#DivineGift

2026-01-20

A quotation from Euripides

MEDEA: O Zeus, why did you give men certain ways
   to recognize false gold, when there’s no mark,
   no token stamped on the human body,
   to indicate which men are worthless.
   
[ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: ὦ Ζεῦ, τί δὴ χρυσοῦ μὲν ὃς κίβδηλος ᾖ
   τεκμήρι᾽ ἀνθρώποισιν ὤπασας σαφῆ,
   ἀνδρῶν δ᾽ ὅτῳ χρὴ τὸν κακὸν διειδέναι
   οὐδεὶς χαρακτὴρ ἐμπέφυκε σώματι;]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 516ff (431 BC) [tr. Johnston (2008)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/euripides/81527/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #euripides #medea #badperson #basemetal #character #counterfeit #discernment #divinegift #divinewill #gold #goodandevil #goodperson #insight

2026-01-03

A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

   A devout clergyman sought every opportunity to impress upon the mind of his son the fact, that God takes care of all his creatures; that the falling sparrow attracts his attention, and that his loving kindness is over all his works.
   Happening, one day, to see a crane wading in quest of food, the good man pointed out to his son the perfect adaptation of the crane to get his living in that manner. “See,” said he, “how his legs are formed for wading! What a long slender bill he has! Observe how nicely he folds his feet when putting them in or drawing them out of the water! He does not cause the slightest ripple. He is thus enabled to approach the fish without giving them any notice of his arrival.”
   “My son,” said he, “it is impossible to look at that bird without recognizing the design, as well as the goodness of God, in thus providing the means of subsistence.”
   “Yes,” replied the boy, “I think I see the goodness of God, at least so far as the crane is concerned; but after all, father, don’t you think the arrangement a little tough on the fish?”

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1872-01-29), “The Gods,” Fairbury Hall, Fairbury, Illinois

More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #circleoflife #creation #divinefavor #divinegift #divinelove #divineplan #foodchain #God #God'slove #intelligentdesign #lovingkindness #predation #predator #providence

2025-12-26

A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

   What would we think of a father, who should give a farm to his children, and before giving them possession should plant upon it thousands of deadly shrubs and vines; should stock it with ferocious beasts, and poisonous reptiles; should take pains to put a few swamps in the neighborhood to breed malaria; should so arrange matters, that the ground would occasionally open and swallow a few of his darlings, and besides all this, should establish a few volcanoes in the immediate vicinity, that might at any moment overwhelm his children with rivers of fire? Suppose that this father neglected to tell his children which of the plants were deadly; that the reptiles were poisonous; failed to say anything about the earthquakes, and kept the volcano business a profound secret; would we pronounce him angel or fiend?
   And yet this is exactly what the orthodox God has done.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
Lecture (1872-01-29), “The Gods,” Fairbury Hall, Fairbury, Illinois

More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-11-27

A quotation from Montaigne

Pleasure chews and grinds us; according to the old Greek verse, which says that the gods sell us all the goods they give us; that is to say, that they give us nothing pure and perfect, and that we do not purchase but at the price of some evil.
 
[L’aise nous masche. C’est ce que dit un verset Grec ancien, de tel sens : Les dieux nous vendent tous les biens qu’ils nous donnent: c’est à dire, ils ne nous en donnent aucun pur & parfaict, & que nous n’achetions au prix de quelque mal.]

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 2, ch. 20 (2.20), “We Taste Nothing Pure [Nous ne goustons rien de pur]” (1578) [tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-11-15

A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

The instant we admit that a book is too sacred to be doubted, or even reasoned about, we are mental serfs. It is infinitely absurd to suppose that a god would address a communication to intelligent beings, and yet make it a crime, to be punished in eternal flames, for them to use their intelligence for the purpose of understanding his communication. If we have the right to use our reason, we certainly have the right to act in accordance with it, and no god can have the right to punish us for such action.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
Lecture (1872-01-29), “The Gods,” Fairbury Hall, Fairbury, Illinois

More info about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #belief #Bible #damnation #divinegift #divineplan #doubt #God #gods #holiness #intelligence #questioning #reason #sacredness #scripture #understanding

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-09-22

A quotation from Wendell Berry

The ecological teaching of the Bible is simply inescapable: God made the world because He wanted it made. He thinks the world is good, and He loves it. It is His world; He has never relinquished title to it. And He has never revoked the conditions, bearing on His gift to us of the use of it, that oblige us to take excellent care of it.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1988), “God and Country,” What Are People For? (1990)

More info about this quote: wist.info/berry-wendell/17399/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #wendellberry #ecology #Genesis #creation #creator #divinegift #divinepurpose #earth #environment #God #humancondition #nature #stewardship #usufruct #world

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-07-16

A quotation from Thomas Fuller

Thou art not bound to believe any one positively against thy Reason, which God hath given thee to be thy Guide.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 2, # 2019 (1727)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/fuller-thomas-1654/7…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #belief #divinegift #God #intellect #makesense #rationality #reason

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