“You might be tempted to conclude: “Well, how about we live together, instead of getting married? We will try each other out. It is the sensible thing to do.” But what exactly does it mean, when you invite someone to live with you, instead of committing yourself to each other? And let us be appropriately harsh and realistic about our appraisal, instead of pretending we are taking a used car for a test jaunt. Here is what it means: “You will do, for now, and I presume you feel the same way about me. Otherwise we would just get married. But in the name of a common sense that neither of us possesses, we are going to reserve the right to swap each other out for a better option at any point.” And if you do not think that is what living together means—as a fully articulated ethical statement—see if you can formulate something more plausible. You might think, “Look, Doc, that is pretty cynical.” So why not we consider the stats, instead of the opinion of arguably but not truly old-fashioned me? The breakup rate among people who are not married but are living together—so, married in everything but the formal sense—is substantially higher than the divorce rate among married couples. And even if you do get married and make an honest person, so to speak, of the individual with whom you cohabited, you are still much more rather than less likely to get divorced than you would be had you never lived together initially. So the idea of trying each other out? Sounds enticing, but does not work.”
― Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life
― Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life
“Liberty can be obtained, it cannot be regained.”
― The Social Contract
― The Social Contract
“I rather wish you foes than hollow friends”
― King Henry VI, Part 3
― King Henry VI, Part 3
“There is no resistance to Satan other than flight. Every struggle against lust in one’s own strength is doomed to failure. Flee—that can indeed only mean, Flee to that place where you find protection and help flee to the Crucified.”
― Creation and Fall/Temptation
― Creation and Fall/Temptation
“Eve falls first. She falls as the weaker one, as the one partly taken from the man. But there is no excuse for her fall, she is completely herself. Yet the culmination of the story is the fall of Adam. Eve only falls totally when Adam falls, for the two are one. Adam falls because of Eve, Eve falls because of Adam, the two are one. In their guilt too they are two and yet one. They fall together as one and each one carries all the guilt alone. Male and female he created them—and man fell away from him— male and female.”
― Creation and Fall/Temptation
― Creation and Fall/Temptation
Tabitha Sleeger’s 2025 Year in Books
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