Maximilian Nightingale

“But one aspect of Revelation must not be allowed to exclude or to obscure another; and Christianity is dogmatical, devotional, practical all at once; it is esoteric and exoteric; it is indulgent and strict; it is light and dark; it is love, and it is fear.”
― John Henry Newman, An Essay On the Development Of Christian Doctrine: Theology

“I never read to kill time. Killing time is like killing someone's wife or a child. There is nothing more precious for me than time.”
― Stanisław Lem

“In Rome, I had nearly five thousand volumes in my library. By reading and re-reading them, I discovered that one hundred and fifty books, carefully chosen, give you, if not a complete summary of human knowledge, at least everything that it is useful for a man to know. I devoted three years of my life to reading and re-reading these hundred and fifty volumes, so that when I was arrested I knew them more or less by heart. In prison, with a slight effort of memory, I recalled them entirely. So I can recite to you Thucydides, Xenophon, Plutarch, Livy, Tacitus, Strada, Jornadès, Dante, Montaigne, Shakespeare,
Spinoza, Machiavelli and Bossuet; I mention only the most important …’

I have to admit that my historical work is my favourite occupation. When I go back to the past, I forget the present. I walk free and independently through history, and forget that I am a prisoner.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

“It is necessary for the perfection of human society that there should be men who devote their lives to contemplation.”
― Thomas Aquinas