Kevin Stilley

  • Home
  • Blog Posts
  • On the Air
  • Quotes
  • Site Archive

November 27, 2009 by kevinstilley

Leo Tolstoy – select quotes

Art is not pleasure, or an amusement; art is a great matter.
~ in What Is Art?

God cannot be understood by logical reasoning but only by submission.
~ in Wise Thoughts for Every Day: On God, Love, Spirit, and Living a Good Life

Governments need armies to protect them against their enslaved and oppressed subjects.
~ in The Kingdom of God is Within You

I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.

Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.

__________

RELATED CONTENT

  • Index To Great Quotes
  • The Pursuit of God, by A.W. Tozer

__________

Book Cover

(click on image)

.

Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Quotes Tagged With: Leo Tolstoy, quotations, quote, Russian literature

April 19, 2009 by kevinstilley

“I Am Sure They Will Be Good”

reading-list

.

I saw my reflection in the mirror presented by the letter of a child. In Madeleine L’Engle’s book A Circle of Quiet she writes of a letter she received from a girl who really poured it on.

“Dear Miss L’Engle, you are one of the greatest writers of all time,” and so on, fulsome phrase after fulsome phrase. She signed her name and then wrote, “P.S. I have not yet read any of your books, but I am sure they will be good when I do.”

That P.S. parallels my experience with Russian authors. For years I was convinced that I would love the work of a handful of Russian authors — Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pasternak, Nabokov, Chekhov, Turgenev. In fact, I can remember praising them to others, quoting them, and even sharing analysis of their work.

The problem? I had only limited exposure to them. What I found when I actually started to read them in depth was that I much preferred excerpts from their novels, relevant textual quotations, and commentary upon their corpus of work to the experience of actually reading them. I had been like the little girl who wrote to L’Engle “I have not yet read any of your books, but I am sure they will be good when I do.”

Okay, I’ve entered the literary confessional and shared my embarrassing experience as part of my academic penance. Now, it is your turn. Check out some of the titles on the following lists and see if you have been guilty of praising some of the titles included without having actually read them.

Share your confessions in the comments below. You will feel better after you do.

Reading Lists:

  • Talking Books – John Mark Reynolds, David Allen White, and Hugh Hewitt
  • Lord Acton’s 100 Best Books List
  • New St. Andrew’s College Reading List
  • GreatBooks.com Reading List

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Front Page, What Do You Think? Tagged With: bibliography, Favorite Books, Reading Lists, Russian literature

Recent Blog Posts

  • Discussion Questions for “The Language of God”
  • Billy Graham knew where he was going
  • Interesting quotes from “The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln” by Stephen L. Carter
  • The Bible – select quotes
  • America’s Christian Heritage
  • Christian Involvement In Politics
  • Freedom – select quotes
  • Kevin Stilley on For Christ and Culture Radio
  • Early Western Civilization classroom resources
  • Early Western Civilization Final Exam

Currently Reading

Frankenstein

Twitter Feed

Tweets by @kevinstilley

Connect With Me On Twitter

Follow_me_on_Twitter

Connect With Me On Facebook

Receive My Monthly Newsletter


Copyright © 2023 · Executive Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in