through the assimilation of external substances.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The process of digestion in every organism separates the healthy and useful from the harmful and useless elements.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now, we Catholics, remember, are losing; we have lost steadily for more than fifty years. I suppose that we have, nominally, about one-fortieth of America now—and that is the result of the Catholic movement of the early twenties. In France and Spain we are nowhere; in Germany we are less. We hold our position in the East, certainly; but even there we have not more than one in two hundred—so the statistics say—and we are scattered. In Italy? Well, we have Rome again to ourselves, but nothing else; here, we have Ireland altogether and perhaps one in sixty of England, Wales and Scotland; but we had one in forty seventy years ago. Then there is the enormous progress of psychology—all clean against us for at least a century. First, you see, there was Materialism, pure and simple—that failed more or less—it was too crude—until psychology came to the rescue. Now psychology claims all the rest of the ground; and the supernatural sense seems accounted for. That’s the claim. No, father, we are losing; and we shall go on losing, and I think we must even be ready for a catastrophe at any moment.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The one condition of progress and the building of Jerusalem, on the planet that happened to be men’s dwelling place, was peace, not the sword which Christ brought or that which Mahomet wielded; but peace that arose from, not passed, understanding; the peace that sprang from a knowledge that man was all and was able to develop himself only by sympathy with his fellows. To Oliver and his wife, then, the last century seemed like a revelation; little by little the old superstitions had died, and the new light broadened; the Spirit of the World had roused Himself, the sun had dawned in the west; and now with horror and loathing they had seen the clouds gather once more in the quarter whence all superstition had had its birth.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He stood a moment or two at the door after his wife had gone, drinking in reassurance from that glorious vision of solid sense that spread itself before his eyes: the endless house-roofs; the high glass vaults of the public baths and gymnasiums; the pinnacled schools where Citizenship was taught each morning; the spider-like cranes and scaffoldings that rose here and there; and even the few pricking spires did not disconcert him. There it stretched away into the grey haze of London, really beautiful, this vast hive of men and women who had learnt at least the primary lesson of the gospel that there was no God but man, no priest but the politician, no prophet but the schoolmaster.”
Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source