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Asceticism
“
Asceticism, or the war with the appetites, is itself an appetite. It can never be eliminated from the strange ambitions of Man. But it can be kept in some reasonable control: and it is indulged in much saner proportion under Catholic Authority than in Pagan or Puritan anarchy.
”
― Saint Thomas Aquinas
― Saint Thomas Aquinas
“
Read from a distant star, the majuscule script of our earthly existence would perhaps lead to the conclusion that the earth was the distinctively ascetic planet, a nook of disgruntled, arrogant creatures filled with a profound disgust with themselves, at the earth, at all life, who inflict as much pain on themselves as they possibly can out of pleasure in inflicting pain which is probably their only pleasure.
”
― On the Genealogy of Morals / Ecce Homo
― On the Genealogy of Morals / Ecce Homo
